Whether you have a goal to lose 100 pounds or 30 pounds, it will be a process and won’t occur overnight.
During your process of weight loss, you will have ups and downs and sometimes you won’t see the scale move for awhile when you hit a plateau, but as long as you stick with your plan and take action every day, you will reach your goal.
The regular practice of gratitude during your weight loss is an important component of keeping your spirits up and you on track. If you focus only on your end goal, you will probably find your motivation lagging along the way, especially if it is a long way off.
This is also true, though, during the loss of your last 10 pounds. It sometimes takes just as long to get those last 10 pounds off as it did to lose your previous pounds because your body just doesn’t want to let go of them easily.
One way to keep your motivation up is to keep a daily log of what you are grateful for each day. In this case, we are focusing on the topic of weight loss, however you could include anything else in your life as well, as it can only help your overall frame of mind. You could use one journal as a food, gratitude, and emotion (to avoid emotional eating) journal, or you could use separate ones, whatever works the best for you.
Write down everything in your journal that you can find to be grateful for in your weight loss and exercise program each day. Here are some examples of what you might find to be grateful for in one day:
- The apple that you enjoyed the taste of .
- How you are noticing that you have more energy because you are eating better and exercising.
- How positive your mood is after you exercise.
- The compliments you received today.
- You went shopping and were able to fit into a smaller sized pair of pants.
- The 2 pounds that you lost last week.
I listed weight loss last because I think it is more important to focus your gratitude on daily events rather than only on the scale, because there will be those times that your weight loss plateaus and you may not see the scale move for several weeks, even though you are doing everything right with your diet and exercise. At the same time though, I do think it is important to be grateful for every single pound you do lose, especially if you have many to lose. Just be sure to include many more items on your list than pounds lost.
The more things that you can find to be grateful for during your weight loss, the easier it will be to maintain a positive attitude and keep your motivation up. This will serve to focus your mind on all that is good about eating healthy and exercising, rather than on excuses that you could come up with for not taking action. It will also get you past those plateaus that can otherwise be very discouraging.
