What do you do differently when you’re motivated take care of yourself and lose weight? Do you think, act, and talk differently? I bet that you do, I do, too!
I recently read a post by Peter in which he listed 4 attributes (or actions) he exhibits when he is motivated: waking early in the morning, being proactive, being persistent, and living with high energy. While he wasn’t writing about motivating himself to lose weight, each of these actions are common in a motivated individual.
I can completely relate to his actions, although I am still working on waking early on those days when I don’t need to. 😉 When I am motivated though, I definitely have high energy, and because I’m thinking positively and without doubts, I don’t have a problem persisting and being proactive. In fact, I must be proactive and plan in order to ensure that I have healthy meals prepared and ready to go in the frig in order to stick with my healthy eating plan. If I don’t do so, I can easily trip myself up in that danger zone of getting overly hungry because I don’t have healthy food right there, ready to eat!
Additionally, Peter relates that before he brought himself into that motivated space, he was actually in a rut. How did he pull himself out of it? By having fun, and doing some manual labor. I can relate to both of these: if you’re not having fun it’s pretty hard to get motivated to accomplish the goals that are important to you (we’re talking about losing weight and shaping up, here!), and I can always use home improvements and yard work to get me motivated to do more to accomplish my other goals.
I believe that the main difference you will find in how you act when you’re motivated vs. when you aren’t all comes back to your thoughts. When you’re motivated to lose weight, you’re thinking positive thoughts; you are hopeful, and expect the best outcome from your efforts. When you’re not motivated, your lack of action is driven by negative thinking, thinking that it doesn’t matter what you do, you cannot lose weight, or that you cannot do what it takes to lose weight.
So what about you? How do you act when you’re motivated, and how does this differ from how you act when you aren’t motivated? Do you have any special keys to motivating yourself that you’d like to share? I’d love to hear your experience in a comment, and when you’re done, head on over and read Peter’s post. I think you’ll find it helpful for a boost of motivation! 🙂
I find that when my motivation is lacking I seem to act like someone who is being forced to starve and work. Like I am in a work camp or something. When I can see why I am doing this and I am really “in the zone”, I am cheerful, happy with my food choices and excited about where I am going. Huge difference for me. People say, “You have lost so much weight, it must be so hard!” and I say, it’s not hard at all. I have enjoyed it. But that’s not how I feel when I am feeling sorry for myself and wanting to eat crap foods.
Hi JanB!
Thanks for sharing your experience, I can really relate to it….feeling like I’m forcing myself to eat well and whip myself into shape – that’s exactly how I’ve felt when I’m not motivated from within. And on the other hand, it isn’t a chore when I want to do it, just like you mentioned. 🙂
That’s my challenge, is getting to the spot where I am always motivated to go for health. I sorely wish that I didn’t have an addiction to sugar and that I could eat whatever I want whenever I want, but that’s just not the case with the processed and fast foods that we have so easily available today!
I find that you have to believe that something is already accomplished and it makes actually doing it then a breeze. For example, when I quit smoking instead of dwelling on how hard it was or thinking about having one last cigarette I simply told myself that I am a non-smoker. After a very short period of time you begin to believe it and it’s easy from there. I didn’t even think about a cigarette once I made myself believe I was a non-smoker. I think the same principle can be applied to anything…weight loss, finances, love, parenting…you name it.
Hi, that’s a very good point….if you can believe it, you can see it! 😉
BTW, congratulations on quitting smoking, I understand that is a difficult task, but certainly not impossible…just like you have proven!
Hi JoLynn,
I’m so happy you enjoyed my article! I have had a good response to it – I guess people can identify with the struggle to get/ stay motivated. You have a great blog here… and you now have a new subscriber.
All the best,
Peter
Hi Peter,
It’s always great to hear how other people work on their motivation, and I’m glad that you wrote about your experience! 😉 I can see why you’ve had a good response to it. Motivation is one of those things that so many of us struggle with, especially when it comes to weight loss.
Thank you so much for your compliments, and I’m thrilled that you’ve subscribed! 🙂
Hi JoLynn,
i agree with you that motivation is the basis a good and healthier life.
While trying to loose weight the best thing we need (other to a good diet, etc…) is a friend or a community that motivates us to reach our goal.
I think that stress, a fast life, lack of human contact, loose of the real values are the main problems.
It’s amazing to see how the progress makes us loose the good behaviors of our grannies…now we have to pay someone else to teach us how to eat, how to stay with others, how to build communities, and so on…
Thank you for your great post
Best regards
Enrico