Many people are great at starting new projects like weight loss—but after a few weeks, their progress slows. Why? They lose sight of their motivation and forget why weight loss matters. Eventually, they give up on themselves. It’s easy to forget that good things take time. But motivation is a daily habit worth building. In this article, we’ll explore strategies on how to stay motivated to lose weight.
When Michelle first called me, she told me that she was frustrated with her nutrition and weight-related health problems like back and knee pain and elevated blood sugar that indicated that she was pre-diabetic. All this was compounded by stressful life situations. Her husband had been sick for years and had passed away and her son was having a hard time. She also had jused food as a comfort since early childhood.
Michelle wanted help because she was using food to manage her mood and stress and her health was suffering from it. Her aim was to lose sixty pounds to get back her health and mobility. She wanted to do the outdoors activities she loved like hiking, kayaking, and cycling. She yearned to feel more confident in her body and how she interacted with the world by losing weight. It was time to start her life again: she had just moved to a place she liked in the greater Washington, D.C. area. One belief that complicated her commitment to losing weight was that she associated losing weight with illness because her husband’s illness had caused him to lose weight.
We did an assessment and created a plan and Michelle started out well. She lost sixteen pounds in four months by walking consistently, eating more fruits and vegetables, and eating out less often, especially at fast food restaurants. She worked at home during the pandemic and that helped her make healthy lifestyle changes. Then a series of things happened to her, including returning to the workplace after the pandemic, which caused her to lose sight of her body’s needs and why weight loss mattered. To celebrate going back to work, her company hosted lots of after-work parties to welcome employees back to the workspace. Michelle felt the need to fit in at work, and soon she lost sight of her motivation to lose weight.
To compound matters, she contracted an illness that sapped her strength. Once well again, she visited her family, and that had stirred up unhappy memories. Then she got COVID-19 and it took months for her to recover. For all these reasons, she was distracted and had a difficult time focusing on weight loss and what mattered most. All the while she began to regain weight.
Recently, Michelle reached out to resume her weight loss sessions with me. She has started walking two miles a day and has begun losing weight again with a new awareness of how easy it is to forget her intentions to change the behaviors it takes to lose weight. She also is aware of her tendency to forget about her body’s needs while at work and pattern of skipping meals during the day. She is countering this tendency to skip meals by packing a lunch the night before and bringing it with her and has put a thirty-minute lunch break on her calendar to help her remember to eat lunch. Michelle also is eating breakfast before she goes to work. Now she is in the process of losing weight again and is armed with renewed motivation and awareness of why weight loss matters and what can get in the way.
Why Weight Loss Matters
Because it’s easy to lose sight of why weight loss matters, it makes a difference when we keep our reasons for wanting to lose weight front and center. How do we keep our eyes on why we want to lose weight during our weight loss journey? This post takes a look at helpful ways to tap into your weight loss and keep your reasons to lose weight in full sight.
Motivation
How can you “get motivated” to embark on your weight loss journey and have the grit to stay with it? Perhaps what’s missing is awareness of your weight loss “why.” Research on motivation shows that for projects requiring significant creativity, a “carrot and stick” system of rewards and punishments may backfire. Extrinsic or external rewards may dampen motivation, according to research cited by Daniel Pink in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About WhatMotivates Us.
Intrinsic or internal motivators have more staying power than extrinsic motivators in the long run according to Pink. Intrinsic motivators promote greater physical and mental well-being based on research cited by Pink in his insightful book. Intrinsic motivation is self-directed, requires engagement, and aligns with what gives your life meaning.People often come to me for help who are seeking a way to discover the motivation needed to lose weight and keep it off. The golden key is to see how self-care and weight loss support you as you pursue what matters most in your life.
This post is designed for you to tap into your innate motivation to lose weight as we explore how to build a shame-free, healthy relationship with food. Michelle shared her intrinsic motivation to lose weight when she told me how her health was suffering because of her weight gain. This prompted her desire to improve her health and mobility so she can do the outdoor activities that she always loved.
Let’s take a new look at where to start the change process in a simple way that you can easily remember. Let’s start on the inside and imagine your future, then make changes from the inside out. When looking inside, you have the ability to reflect on your mindset, beliefs, and desires. Figure 1 shows the steps involved in behavior change with a three step BE.-DO.-HAVE. behavior change approach.
Figure 1: 3 Step Process to Fuel Your Motivation
Step 1: BE. → Step 2: DO. → Step 3: HAVE.
What does each step mean, practically speaking?
Step 1: BE.
- Who do you want to BE (you feeling fulfilled with supportive beliefs)?
- This step represents an awareness and acceptance of your inner emotions, wants, and values, that come from your deepest inner yearnings about your life direction. How will weight loss support you with moving in the direction of your deepest desires?
Step 2: DO.
What will you DO to make your deepest inner yearnings come true?
- What actions will take you in the direction of your life yearnings?
- How do self-care and weight loss support you with this journey?
Step 3: HAVE.
- Identify what results do you want to HAVE?
- What outcomes will make you feel happy by living the life you want to life and healthy by taking care of your mind and body azt the weight you want to be. ‘
Exercise: Sketch out your own 3 Step Rev Up Process to motivate you and get your results.
How? Take a few moments to reflect on each of the above three steps to pinpoint how to motivate yourself daily as a springboard to your successful self-care and weight loss journey.
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Curious what’s holding you back? Take our free quiz: Top Inner Roadblocks to Weight Loss Success and get your next best step today!
Kay Loughrey, MPH, RDN, LDN Transformational Speaker, Breakthrough Coach, Nutritionist-Dietitian
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Kay Loughrey, MPH, RDN, LDN is a licensed Nutritionist-Dietitian and a weight loss coach with 30+ years of experience in helping people lose weight and develop healthier relationships with food. She coaches her clients nationwide providing weight loss planning, video check-ins, and more. Schedule your free consultation.