When I initially set out to write daily motivational posts, I did so with the intention that I would post them 5 – 7 times a week.

It’s turned out that I have posted them almost every day so far, and on the weekends they are sometimes a lighter style of post (a collection of positive thought blog carnivals for example).

Overall, I have been striving to mix up the types of thoughts that I give you in an effort to motivate and inspire, since you will not necessarily gain motivation from the same things that I do. I have recently been gaining great motivation from learning more about additives, nutrition, the fast food industry (including processed food), and how the human body functions.

Does this mean that you will also get motivated from these topics? No, not necessarily. This leads me to the question: what makes you tick? What gets you motivated to get moving and start making positive, healthy, lifestyle changes?

There are so many things in the world that people use for motivation to get fit and lose weight. Here are 9 that I came up with:

• Music – This is a good one, I didn’t think of it before although music has had a great influence in my life and can get me motivated and moving.
• Television – I have written about a couple of shows that I found to be very motivating: Dancing with The Stars, Work Out, and A Lyon in the Kitchen. You could find motivation in different shows though, or in movies. Not all TV is bad; you can find some good stuff out there if you look. 🙂
• Children – You want to be there for them as long as possible, therefore you need your health.
• Career – The healthier you are the more energy you have, therefore the more productive you can be.
• Family – You may have elderly family members to care for, other extended family, and your own immediate family. This all takes energy and stamina.
• Fun – There are limitations on how physically active you can be when you are overweight and/or obese. The fitter you are, the more you can enjoy life.
• Self-esteem (a desire to raise it or regain it) – It normally follows that people do derive much of their self-esteem from how they look. Whether or not this is the highest thought, it is the truth overall. While I do believe that the better you feel about yourself as you are now, the higher your motivation will be to make changes and stick with them, I also think that you will begin to feel even better as you become fitter and healthier.
• Confidence (a desire to raise it or regain it) – Your belief in yourself and inner confidence follows you everywhere and affects every aspect of your life. You might want to raise your confidence level for any number of areas of your life, and getting your physical self in shape is a great way to do it.
• Personal growth and enlightenment – Healing the body and your relationship with food is an important step in personal growth, especially when you delve into the relationship between food and addiction and discover the reasons that you are trying to “fill yourself up”. Spiritual growth can replace that void you are trying to fill with food

These are just some of the things that can get people motivated to change their lifestyle to increase their health and fitness level. I’m sure I could come up with many more, and these are only some positive motivators.

It is also highly possible to be motivated for negative reasons; I have experienced that myself in the past. I had an “I’ll show you” attitude before and I did lose weight, but when I got over that feeling I gained it back. I wasn’t working on my weight issue for the right reasons (for myself rather than for other people).

I wouldn’t recommend losing weight for a negative reason; it is much better to take the time to find out your strong motivators for weight loss and discover what you can use as a positive motivator that will give you lasting weight loss and maintenance.

So what motivates you? Feel free to leave a comment and share the greatest motivators for weight loss that you have experienced in your life so far. 🙂