Forgotten Tricks to Boost Motivation for Weight Loss Results

The most important factor leading to weight loss, apart from creating a caloric deficit, is consistency.

Being consistent in your diet and your training is what separates people who successfully lost weight from the ones who failed.

Almost any diet, as well as any training routine, are going to be effective if you simply stick to them.

What makes people adhere to their weight loss plans is being motivated.

The motivation should first start from the inside, by finding a reason and setting realistic goals for yourself.

In this article, we will go over the process of self-control and motivation, as well as other factors that can additionally support you on your journey.

Remember the reason why you started

Losing weight is a process, which you should start by formulating the specific reason why you want it.

The reasons can be plenty – to live longer, to treat a chronic disease, to look better for a big occasion, or to feel more confident and attractive.

It is best if you list down the reason or reasons somewhere. Then you can reread them and remind yourself of your ultimate goal.

Losing weight to boost your confidence is quite an effective method.

When people slim down and start working out, they feel more attractive and like themselves better.

But this is not the only benefit you will reap. Obesity is a risk factor for the main causes of death worldwide.

Your body size and shape is directly related to your health. Being overweight is linked to high blood pressure as well as the reduction in body fat is proven to control hypertension effectively.

Obesity also affects the lipid profile – increased levels of cholesterol raise the risk for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases (1).

Multiple studies also show a strong relation to type 2 diabetes (2).

A little less known is the relationship between obesity and the risk of Alzheimer’s for which there is also compelling scientific evidence (3).

Take-Away:

Writing down and rereading your reasons to start a journey on weight-loss can help you stay motivated.

Set realistic goals and start with baby steps

The setting of goals and mapping the steps throughout your journey of weight loss has been proven to be an extremely efficient method to keep yourself in-check and motivated (4).

However, it can also become a reason for failure if not done right. If the targets set are not realistic, there is a huge chance to completely lose motivation.

When setting your goals, you have to begin with baby steps. You do not need to lose a large amount of weight right away.

Science has proven with multiple studies, that losing as little as 5% of your body weight, leads to significant improvements in overall health and the risk factors for all related diseases – cardiovascular, diabetes, cancer, etc. (5).

You should not lose motivation also after the initial weight loss – sometimes there is a quick reduction in body weight right after the start of a diet, which however is usually accounted for the loss of water.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you have lost only water.

That quick initial weight loss is followed by slower steadier progress, so do not get discouraged just because there are no big weight changes anymore.

Burning fat is slower, and it is actually better this way. Losing fat as slow as possible is more beneficial for our overall metabolism then losing it quickly.

It is very important to maintain our muscle mass when losing weight. Muscle mass is the main driver of our metabolism.

It makes more than 30% of our body weight and it is almost 3 times more metabolically active than fat tissue.

Despite some organs burning even more calories, their low weight compared to the whole body lowers their overall impact.

Muscle mass has another advantage as the main contributor to our metabolic rate – it’s size can be modified by our lifestyle and diet.

The more muscle we have, the more calories we burn when physically active too.

And with the proper stimulus, we can further increase that metabolic rate. This is why it is important to preserve our muscles when we are dieting to lose weight.

Dieting aggressively and losing weight too quickly can lead to unwanted loss of muscle mass, which lowers our metabolic rate and makes us more likely to suffer from the yo-yo effect.

The recommended rate for weight loss should be anywhere between 2 and 4 kilograms per month.

Higher amounts can be applied for cases of severe obesity but still generally not recommended.

Take-Away:

The smaller and more realistic your goals are, the longer you will stay motivated and on track with your plan.

Make sure your plan is suitable to your schedule

Apart from setting unrealistic goals, a lot of people also start weight-loss activities unrealistic for the long term.

They start doing long sessions of cardio or intensive weight training right away, which results in massive soreness on the next day and complete loss of motivation or desire to even move at all.

The method of baby-steps should be applied here as well for maximum long-term results.

We should start with short sessions of cardio or just 2-3 workouts with weights per week. It is better to begin using light weights and focus mainly on technique.

This will ensure not only milder muscle soreness the next day but will also minimize the risk of injuries.

It will be also easier to fit this new routine into your schedule.

For many people with a lot of work and busy schedules, keeping the training sessions just two per week can be enough even in the long run.

Provided that the training methods are correct and efficient, great long-term results can be achieved.

