6 Top Tips to Maintain Your Motivation to Lose Weight

Maintaining the motivation to lose weight is often the most difficult part of the weight loss process. Most people have no difficulties starting a new diet or fitness program and getting all pumped up at the beginning. It's actually sticking with long term goals over a period of months and years that most people find hard. If you're tired of losing and gaining the same pounds over and over, here are some sure-fire tips to consider to maintain your motivation for losing weight.

Check Your Numbers

The motivation to lose weight is not just about looking and feeling better. It's also about knowing you are healthier inside! One way to stay motivated is to visit your doctor and have blood work drawn just before you begin your new diet. You can go back at regular intervals to see changes in your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and other important numbers.

If you have been diagnosed with diabetes or another health problem, just going off of your medications and knowing you have eliminated the health risk can be great motivation.

Give Yourself Praise

You can maintain your weight loss motivation by measuring your compliance with goals on a daily basis. You essentially want to give yourself praise for all of your hard work, whether it be a sticker in a notebook or a checkbook in your day planner. If you are handy on the computer you can even create a chart that you update daily.

Team Up

If you can team up with a friend or family member who will hold you accountable, you could both reach your goals much faster and push through the hard times. It's harder to miss a workout when you know someone is waiting on you at the front doors of the gym.

You may even want to create friendly competition or set a prize that only one of you can win at regular intervals. If you have a competitive spirit this can be a great way to maintain the motivation to lose weight over a longer period of time.

Make a Date

Alternatively, you can sustain your motivation to lose weight by competing against yourself. Sign up for a 5 kilometer run (or walk) every month or so and challenge yourself to improve your time.

Rewards

Setting rewards to be enjoyed at regular intervals will help you keep your eyes on the prize. Having only one reward at the end once you've achieved your ultimate weight loss goal won't work since it is so far off, but smaller rewards set every 5 or 10 pounds will deliver that motivation to lose weight.

Have A Deeper Purpose

It's easy to say you want to drop 40 pounds so you look hot in your bikini, but what are the deeper reasons you want to lose weight? Take some time to write down a comprehensive list that includes all of the reasons why you want to lose weight. Stick it up around your home or keep it in your purse so you can read through it when you start to lose motivation.

Now, take some time to turn this around on yourself. Make a list of all the things you foresee that could happen in your future if you don't do what it takes to lose weight. Which list do you want to be living in the next 5 years?

Reflect on your own personality quirks to come up with more unique ways to maintain your weight loss motivation.

This article was written by Richard Spackman of "Motivation To Lose Weight". For more tips, tools and resources to stay motivated to lose weight, visit Motivation To Lose Weight

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