Let’s face it. Losing weight can be a challenge.
Your grocery store is full of dietary land mines, lined with your favorite off-track snacks. Your local gym is a haven for twenty-somethings who look like they just stepped out of an exercise video. And when did athletic wear become trendy?
But, in today’s world, it can be tough to overcome the pressure of finding the perfect diet and the perfect exercise regimen. With each passing year, it seems like losing weight gets more difficult, and the trends get more ridiculous. And though you’ve made strides in shedding pounds in the past, sustained weight loss motivation is incredibly difficult to maintain.
The Solution
You deserve to find a plan that works for you. One that celebrates your accomplishments and forgives your setbacks. Because once you’ve created a plan that you can get behind, there’s nothing that can stop you from keeping the weight off.
Here’s a list of possible changes that have helped other women find the perfect weight-loss motivation plan. These suggestions shouldn’t feel like catastrophic life-alterations, and you should only take away what makes sense for you.
Be Gentle on Yourself
Research shows that a negative emotional relationship between you and your body makes it harder to keep weight off. Why? Because the stress that you feel as a result of your weight is actually a trigger for your body to lower your metabolism, increase hunger, and make food more enjoyable. In other words, your body doesn’t care that you’re stressing out about losing weight; it cares that you’re stressed. Period.
The solution is to be kind to yourself. Congratulate yourself. Boost yourself up. Taking care of your emotional health will do wonders for your weight loss motivation.
2. Find a Plan You Don’t Want to Ditch
If you hate running and are just doing it to shed pounds, chances are that once you’re down to your target weight, you’ll start using that treadmill as an expensive coat rack. So spend some time finding an activity that is actually enjoyable to you, and you won’t be so ready to quit once you’ve reached your goal.
Same goes for your eating habits. Forcing yourself to eat vegetables you hate won’t do anything for your long-term weight loss motivation. Instead, you’ll feel deprived and resentful, waiting for the day you can stop this stupid diet. So do some experimenting. Buy a vegetable you’ve never tasted. Try a health-conscious cooking class. The more you explore, the more likely that you’ll eventually find something that you can enjoy.
3. Don’t Do it Alone
There’s been some really convincing evidence for the use of behavioral nutrition, in which a trained therapist helps you create a workable health plan and find that long-term weight loss motivation. Instead of getting yelled at by a trainer or feeling judged by a weight loss support group, seeing a behavioral nutritionist gives you a trainer, a listener, and a cheerleader all in one.
Clearly, the key is not to get too caught up in following the latest diet, or exercise craze. Relax, allow yourself to have some fun, and don’t be afraid to get support. You can have the perfect weight loss motivation plan, but it has to be tailored to you.
