HOW TO GET MOTIVATED TO LOSE WEIGHT

HOW TO GET MOTIVATED TO LOSE WEIGHT

I often see those motivational quotes floating around social media that talk about becoming motivated to succeed, whether it be in love, career, business, study, exercise, health, weight loss, muscle gain, wellbeing etc. And I have to admit I think that they do a world of good, but it always makes me wonder if the person sharing it, is the person that actually needs the motivation themselves.

I think the biggest challenge I am faced with when it comes to my weight loss clients is motivation. It seems that most people think that they need motivation first before they do something, opposed to doing something and then becoming motivated. It always takes the first big leap of faith before motivation actually kicks in.

Motivation stimulates desire and energy. Sometimes we want something more than anything however we just don’t know how to attain it, as we lack motivation to stick with it. Motivation and weight loss go hand in hand with each other, and I don’t necessarily think that it has to do with the fact that we lack motivation; it is a lack of knowing how to access and attain the motivation to be able to strive forward.

For instance, if you want to lose weight and become fit and healthy, that isn’t just a want, it is a goal. But if you don’t do anything about it – that isn’t necessarily a lack of motivation, because the thought of wanting to achieve weight loss goals is moving towards motivation, it’s just that attaining it seems to be harder than it appears.

In my experience dealing with weight loss, coaching my clients to access their motivation, and helping to motivate them I have found the biggest setback is most people wait for motivation to come knocking on their front door with a big sign that says “Hi my name is motivation and I am here to kick your butt into gear.”

But what people aren’t realising is the fact that you want to attain something, that is actually motivation, the actual thing that you are lacking is, drum roll please – HABIT.

It’s a natural process we are trained to be robots of comfort and habit. When we don’t know a certain way to be because we have never been that way before, it can be daunting, it pushes the mind out of the comfort zone where it doesn’t feel comfortable, leading to a lot of self-talk doubt such as “I’ll start tomorrow” “who are you to think that you can lose weight” “it’s just genetics, I’ve been like this my whole life” The self-sabotage is coming because you have your set routine, your set habit, meaning that the mind becomes uncomfortable at making change.

It takes 21 days to break an old habit and form a new habit, meaning that most people mistake having a set routine and habit around achieving goals because it isn’t actually a habit yet. The feeling of motivation comes from having a habit and routine in place.

When I first starting working out and focussing on my health and wellbeing, in the beginning it was hard waking up in the mornings to exercise, and I did want to sleep in or eat that cheat meal, but I pushed through and after 3 months I was more motivated than ever to keep focusing on my health and wellbeing because one I was seeing results, two I was reaping the benefits but three I had formed a habit and it was now a part of my lifestyle.

So when you’re waiting for motivation to come knocking at your door remember you already have your goal in place, meaning motivation is already there, your comfort zone, and old habits are fighting you to stay in your regular routine. Mix it up a bit, I dare you to try exercising every day, and eating health every day for 21 days, and you see what happens after that.

Head over to my website www.crosstrainingsystems.com.au to get exercise ideas or visit my Facebook page CTS5N nutrition for loads of nutrition information and healthy meal options to get you moving towards creating habits to succeed at your weight loss goals.

Yours in health and fitness

Aaron Buchan