Six Keys To Successfully Motivating Weight Loss

By Leslie Ball


If you're like most people who have tried to shed extra body fat, you've no doubt experienced the frustration that can accompany that effort. Getting your body into better shape is certainly no easy task. In fact, millions of people each year start diet and exercise regimens only to abandon the struggle after only a few weeks or months. The key to avoiding that failure is to understand a few basic tips for motivating weight loss success.

You expectations will play a large role in your success or failure. Are you expecting to lose all that weight in a month? The fact is that most people don't get fat in a day or a month. They typically won't lose that fat that quickly either. Realistically, healthy fat reduction involves losing no more than two pounds each week.

Deprivation kills dieting. Learn that fact and avoid it all costs. You didn't get out of shape just because you enjoy a piece of cake every now and again. You gained the fat because you ate too much of almost everything, and did so regularly. If you try to deny yourself all the foods you love, you will eventually fail. With that in mind, be prepared to give yourself those treats on a regular basis.

Calories are king, so count and record them daily. If you don't, you'll have no way of knowing what works. Maintain a journal that records meals, calories, exercise, and even your emotions. That data will be useful as you adjust your plan, and can prove to be extremely motivation when you look back on your progress and commitment.

Look for positive messages and skip the negativity. Many overweight people spend so much time being critical of themselves that they actually invite failure. After listening to their own inner voices criticize their many failures, most just lose hope and settle back into their own ways. Motivate yourself with positive self-talk and find friends and family members who will offer similar encouragement.

There is nothing like preparing your own food to teach you about proper nutrition. By doing so, you will learn to create new and healthy meals, gain control over the ingredients used in your meals, and regulate not only what you eat but how much you eat. The entire process can be extremely motivational, and can help to keep you focused on the task at hand.

Finally, never allow failure to get the best of you. Almost every dieter fails at least once in his or her efforts to get back into shape. Many simply give up and return to their old habits, gaining even more extra pounds and confirming their worst fears about themselves. When you fail and find yourself cheating on your dietary plan or skipping exercise, pick yourself up and start again.

There are few tasks more monumental than that of shedding excess weight. However, if you are prepared to follow these six basic pieces of advice, you can continue to be motivated to continue your efforts through to the end. When it's all said and done, you'll discover that the end goal was well worth the work required to achieve it.




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