Motivation is the strangest thing in the world. Here you are doing even the most complex movements, getting up in the morning at five to go for a run, and now you are lying on the sofa with a cup of tea, and waking up until work. Losing weight is a long-term project, so our manipulations with weight often have to be supported by psychological tricks. Simply put, trick yourself into continuing to diet, exercise, and get enough sleep on a regular basis.
The best motivation is discipline. Soviet athletes were great only because of her. And in general, any athletes. A person who goes to training according to a plan and prepares food according to it simply cannot lose. He goes on, despite fatigue, muscle pain, distant prospects for results, despite the fact that he is generally worse than everyone else, and the entire section laughs at him. Whoever survives long enough will win. Those who don’t will become a physical culturist. If this is your approach, you don't need motivational advice. You are already there. Just keep going. Losing weight is not rocket science. The winner will be the one who sticks to a balanced diet and training plan for six months or a little less. For the rest of you, let's refresh your perspective with some advice.
Set a personal goal
Russian psychotherapist A. Vasyutin wrote a whole book about why those who lose weight don’t lose weight. Yes, they simply don’t care in their hearts about all these bonuses, like looking great in a swimsuit and having a perfectly functioning body. You should only lose weight if it is a truly personal goal. Or rather, if there is a deep personal motive. How to define it? There are a lot of ways, from automatic writing to going to hypnotists. If it doesn’t work, for half an hour just write on a piece of paper whatever comes to mind regarding goals and weight loss. After a while, re-read. What hooks you the most is a personal goal, a hidden motive that will move you towards the goal, even when you are really tired.
The best motivation is a realistic short-term goal
We set goals regularly. Even when we go to the store, we give ourselves the task: “buy bread.” You put on a jacket and then set the goal “not to freeze.” If you are tidying up the house before guests arrive, you again set the goal “to be a good housewife, to make a good impression.”
Every action we take is aimed at obtaining results. We always move through life in the direction that we consciously or unconsciously desire for ourselves. If we set the right goals, we will always go in the right direction.
Short-term goals are in most cases more important than medium- and long-term goals. They are aimed at meeting daily needs. They are easier to achieve.
Long-term goals are never achieved in most cases. They are a vital landmark, like a lighthouse, showing the direction. The motto of an alcoholic: “It’s impossible to drink all the vodka on earth, but you need to strive for it.” A big goal, just a dream! It is unlikely that he will implement it. But why not strive for it?
Likewise, a woman who wants to lose weight has a goal in her head, which may remain an unattainable dream. But there is a way out! Set short-term goals.
Related article: Why is it so difficult to lose weight
The great thing about daily goals is that they are easy to achieve. This way, your motivation to lose weight will not disappear after a couple of weeks. To keep your enthusiasm alive, follow these recommendations:
- Keep a motivational diary;
- On the cover write your main goal “I want to lose weight”;
- In the evening, make a plan for the next day. Write specifically: what you will eat (meal plan), how long you will exercise, how many steps you commit to take tomorrow, what healthy foods you will buy for yourself.
- The next day, carry out your plan.
- In the evening, thank yourself for successfully completing all the points and make a plan for the next day.
Come down from heaven to earth
All these 12-week transformations from a chubby programmer to a special forces soldier or from an accountant to a fitness model are not real. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends losing half a kilo a week for those who are “degree” obese, and 200g for those who are not. Approximately based on these numbers, calculate how much weight you can lose. It is better to discard any less realistic expectations immediately. Yes, at first it may take a couple of liters of water, but that’s all. The process will not be rapid. Be encouraged by the fact that you will be losing fat, not muscle.
Set mini goals
Let's say someone wants to lose 20 kg. This man goes to the gym, and after a week he has already lost 2 kg. After 2 - 3 kg. And then progress stopped. A person doesn’t think about mini-goals, doesn’t see his progress, and gets upset. Why, isn’t the final goal on the scale yet? And the girls don’t stack up on the bench press. Rather, comrades come there with valuable advice regarding the trajectory of the barbell and the degree of its recess into the chest. And on social networks all sorts of miracle trainers write about their slimness marathons. And of course their clients lose 100 kg in a millisecond. All this makes us return to our native football on TV and beer in a glass. It will be better if the goal is broken down into mini-goals. This, by the way, also applies to the bench press. Those who dream of squeezing out a hundred dollars in a month are almost always doomed if their form is far from athletic. But those who believe that they need to increase gradually will definitely achieve success.
