How to Stay Motivated to Lose Weight, 7 Simple Ways

Have you ever wondered why staying motivated to lose weight is so hard?

I have a question for you…

We both know you want to stomp out those feelings of self-consciousness and feel confident in your own skin again!

We both know you’ve tried a few different diets and have never gotten long-term success…

What is going on here?

The short answer is that the problem has to do with motivation...

Thankfully, this is a solvable problem.

Once you get the hang of it, motivation can almost happen on autopilot…

Staying motivated is one of the hardest battles to win in the war for your health and happiness.

When you’re motivated, you’ll move mountains to get the things you want. When you’re “unmotivated,” you feel glued to the couch and unable even to move.

Our goal is to help you solve this problem, once and for all.

Let’s begin with some common mistakes people make when trying to lose weight.

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Mistake #1 – Relying on Willpower

Willpower, or the ability to act against immediate feelings, is a limited resource.

It acts very similarly to a muscle. After a certain amount of repetitions, your muscle breaks down and starts to fail. Eventually, it will be impossible for you to do another rep!
This is exactly how your willpower works.

Your willpower, once used up, becomes weakened and makes it difficult to make long-term decisions.

Have you ever noticed how weak you are at the end of your day when it comes to decision-making?

This is because your willpower has been used up.

Things like:

• Working a job you don’t like
• Not getting enough sleep
• Dieting in general
• And even spending too much time on the Internet…

…weaken your willpower.

What should you do?

One thing anyone can do is work to establish HABITS.

For example: Did anyone have to tell you to brush your teeth this morning?

Did your mom have to swing by your place and stand over your shoulder to remind you about gingivitis?

I certainly hope not… So why was it so easy to do?
Because it’s a habit.

Habits happen automatically and have little to do with your willpower.  Like driving your car to work or the grocery store, there’s not a lot of effort in those actions. You know the route by heart and probably forget 3/4’s of the drive by the time you’ve arrived.  It’s a habit.

The best part is… weight loss and eating healthy can happen just like that. 

Once you have the right habits in place, making the right decisions can be EASY. They act on autopilot.

The most basic habit you can start with is having the same healthy breakfast every morning.

It’s the perfect way to remind yourself every morning of your goals and get the day started on the right track. My favorite breakfast for my clients is rolled oats with fruit and nuts.

It takes less than 5 minutes to make, has no sugar, and will give you BURSTING energy throughout your day.

Making your breakfast a healthy and automatic habit will set you 70% ahead of every other dieter out there.

For further reading, make sure to check out The Power of Habit. It’s the #1 book on establishing and creating habits.

Mistake #2 – Thinking Motivation is a One Time Thing!

Have you ever felt passionately motivated about something?

You know that raw feeling in your gut that you’re going to do the damn thing no matter what it is…

The feeling that you will move MOUNTAINS to make it happen.

It probably happened from one of three sources:

1. You talked to someone or listened to someone who inspired you
2. You watched an inspirational video that moved you
3. You read a book or saw some motivational quote that made you want to change

The next little diddy is probably the COOLEST part of living in the 21st century:

You can get these things every day…

1. You can hang out with people, friends, and family members that INSPIRE you.
2. You can turn on YouTube right now and watch an inspirational video.
3. You start reading a life-changing book in the next 5 minutes.

This is something so many of us miss in our lives!

The right motivation is all around you if you actively look for it. 🙂

Mistake #3 – Not having a support group or source of CONTINUED motivation.

Remember how your willpower gets weaker throughout your day?

Well, there are actually a few shortcuts to REPLENISH your willpower reserves. This will give you the strength to overcome those times of weakness.

The most effective way to do this is to connect with others and share your struggles.

Joining weight loss support groups should NOT be underestimated.

Here are the 3 best ways to get continued support and stronger willpower:
1. Find a friend or family member you can confide in who shares the same struggles.

Tell them about your goals and what you’re trying to accomplish. Call or text them when you’re feeling weak or are lacking motivation. This has a surprisingly strong effect and is backed by science.
2. Join a gym that has a built-in community.

Things like CrossFit are effective because they have a built-in community support program.

Try to find a gym that has this, and make strong connections with others who have similar goals.

3. Get support when on the Internet.

You should follow some popular fitness people for continued motivation.

If you have Instagram, follow some fitness people you admire.

Now, that you know of the common mistakes, let’s move on to how to stay motivated for weight loss…

1. Turn Off Your Computer and TV

Have you ever finished watching a couple of TV episodes on Netflix and felt tired?

You’ve done nothing but sat on the couch and ate a pint of Ben a Jerry’s, but now for some reason you don’t feel like doing anything…

There’s a scientific reason for this.  The basic breakdown is:
1. Your brain can only handle so much awesome stimulation throughout the day.
2. The novelty of the Internet and TV causes a quick OVERLOAD of this stimulation.
3. As a result, the mind feels tired and you feel “unmotivated” to do anything else.

When you turn off these items for a day or two, you will notice at first that you feel a bit bored, like the noise meter on life has been turned down a bit.

