Diet Motivation
Diet Motivation Tips:
* Remind yourself of your reason on a regular basis.
* Try to have more than one reason for dieting.
* Make plans for the future regarding your reason. For example if you
are going on holiday once you have lost weight, and one of your reasons
is that you can sunbathe by the pool in a bikini and look great, then
make plans for the holiday, and what you will wear
* Try to have something physical to remind you of your reason - stick
up pictures of where you are going on holiday and carry one around with
you in your purse/wallet.
* Visualise what it will be like fulfilling your reason - shut your
eyes and imagine you have achieved your goal.
Apart from your main reasons for losing
weight there will of course be many other positive effects that
losing weight will have. Remember to focus on these effects
too. General effects could be:
- Being able to wear whatever clothes you like
- Having more energy
- Enjoying better health
- Spending less money on food
- People noticing that you have lost weight
- Being able to participate in a particular sport
- Positive effects on your relationship with your partner
- People will find me attractive
- Having fun on a beach
The list is endless and will probably be different for each person.
So how will this all help me? Well it means:
* You will be dieting because you want to diet
* You want to diet because something really great and exciting is going
to happen to you
* You will feel in control because you are dieting because you choose
to
* You should have less bad days because you are so pre-occupied with
how great it will be in the future
* Should you have bad days you can use your motivation as a weapon.
If you feel like giving up try to think of your reason and how great
you will feel
* You should actually enjoy being on a diet
Here's how to generate a bit of diet motivation for yourself.
- Measure yourself all over.
i.e. measure your bust, waist, hips, thighs, butt and upper arms.
- Make a note of these body-shape statistics.
- Every 2 weeks or every month, re-measure yourself.
- Each 1/2 inch lost will do wonders for your diet motivation. Even
if weight loss slows down (e.g. because you reach a temporary weight
loss plateau) you may find you are still losing inches which will inspire
you to maintain your weight loss campaign
- Start with a sensible diet plan. Most people lose motivation because
they have unreal expectation. Their dieting is unrealistic and deprives
them of many favorite foods. Of course to lose weight, you must stay
disciplined and stick to a diet that allows you to burn more calories
than you eat. Write down each meal you plan to eat for the day. Include
foods that you like and eat 4 to 5 servings of fruits and vegetables.
Eat 3 to 5 meals per day and limit your portion size.
- Increase your motivation by setting realistic goals. Most people want
to lose weight fast, unfortunately our metabolism is not set up for
fast weight loss. Athletes can lose weight fast because they burn a
tremendous amount of calories each day due to their high activity level.
The rest of us tend to be sedentary or sit at a desk all day, and the
prospect of losing 20 pounds in the next two weeks is not very good.
A more realistic goal is to strive to lose about 1 pound per week. A
good diet is the only way to make this happen but you should have one
free day every week to eat foods you really like as long as you don't
over do it.
- Dieting begins by eliminating temptation. Keeping baked goods, chips
and other easy to eat, fattening snacks at home in places where you
frequently visit and have easy access will sabotage your dieting effort
and motivation. Remove the temptation if you have a problem snacking
on pastries, chocolate or chips, particularly late at night.
- Lunch buffets can destroy motivation. Lunch buffets and office parties
can be equally distracting when dieting. The first 3 to 4 weeks are
critical to establishing good eating habits and little things such as
birthday cake at the office or chocolate bars can destroy your motivation
to lose weight.
- Successful dieting is not an overnight process. Remember, weight loss
is not an overnight process. It takes weeks to establish good dieting
and exercise habits and several more weeks to start seeing results.
- If family members don't normally eat junk food, DO NOT buy baked goods,
pastry, chips or other high calorie junk food. If family members are
not willing to give up their junk food then put all fatty snacks in
a designated place where you seldom visit. The old saying "Out
of sight, out of mind" is very true when it comes to dieting
- Make sure that the eating plan you're following - whether it's a commercial
plan like Weight Watchers or one you devised yourself - suits your needs
and cravings. Do you need the control of weighing and measuring every
bite that you eat, or do you need the freedom of eating whatever quantities
of low-fat, nutritious foods that satisfy your hunger? Do you feel most
in control if you eat 3 meals a day, or if you "graze" on
5 or 6 small meals throughout the day? Do you need to ease into a new
eating plan gradually, adapting to new low-fat, high-fiber foods week
by week, or would you be more motivated by going "cold turkey"
on junk foods? Do what works for you.
- Don't beat yourself up if you "fall off the wagon" and indulge
(or even overindulge) in something you think you shouldn't have eaten.
An episode of uncontrolled eating does not mean that you or your diet
failed, just as a minor fender-bender doesn't mean that you or your
car are totally unworthy of ever appearing in traffic again.
Related Links
Motivation
Stay On Track
Motivating Thoughts
Motivation Tips
Do's & Don'ts
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