Motivation No. 2 - personal life
The chances of finding a life partner for a slender woman are much higher than for a lady of XXXL size. Few men like fat women.
At an uncomfortable weight, a woman does not feel liberated and lacks grace. This gives rise to complexes, self-esteem falls, and with it the confidence to find a soul mate.
Extra pounds can become an obstacle to fulfilling sexual relationships. They limit partners in the variety of physiological satisfaction.
Obesity associated with hormonal imbalances affects the libido of both men and women. There is a rejection of your body.
A woman stops dressing brightly so as not to attract attention to herself. Lack of motivation to take care of yourself. Therefore, when a man begins to show signs of attention to a woman, she perceives them with caution. There is a fear that the man just wants to joke with her.
A plus size woman looks much older than her years. Excess weight in 100% of cases leads to poor health. What kind of sexual desire is there?
A woman dissatisfied with her appearance becomes irritable and sometimes hysterical.
Getting rid of extra pounds of fat will become a strong motivation for losing weight for a woman who wants to improve her personal life and find a worthy life partner.
Focus on yourself when choosing a plan
Some people work 12-hour shifts and don’t even remember about food during them. It is unlikely that he will be directly pleased by the need to eat fractionally, constantly set timers, and rush to the utility room to chew from a container while working. But on the weekend this person sits at home and calmly eats his fractional meals. What will suit him? No, no need to shout about discipline. Something like the 5/2 diet or intermittent fasting will suit him. Yes, eat when you can, and refuse food at times when you don’t have time for it. Three meals a day will also work. And it requires a high-fat diet, therefore, it is better to choose keto rather than classic low-carb.
This is how you should think when choosing something for yourself from working diets. It's exactly the same with sports. It is unlikely that anyone will travel across the city to the only normal CrossFit gym if this person works. But he will go to a regular rocking chair, because it is in the courtyard of the house. But the young mother will not go there, since there is no one to leave the child with. It’s really better for her to lose weight with an online trainer and a set of weights and fitness bands than to whine about missed opportunities and quietly hate the baby.
Affirmation for weight loss
There are special combinations of words that help you break down your psychological barriers and gain confidence to achieve your dream of a beautiful figure.
Affirmations are positive statements that help motivate yourself to certain attitudes. Their repeated repetition can work wonders. Faith and motivation are powerful things!
It is important to begin each statement with the word “I” or “To me” and speak in the present tense.
Affirmations are not prayer. You can say them in any order and add your own statements. It is important to conduct auto-training daily.
- I only eat when I'm hungry;
- I'm losing weight every day;
- I am following my meal plan;
- I control how much I eat;
- It's easy for me to lose weight;
- Every day I become slimmer;
- I am happy that the weight is decreasing every day;
- I feel healthy;
- I create a body that I will admire;
- I have a flat stomach;
- I love my figure;
- I like to take care of my body;
- I only eat healthy food;
- I am food independent;
- I got rid of food addiction;
- I believe in myself.
Related article: How to start the process of losing weight and speed up your metabolism?
Make a public statement
Remember the jokes about “Business Youth”? Well, these guys who bombarded all social networks with promises to earn wild billions? The organizers, by the way, made money, but the same cannot be said about the followers. But they did a lot of vigorous activity. It's the same with losing weight. A public statement will not allow you to “go off topic”, even if you are very tired and bored. Just don’t post on social networks. But in reality, make a public statement in front of people who are personally dear to you. What does it matter to you if your subscribers consider you not very honest? But if it’s a girlfriend or wife, that’s already a problem.
Plan in waves
This principle from the scientific organization of labor can be applied to losing weight. Yes, you can plan yourself weeks of a very strict diet, or more physical activity, and relaxation. The main thing is to do everything consciously so as not to go on a food binge. People who plan to work out the workouts they missed during the Christmas holidays at home with simple functional exercises, and make the birthday cake they ate low-calorie, lose weight more often than those who cheerfully and without a plan go on a binge. And then - into tears that everything was lost, and there was no need to even start.
If there are problems with load planning, it makes sense to hire a coach. Better not the one who has no idea about planning, but the one who has personal experience of performing in sports. How does this relate to losing weight? Yes, very simple. No athlete has ever become successful without the skill of load planning.