You should also pick a diet that can be easily fit into your daily schedules. Not everyone has access to fresh and healthy food during work.

For people with busy schedules who work in the morning a very suitable diet is intermittent fasting 16/8.

The fast will continue from the last meal for the night, till the end of the shift on the next day – at least 16 hours.

During that fast, we are allowed to consume only water and coffee without milk, cream or sugar.

Generally, any diet can be effective as long as it restricts the total amount of calories consumed, without eliminating whole groups of foods.

Weight loss depends only on the size of the caloric deficit (6).

Instead of removing completely carbohydrates or animal products or cooked foods, it is much more effective to make small restrictions like smaller meals, fewer snacks and sugary drinks, less fried foods and desserts.

Take-Away:

It is important to pick a training routine and a diet that you can fit into your schedule. Again it is best to start with small changes and slowly accommodate.

Track your progress both in and outside the gym

Studies show that the most important psychological aspects of weight loss are autonomous motivation, self-efficacy, and self-control (7).

This makes self-monitoring another important aspect of successful weight loss. Weight loss is more effective when we track our food intake.

Keeping a food journal can be beneficial, not only for tracking quantities but also for identifying unhealthy habits and triggers.

It is especially easy to track your caloric intake with all the apps and calorie counters nowadays.

For a lot of people, it is very helpful to find out their actual caloric intake.

Studies show that people who have not counted their calories underestimate the amount they consume (8, 9).

A lot of people start noticing that they are making the wrong dietary choices by picking mostly high caloric foods that do not provide sufficient feeling of fullness.

Other people will notice if they snack too much between the meals or eat most of their calories at night.

Listing down your emotions, along with the food intake, can help you find triggers that make you overeat so that you can have better self-control.

Counting calories allows us to better balance our calorie consumption throughout the day and to restrict the foods that do not provide satiety.

However, counting calories has its disadvantages – for many people counting calories becomes more important than the actual choice of food.

Others get obsessed with calories and restrict themselves too much. As a result, they become much more likely to lose motivation and binge eat.

Counting calories in the long term can trigger obsessive-compulsive behavior and become a source of an eating disorder.

For some people, it is simply too demanding, stressful or consumes too much time.

This is why counting calories should not be recommended for a long-term diet.

It is best used in the short term to get a hold on how much to consume and avoid triggers or unhealthy habits.

It is also helpful to track your progress in the gym. Especially during the first training weeks, you can increase the amount of weight you lift with a kilogram every week.

Seeing yourself getting stronger and better at training is another source of motivation.

It is much easier to list down your weights instead of trying to remember them for every exercise week after week.

Take-Away:

Tracking your food intake and training can help you eliminate unhealthy habits and observe your progress more precisely.

Find a gym partner and social support

At some point, everyone has those days when you feel tired, unmotivated to train and you decide that maybe it is a good idea to skip that particular workout.

This is where the gym buddy comes to your aid. A good gym partner will always help you find the motivation you need.

Knowing that you are not alone, being surrounded by people with the same goals as yours can help you stay in control.

Weight loss is a journey and you will need support all the way through. In turn, you will provide the same support to him or her as well.

You can encourage each other and keep each other responsible when someone might fall off the track.

Of course, you should not judge each other but instead, try to re-motivate and support your mutual progress.

Take-Away:

The social support from a gym partner, as well as friends and family, can help you find motivation and keep you in check with your goals.

Do not aim for perfection, do not focus on failures

It is too much of an effort to precisely calculate how much calories you burn and how much you have consumed every day.

And you don’t have to – it only adds unnecessary stress and restrictions.

According to studies, people who aim for “perfection or nothing” are much more likely to fail on their journey for fat loss (10).

This is why we should stop trying to be precise with calories or meals.

You are going to break your diet much more often if it is too limiting.

After all, there are going to be holidays and occasions where you can’t and you shouldn’t restrict yourself.

Remember that in such cases it is okay to have cheat meals, they are going to be a problem only if you turn them into cheat days or even cheat weeks.

This can happen if you tell yourself that you already failed, lose motivation and abandon all your progress.

Instead of blaming yourself when breaks do happen, you have to forgive yourself and keep moving.

You should not focus on failure and completely abandon your goals because of one mistake.

It can’t ruin all the progress, so you should not let it ruin your motivation either.

It is much better to take responsibility and realize you are the one in control, then simply go back on track with your goals.