Then you will notice an abundant desire to do things:

– Go hang out with friends
– Take care of your “to-do’s”
– Go workout

It’s not that TV and the Internet are bad things, it’s just that they are a COLOSSAL drain on your ability to stay motivated and get stuff done.

By cutting these things down to an hour or less per day, you will immediately notice more motivation in your life.

If you’re really struggling, consider a fast from them. It may seem extreme, but the rewards will shock you.

2. Find YOUR Thing

One of our mottos here at Avocadu is to “find YOUR thing.“

There are about 6 billion (give or take 2-3) different ways to exercise and diet:

• Yoga
• Pilates
• Boxing
• Crossfit
• Biking
• Running
• Hiking
• Weight Lifting
• Prancercising
• Kayaking

There are so many different diets that all carry their own virtues for different reasons: Paleo, Vegan, Vegetarian, IFFYM, Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem

Our goal here at Avocadu isn’t to pigeon hole you down one of these routes, but to help you FIND YOUR THING.

Because who needs some other thing when you’ve got your thing?  

Find something you want to master and check out our courses for more guidance on losing weight.

3. Join a Community

You are the sum of the 5 people you surround yourself most with.

Seriously, this is not just some useless statement. Look around at those 5 people you’re around the most and examine them.

I bet their lives mirror yours: income, looks, happiness, etc.

The point?

The people you surround yourself with matter.

They matter much more than you could ever imagine.

In fact, some of the latest scientific research has shown that in times of weakness, having a strong community will keep you on track and will replenish your willpower reserves.

We all have times we are feeling weak and want to falter.

However, talking to a friend or support group will short-circuit these feelings and give you a quick burst of motivation to RESIST.

So just having some support you can call on is a valuable resource.  Have a friend or group you can confide in and that you can call during your times of being tempted.

4. Get Results Faster

You know what’s not motivating?

Losing only 1 pound a week while eating like a rabbit.

It’s total crap, and yet every diet promotes it as the “smart” way to lose weight.

Especially, when the science tells us that losing weight fast leads to more success in both the short term and the long term.

Find a program that gets you results FAST and doesn’t waste any time getting you what you want.

It’s much more motiving seeing the scale drop 1 pound a day for your first 7 days.

5. Motivation Fades. Habits Stick Around.

Habits trump motivation in the battle for actions.

How?
Because habits are not based on feelings.

When you’re performing a habit, you will feel almost indifferent about it. Like brushing your teeth or going to work. It’s just something that you do, not something you have to think about.

The great thing about habits is that don’t take away any of your willpower.
Both good and bad, once established (takes around 30-60 days), habits are hard to break.

Start with something simple.  My recommendation is a healthy breakfast. Keep it simple and eat an incredibly healthy breakfast every day. Something like plain oatmeal with cinnamon and nuts on it.

If you can establish this habit, you’ll also notice that making other healthy decisions will become easier as a result.  This is because habits build on one another.

6. Establish a New Relationship With Your Food

Kind of the reverse here – but let’s think about what foods cause you to break.

Cookies, Pizza, Cakes, and Cokes, right?

It’s not the food group though that is addicting, it’s two components:
Sugar and Flour.

They are the same two components for everybody.

There’s a reason for this.

These are the foods that cause the highest insulin and dopamine spikes in your brain. These spikes are as great (sometimes greater) than drugs like cocaine or heroin.

Sound far-fetched? It’s not.  Actually, rats given the option between the two prefer sugar over drugs (study).  These foods have a more powerful pull than you could possibly imagine…

Establish a new relationship with these foods!

7. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…

Mirrors play tricks on our brains.

I won’t dive much into this, but do you remember WHEN you started to gain weight?

Did you see the slight amount of weight gain day after day, month after month?

Probably not.

I bet it happened sort of shockingly when one day you looked up and realized you were 10 pounds heavier.  Why did you not see this?

Because we don’t notice slight changes in the mirror when we see ourselves every day.

More importantly, the same thing happens when you start to lose weight. You do not notice your improvement. You feel like a failure seeing “no progress,” and this feeling makes you VERY susceptible to breaking your diet.

DO NOT RELY ON THE MIRROR.

Here are the things you need to rely on instead:

• Take and record measurements of your waist, arms, hips, and thighs.
• Weigh yourself.

These two things, combined, will help you overcome the mirror effect.

When losing weight, you will notice that sometimes the inches go down and your weight drops. Other times, your weight will stay the same, but inches will fall off.

You need both to stay motivated to lose weight.

If you are ready to make some changes and get motivation for your long-term health, our 21-Day Fat Loss Challenge is where you should start.

People lose an average of 10-21 pounds in 21 days and absolutely love it!  But even better than the weight loss is the feedback we get from people about how the program has taught them how to change their eating habits and find a diet that truly works for them in the long-term.

We have over 1,000 people in our private support group going through the Challenge together, and every day they are sharing experiences, results, motivation, and lots of recipes!

If you are ready to make some changes in your life, this is the ONLY place you should start.  We will teach you exactly how to make the necessary changes in your diet and your lifestyle and how to keep them “beyond the diet.”

Click here to start YOUR 21-Day Fat Loss Challenge today!

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