How to increase your motivation to lose weight
Losing weight starts with a motive
So the motive is very serious. It’s not for nothing that they say that losing weight starts from the head. It’s not for nothing that more than half of my patients ask “ Help me really WANT to lose weight, help me increase my motivation!”
“Yes, and in Internet queries this very thing is “how to increase motivation” one of the most popular.
In fact, there are no problems with losing weight if a person does not forget about his goal for a minute. Imagine: by agreement with the bank, for every kilogram you lose, you are paid one million rubles. And you urgently need money to purchase a country house. I’m sure you can easily get the required 10-15 million in a month. And you’re not even particularly exhausted. From such a rosy prospect, your entire body will work like a clock. And the tone will increase and the reserves will begin to “burn” with triple energy. By the way, compare: they promised you a million, but somehow it’s not firm, either they will give it, or they won’t give it... Well, what now? Isn’t it true that something doesn’t “ignite”?.. And all because in conditions of such uncertainty it is impossible to form a motive.
How to create a motive?
And further. The motive cannot be invented, imagined, or borrowed from a friend.
You can’t “get fired up” by going over in your thoughts all these boring “fitting into a tight dress”, “receiving compliments”, “buying beautiful clothes in smaller sizes”... Because the motive does not come from thoughts, but from the subconscious, from a TRUE need. It must be supported by emotions and meaningful images. He is not making things up, he is “covering.” Suddenly, you don’t even understand exactly why, we are overcome by this very thing I WANT! and we take action. It turns out, as it were, not “the motive is with us,” but “we are with the motive.”
So, I have no doubt that we all want to be slimmer and lighter. But we don’t have time to do anything worthwhile about this. We don't have time to reach the end. There are many desires. They are crowding. They crawl on top of each other, replacing each other. We wanted to lose weight, but now we don’t want to... We are doing something exactly the opposite. For example, we eat a LOT of ice cream or chocolate. And then it turns out that in order to successfully lose weight, we must CARE about our motive. Remember it, strengthen it and take care of it in every possible way.
How to remember him?
The first thing that comes to mind is various kinds of reminders
: desktop screensavers, notes to your loved one in a visible place, refrigerator magnets, some “harmonious” associations, things, swimsuits, photos, etc. You can simply tell yourself, with or without reason, “I’m losing weight, losing weight!”
But daily weighing
. Let me emphasize: you JUST weigh yourself every day and this is already enough to remember your weight and that it would be nice to lose it a little. You don't scold yourself, you don't push yourself, you are JUST interested in your weight.
Here: keeping a diary of nutrition, physical activity... Here you can write down self-observations, findings, ideas gleaned from books or forums, recipes found... And here it is very important for us to understand that we need to make this activity not boring, but interesting.
Everything that is unusual at first causes our internal resistance. But imagine the opposite situation. It has long become habitual for you to daily write down the foods you ate: name, approximate amount, reason for which you ate, thoughts about it, etc. And suddenly, one day you were unable to make another entry. And how will you feel?
This is a common phenomenon, as understandable to neurophysiologists as the dominant. It's called a dynamic stereotype
and was discovered, by the way, by our compatriot Academician I.P. Pavlov. Its essence is as follows. In the brain, certain programs are formed, chains of commands and actions dedicated to achieving something useful for us. And then they are executed automatically.
These are habits or habitual sequence of actions. I came home and lay down on the sofa. Because he always came and went to bed. But if the sofa suddenly disappears, or you can’t lie down on it, you immediately feel uneasy, anxious... Habits don’t appear right away and don’t disappear right away. Psychologists write that it takes about three weeks to form a habit. I don't think so. If you do something and immediately get pleasure or benefit, then this action quickly becomes habitual. If you have to do something unpleasant, for example, abstain from dinner after six in the evening, then it will not be possible to form a lasting habit for quite a long time.
As for diaries, I think at first it will not be very pleasant to keep them. But it's very interesting. You will learn a lot of new things for yourself. For example, people often do not remember to eat many snacks and are unaware of their actual nutrition, its composition and calorie content.
How to strengthen it?
It is best to strengthen the motive aimed at losing weight by specific actions aimed in the same direction. For example, daily tonic walks. For example, a good night's sleep. And again, if any of the above is unusual for you, see the previous text about I.P. Pavlova.