Another reason for having an unhealthy meal is stress and stress eating. In that case, you should find another way to cope with stress, like exercise for example.

Take-Away:

You should allow yourself flexibility and you should not focus on minor setbacks, but instead take responsibility and jump right back into your weight loss routine.

Focus on your strengths and build confidence

Instead of focusing on minor setbacks, you should focus on your strengths.

Find the things you like about your body and stop comparing it to others.

Especially comparisons to fitness models or actors is extremely unhealthy and unjustified.

Most of those people you compare yourself with are professionals, whose main work is related to looking good.

Their physique is achieved with a lot of effort and restrictions, which you don’t have to put yourself through.

Instead, start exercising and find out what your body can do and what are your limits.

By improving your self-image, studies suggest that it will also improve your motivation and help you stick to the diet longer (11).

You can improve your self-image not only by exercise but also by treating yourself and surrounding yourself with positive people and friends that point out the things they like in you.

Buying yourself new shoes or having a nice makeup and manicure are additional ways to boost your confidence and keep your motivation up.

Take-Away:

You should find additional ways to improve your confidence and self-image, like exercise, treats, supportive friends, etc.

The best sport for you is the one you enjoy the most

When picking a physical activity to aid your weight loss, again the best choice is the one that you can stick with.

This will be the sport you like the most, you feel most confident at, and respectively most motivated to train.

Almost any sport can be helpful in increasing the amount of calories you burn.

From a scientific standpoint, the most effective one is resistance training, such as lifting weights. It is simply the best method to build and preserve muscle tissue.

We already mentioned that it is important to preserve muscle because it is the main driver of our metabolism.

Even just two weekly sessions of weight training can be effective in maintaining and improving muscle and speeding up your progress.

The sessions must be targeting the whole body and involve fewer total exercises, preferably compound ones. This way we will target every muscle twice a week.

A meta-analysis, that included over 10 studies, suggests that such a higher frequency training routine is most optimal (12).

Compound exercises involve lifting free weights and movements in more than one joint.

They affect groups of muscles and are both more fun to perform and burn more calories.

According to studies, weight training is highly beneficial for overall health (13).

It reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, as well as overall strength, fitness, and endurance.

Take-Away:

The best physical activity for weight loss is resistance training, however, it is even better to find the sport you enjoy the most and be consistent with it.

Consult with a professional when needed

Consulting with a dietitian is always a good idea for weight loss.

A good specialist will not only apply their knowledge to pick the healthiest and most suitable weight-loss diet for you, but also help you with motivation.

Seeing a professional creates a feeling of responsibility.

Evidence shows that motivational interviews and talks about change with a specialist lead to better results in terms of weight loss (14).

Also, if you have decided to follow an alternative diet, it is again better to consult with a doctor.

Many alternative diets hide risks for your health that you might not be aware of.

A specialist can advise you what are the possible dangers of that diet and run tests to evaluate how it might affect your health.

If you have any chronic condition, a doctor can make the diet more suitable for you.

Another professional you can advise with throughout your journey is a personal trainer.

They will motivate you by setting your goals in the gym or any specific sport that you like.

While the personal trainer’s community sometimes gets a bad rep for being full of incompetent people, there are a few good tips on how to differentiate a good one from a bad one.

First of all, make sure to find a personal trainer who is qualified and certified from a reputable organization.

Secondly, a good trainer will always start first with technique on the basic movements, involving barbells and dumbbells (not machines).

A bad one, on the other hand, will just put you on a machine with fixed range of motion and count your reps.

A professional trainer will have you try out different routines to see which is most suitable for you, but not constantly change your exercises to “confuse the muscle”.

The goal of training should actually be to stay on the same exercises over long periods of time, in order to build your technique and strengths and get better and better.

This is why a good trainer will also help you advance in the basic exercises you do every week.

He or she will know when you are ready and push you just a little more every time to keep your progress steady.

Take-Away:

Having a professional on your side will not only provide you with the right diet but also with the right kind of motivation, to keep you consistent in your progress.

The bottom line on weight loss motivation for women

In the end, it all comes down to consistency. In order to achieve it, you have to be motivated and determined.

By reminding yourself why you started, setting realistic goals and a suitable plan, finding support from family, friends, professionals, and tracking your progress you will accomplish weight loss successfully and stay happy and motivated.

Everyone loses motivation from time to time, so these tips and tricks might prove helpful to you in finding the strength to continue on your journey to weight loss.