If you have seemed to lose your weight loss motivation, you’re not alone. Many people who embark on their weight loss journey throw in the towel not too long after first starting. Why? Because it’s not easy to change your lifestyle and poor habits.
For most, they start following a fad diet that is unsustainable over the long term, and they find it too challenging to maintain. What if you could simplify the entire process to help recapture your weight loss motivation? Things would be so much easier, right?
In this article, we are going to look at seven easy-to-follow tips to help you regain your weight loss motivation and get back on track. The best part is that you don’t need to follow all seven at once in order to see incredible progress. All you need to do is slowly start incorporating one of them until the new (healthier) habit is formed and then implement a second, and then a third, and a fourth — you get the idea. It’s that simple!
Let’s dive in.
1. Take a deep dive into your goals
One of the first things you should do to improve your weight loss motivation is to take a deep dive into your goals. What are they? Why haven’t you achieved them yet?
Many people set unrealistic goals from the jump. For example, some may say they want to lose 50 pounds in two months. That’s a super aggressive goal, and while I applaud you for shooting for the moon, it’s simply not realistic. This is where people royally mess up.
If you set unrealistic goals, you’re setting yourself up for failure before you ever make it 24 hours into your journey. If you want to recapture your weight loss motivation, you need to set realistic goals that you can track, are attainable, and are measurable.
Remember, you should strive to lose 1-2 pounds per week. If you hit that benchmark, you’re on the right track.
2. Stop restricting yourself
When you start restricting yourself and deeming food “bad,” you’re going to create a negative relationship with food. You’re going to start analyzing everything you eat and group it into a “healthy” or “unhealthy” category. This starts to shift your mindset and puts too much emotion into eating rather than looking at food as a means of fueling your body and helping provide it with the nutrients needed to perform and function optimally.
You don’t need to give up delicious food just to bring back your weight loss motivation. Even a strong-willed individual will want to “eat something unhealthy” every now and then. And guess what? Even if you do, so long as you eat healthily 90% of the time, you can have the things you enjoy as a treat.
The goal of being able to regain your weight loss motivation isn’t about restricting yourself, it’s about making better choices the majority of the time that can then allow you to have some of the yummy foods you love on occasion without feeling guilty or ruining your results.
3. Change up your workout routine
If you’ve been doing the same workout for weeks or even months, it may be time for a change. After training many clients over the past 20+ years, I find many people have come to me saying they lost their weight loss motivation. When I asked some probing questions, it either came down to that they were doing the same workout for months without a change, or they were doing something they absolutely hated and quit.
Gaining back your weight loss motivation is simple when you start doing something you enjoy. If you despise the treadmill, find another form of cardio. If you aren’t a fan of lifting heavy weights, you can still get phenomenal results by lifting lighter weights.
The key is to find something you enjoy and be consistent with it (while making subtle changes here and there to keep things fresh and exciting).
4. Create a buddy system
Do you have someone around you who wants to get in better shape or improve their health? Why not buddy up with them? Having someone you can count on and someone to hold you accountable is a great way to rebuild your weight loss motivation. This can be someone such as a spouse or significant other, a family member, a best friend, or even a coworker.
The goal of improving your weight loss motivation is to find enjoyment in it, and when you’re going through the process with someone else, it can make the experience easier knowing someone is going through all the same emotions and struggles that you are. When you have another person waiting for you at the gym or someone else eating healthy at home, it’s incredibly motivating as you don’t want to let that person down.
Your weight loss motivation also becomes their weight loss motivation, and you both have your own cheering squad in your corner who wants to see you succeed.
5. Leverage meals from restaurants
Have you been trying to lose weight? You’ve probably heard you should make your own meals, right? Well, we’ll get to that in the next section, but you can also recapture your weight loss motivation by leveraging food from restaurants.
Now, before you get all excited and think I’m telling you to go someplace fancy and load up on food that’s made with a bunch of oil and unhealthy fats, let’s pump the brakes. There are plenty of places out there where you can order healthy food that is prepared in such a way that it aligns with your weight loss goals.
There are times you may not want to meal prep or don’t feel like you have the time. Most restaurants can prepare food for you how you want it. You can order grilled chicken breast or steak, steamed vegetables, and even rice. Sure, you’re going to spend a little bit more money going this route, but if it can save you time and sanity, it’s an option.
There are also meal prep companies out there you can order complete meals from. These can easily improve your weight loss motivation by taking the guesswork of nutrition out of the equation. But speaking of meal prep, let’s dive into that next.
6. Simplify nutrition by meal-prepping
Unfortunately, it’s quite simple to unravel weeks of progress by messing up your nutrition. Even worse, once people find themselves going down that path, many will never recover. If you want to fix your weight loss motivation, you need to start meal prepping.
How many times have you found yourself at work and needed to grab something for lunch since you didn’t bring it from home? What did you do? You probably hit up the vending machine or grabbed something quick at a fast-food restaurant or convenience store/gas station. When this happens, people tend to feel bad about their choice and get down on themselves.
If you want to recapture your weight loss motivation, don’t slip up and binge on fast food. Start meal prepping and eliminate nutritional excuses!
Take one day out of the week to prepare a bunch of food that you can mix and match for meals. When you meal prep, there’s no excuse that you don’t have something healthy to eat. Cook up all your protein and healthy carbs on one day (such as a Sunday) and then put them all in Tupperware containers that you can quickly grab from the refrigerator for lunch or as a quick dinner option after a long day.
Don’t destroy your weight loss motivation by giving up on your nutrition due to convenience. Put in the time, and the results will show.
7. Set up a reward system
Do you want a way to boost your weight loss motivation? Reward yourself. Yes, I said it. Go ahead and reward yourself.
There’s nothing wrong with rewarding yourself for hitting goals, staying on track, and being consistent. Now, I’m not saying to hit up the Lamborghini dealership and put an exotic car in your driveway. But it’s ok to go out and get yourself a new pair of workout/running shoes. Or go invest in some new cookware to make your life easier in the kitchen. Or buy that shirt or pair of workout pants that you’ve been eyeing up.
In fact, knowing what reward you want is a great way to stay on track with your goals and regain your weight loss motivation. It’s like dangling a carrot in front of yourself and telling yourself to keep pushing forward.
You can also reward yourself by purchasing supplements that can help you along the way and make your life easier. For instance, Holistic Bin has some incredibly potent and high-quality shilajit products (a resin as well as a powder) that can help with nost only weight loss, but that also have nootropic properties that aid in boosting mental performance and cognition.
Related Article: Health Benefits of Himalayan Shilajit Resin
By leveraging specific supplements like the Holistic Bin Shilajit, you can put yourself in a better position to see the results you desire while also staying focused and optimizing brain health and performance.