Let’s agree that there would be no problem with losing weight at all if you and I had only habits that HELPFUL to lose weight, and there were no habits that interfered with it.
How to form the habit of walking for 20-25 minutes 1-2 times a day? Just by feeling that it is PLEASANT and useful. It’s pleasant because it improves our mood, makes us more positive and cheerful, and normalizes our appetite. They are useful because against the background of an adequately selected load, our body begins to work like clockwork. Fat metabolism is normalized, cholesterol and blood pressure levels are reduced, and the functioning of the cardiovascular system is improved.
It is clear that you can strengthen what you remember. And vice versa, I worked on strengthening the motive, and at the same time strengthened the memory of it.
I want to warn you: excessive loads, grueling workouts, and traumatic joints are more likely to interfere with losing weight. And in many ways it may be because you can’t get used to them.
By the way, our 10 rules are aimed at developing correct eating habits, each of which allows you to slightly reduce the calorie content of your diet without resorting to any prohibitions or restrictions. For example, the same rule of multi-component food or a restaurant approach to nutrition: we take not one type of side dish for meat, but 3 or 4 at once. We add green peas, vegetables, sauce, delicious bread... And as a result, it becomes tastier for us and we eat more slowly, because Each new portion of food is different from the previous one. We begin to savor, taste, and enjoy various tastes.
And it’s clear that the slower we eat, the fewer calories we need to get full. So, it would seem, nothing but pleasure and nothing but benefit. But even this simple rule requires developing a habit. Make an effort somewhere. Go for some temporary discomfort. For example, make it a rule to always have cooked buckwheat, cooked rice, possibly lentils, and so on in the refrigerator.
How to take care of it?
You’ve probably already noticed that everything that helps us not to forget about our goal strengthens the motive, everything that strengthens the motive helps us preserve it.
But here we need to add a couple more comments. If we are overzealous in terms of diet, if we drive ourselves to hunger and begin to suffer from this hunger, our entire motivational matrix is grossly distorted. And we have no time to lose weight. All good intentions are superseded by the desire to eat immediately.
The mechanism of this phenomenon is very simple. Hunger means the body's extreme (vital) need for food. It is clear that in this state there can be only one motive - to urgently find food, preferably fattier and sweeter, and to eat for future use.
The same applies to excessive tedious training. During high-intensity exercise, the body quickly burns out its carbohydrate reserves. It is really small, about 450-500 kcal. Then the blood sugar level begins to decrease, which we feel as unbearable hunger. Plus extreme fatigue, muscle pain, depression. All this also does not add positive motivation to us.
So it turns out that the best way to maintain your weight loss motive is to try not to get hungry and tired from exercise. How not to get caught? In nutrition, these can be the same 10 rules, or a gentle fasting regimen using dietary modifiers. Loads include recreational walking and toning exercises. And let's not forget about proper rest. Nothing prevents you from losing weight like lack of sleep. Read more about this here.
Stop striving for perfection
Not 200 g of fresh beef, but 240? It’s okay, the main thing is that it’s not half a kilogram of potatoes to take away. Perfection is the reason why a lot of good projects were closed. If a person is constantly not satisfied with the result of his work, and he tries to tighten something up, he is at risk. The diet is stricter and stricter, and now the diet is limited to breast meat and cucumbers. There are more and more workouts, and now in the morning you do cardio for an hour, and in the evening you do strength training for an hour. A person overtrains, his nervous system fails, he gradually goes crazy, but does not change anything in his life. Because it breaks down.
Where is the mistake?
- Fighting extra pounds. Yes, yes, it is this struggle that prevents you from losing those extra centimeters. Stop fighting excess weight - start enjoying the process of losing weight. Look for those methods, methods and diets that will bring you joy. Any “hard labor” in this matter is an obstacle to beautiful body contours. Remember, fighting weight and striving for lightness are two different motivations and, accordingly, tasks, both in goals and in the means of achieving them.
- Motivation. Losing weight “for the summer” or for a specific number on the scale is the wrong motivator. Your purpose should be clearer, deeper, and truly powerful.
