Does it feel hopeless to start and stick to a fitness routine? Are you just not motivated to take the first step toward a healthier lifestyle?
You’re not alone. Thousands of people struggle every day to control their health. This article offers ways to help motivate people to lose weight and live more active lives.
1. Where You Went Off-Track
Before starting down the path toward better health, knowing where you came from is essential. How did you decide you needed to lose weight? Where did you pick up your poor eating habits? Why did your unhealthy lifestyle become the norm?
These are the questions you might ask yourself as you prepare to take back your body. Now that you know where you have been, you can prepare to leave it all in the past.
2. Understand Why
Determining why you want to get healthy and lose weight will be the backbone of your fitness journey. A simple list you read daily can help you stay on track and remind yourself why you are committed to this new lifestyle.
Reasons could include keeping up with your kids, fitting into an old suit, running a marathon, feeling more confident, or avoiding diabetes and high blood pressure. Whatever you choose, keep the list handy for daily reminders when you feel tired or unmotivated.
3. Pick the Right Fitness Plan
This is one of the most important steps in getting back in shape. I have seen too many people choose the wrong exercise plan and fail miserably.
Personally, I hate running. It has never been my sport, and it will never be. That being said, there are numerous other cardio activities I can do for a workout. If I were on a running plan, I’d become another statistic of failure.
Find an exercise you like. This could be hiking, biking, swimming, dancing or tennis. Whatever excites you and gets a sweat pumping will be the best program for you.
4. Have Realistic Expectations
Losing weight can be a long process. Experts recommend losing 1 or 2 pounds a week, so it can seem like your goal will take forever.
Don’t let that discourage you. As time passes, your energy levels will rise, you’ll start crushing your workouts, and the weight will slowly fall off. No one goes from the couch to an Ironman overnight. It takes time, commitment, and a lot of discipline.
5. Focus on Process Goals
We all might have the end goal of losing a certain amount of weight. While that’s a great end goal, we need to incorporate some process goals along the way.
Process goals are small stepping stones to the end result. We can’t build a wall without laying a few bricks. For example, process goals could include committing to 5 30-minute walks next week or getting take-out only once. These little acts will eventually add up over time into something special.
6. Celebrate Small Victories
Too many people stare at the light at the end of the tunnel instead of the road right in front of them. Celebrating small victories will keep you motivated and prove that the process is working and that you are on the right track.
Small victories could include running a mile without stopping, lifting a heavier weight than you could last week, or finishing a hike you haven’t done in years. Those are big accomplishments. Celebrate them. But make sure you don’t stray from your diet.
7. Keep a Journal
A journal is the best way to track your eating and fitness habits and weight loss. Writing down your daily food intake and workouts will keep you honest with your progress.
As you journal, you might notice patterns in your behavior and how they reflect your mood and energy levels. Tracking your meals might also help you see the foods you put in your body and the healthier options you could swap them out with.
8. Seek Social Support
Ask anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight, and they will tell you it would have been extremely hard to do without a support system. If you’re serious about taking back your life and getting into shape, you’ll need help from your friends and family.
A good support group keeps you motivated and helps you not lose sight of your objective. It might even spark a fire that leads your friends or loved ones to join you. Imagine how much easier eating right and working out will be when your partner or best friends decide to follow in your footsteps.
9. Find a Role Model
I’m not suggesting you tape a picture of a social influencer or supermodel on your fridge to look at every day, but looking up to someone can be beneficial.
Look up blogs or Instagrammers who have been in your shoes, and follow their routines and habits. These people have experienced your struggles and know how complicated the process can be. They could eventually become an added branch to your social support system.
10. Make a Financial Commitment
It’s one thing to say you will go to the gym, but doing it is much harder. But what if you spent $200 on a gym membership? Wouldn’t you feel guilty if you didn’t go?
Sometimes, these financial commitments are a trick we need to convince ourselves to get off the sofa. I know I’d be more likely to go to the gym if I knew I’d lose money otherwise.
11. Understand There Will be Setbacks
Like everything in life, there are setbacks. Busy work schedules, sick kids, holidays, and other unforeseen events can damper your daily routine and throw you off your diet. Don’t worry; it’s OK to slip up and have a cheat day or two.
There’s only a problem when these cheat days turn into cheat weeks or months. If you’re spiraling into old habits, you need to step back, relax, and review your beginning notes. Remind yourself of the benefits of this health journey.
Everyone has these moments of challenges. It is through adapting and pushing that we achieve our goals.
12. Understand You’re Not Perfect
Going off the understanding there will be setbacks, it’s also important to note that trying to be perfect will ultimately lead to failure. No one is perfect. The most fit Hollywood actors enjoy a pint of ice cream every now and again.
Eating a perfect diet and exercising the right amount every day is unrealistic. If you put this much pressure on yourself, you are bound to fail.
13. Get a Dog
Do you understand how hard it is to sleep in and be lazy with a puppy? It’s almost impossible not to add steps to your daily tracker when a four-legged friend is bugging you to go outside.
Dogs are a big responsibility, but they’re the perfect companion for daily walks, visits to the park, and playtime activities, all of which help you burn calories.
14. Get Professional Help
If your workouts have plateaued or you aren’t seeing the results you hoped for, you can always seek professional help. Whether it’s a personal trainer or a registered dietician, there’s no shame in getting other people’s opinions.
These people could help shake up your workouts or spot holes in your diet that you were unaware of. If they help you reach your final goal, I think it’s money well spent.
15. Learn to Love Your Body
This is very difficult for many people. With the rise of social media influencers, some of us have an obsession with what a healthy body should look like.
No matter how hard we try, we might never look like those influencers or celebrities who grace the front pages of magazines. But, when we exercise, eat healthy, and achieve our goals, we can feel as good as anyone. And how we feel inside and out is truly what is most important.