- Negative attitude. If you are pre-prepared for a war with excess weight, and are even sure of your defeat (“I can’t”, “I can’t handle it”, etc.), then you will never achieve your goal. Look around. Many people who have successfully lost weight have regained not only ease of movement, but also the elasticity of new contours, because they didn’t just want it, but were clearly moving towards the goal. If it worked for them, then why can’t it work for you? Whatever excuses you come up with now in response to this question, remember: if you are not confident in yourself, then you have chosen the wrong motivation.
- There is no need to give up food and then fall into depression , greedily look into the plates of cafe visitors and make brutal raids on the refrigerator at night according to the principle “not a single cutlet will survive.” Why work yourself into hysteria? First, give up mayonnaise, bread, fast food and fatty foods. When you get used to replacing mayonnaise with olive oil, and rolls with biscuits, you can move to the second level - replacing the usual desserts (buns, cakes, candies and chocolates) with healthy ones. When you have an unbearable craving for sweets, you don’t need to rush to the store for a cake - bake yourself some apples with nuts and honey in the oven. Do your teeth constantly itch and want to chew on something? Make crackers from black bread with garlic in a frying pan and nibble to your health. The next level is replacing dinner with a milk-curd delicacy with minimal fat content, and so on. Remember that everything takes a habit. You won’t be able to just give up everything at once - your body will require an alternative. Therefore, first look for an alternative, and only then begin to prohibit yourself from everything - slowly, step by step.
- High bar. It is important to know that the norm for weight loss, reasonable and healthy, with a long-term effect, is a maximum of 1.5 kg per week. Don't try to lose more! This will only harm the body (such extreme weight loss is especially dangerous for heart patients, as well as for kidney disease, etc.), in addition, the weight will quickly return back according to the “yo-yo” principle.
And, of course, remember that you need a complete and proper sleep schedule. After all, lack of sleep only provokes stress and the production of ghrelin (almost a “gremlin”) - the hunger hormone .
Keep calm - and lose weight with pleasure!
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Love and respect your body
This is a tip that works well on girls. It's rare for guys to actually hate their bodies. But to the results of your training – quite often. Those who train for sports are almost never satisfied with their results. Girls, on the other hand, feel pressure like there are only models around, and an unknown fat woman is looking out of the mirror.
You will have to love the body, stop torturing it, start putting it to bed on time, and not starve it, but feed it with decent foods. Training also applies - stop collecting homegrown fitness gurus on Instagram, hire a normal trainer with a diploma, and get busy.
Motivation #4 - Self-confidence
Low self-esteem and self-doubt are a common companion for overweight people. The inability to lose weight and bring your body back to normal becomes a psychological problem. This condition can greatly affect your mood and even develop into depression.
Overweight people often feel guilty. It seems to them that they cannot lose weight due to weak willpower and laziness. They lose confidence. Their opinion of themselves and their capabilities decreases.
My attempts to lose weight were unsuccessful, which means I have a weak character. This is how most fat people think about themselves. Self-esteem decreases, and along with it the desire to understand the problem disappears. Obese people withdraw into themselves and suffer greatly from this.
Similar article: Walnut oil for weight loss - benefits and applications
Many people believe that when they lose weight, they will be happier. This is not entirely true. It all depends on the individual, the person’s internal attitudes. Therefore, it is important not only to engage in the process of losing weight, but also to engage in self-development, personal and spiritual growth.
Gaining self-confidence, becoming happier and improving the quality of your life will be a good motivation for people who are thinking about their future life.
Find exercises you enjoy
Yes, you shouldn’t even start thinking that training is just some kind of holiday for a beginner. First you have to “work in.” And then - if the excitement of achievement comes - everything will go easily. It’s much easier for those who care about weight gain to stay in the gym than for those who work out for the beach. Summer is ending, but the glory of the strongest man in the rocking chair is eternal. So train for the sport. First, find your sport. Technically, almost any activity is good for losing weight. So if you like yoga or some weird dances, that's okay. It’s better to do it regularly than to suffer from disgust in the gym.
Get a trainer. And a nutritionist
Not from Instagram. Normal specialists suddenly charge decent money for their services. But they provide them, and don’t just send out some pieces of paper with “200 g of dry buckwheat per day, 400 g of chicken fillet, plus 4 tablespoons of butter, and unlimited cucumbers.” If you get nonsense on your own and not nutrition, we look for a specialist. He will analyze your mistakes and teach you how to eat regular food so that you can lose weight. It's the same with training. Sometimes a couple of technical errors turn all the gym sessions into fruitless ones.
