How to stay motivated when losing weight
Teodora Ghiur - CBT Psychologist / Cognitive Neuroscientist
Teodora is a cognitive neuroscientist with a background in Psychology and Integrative Psychotherapy. She has experience working in clinical trials with Alzheimer’s and Dementia patients and adults with various mental health diagnoses. She has an integrative approach towards mental health and aims to help people recognize the importance of physical, emotional, and spiritual health to their overall mental wellness.
15.08.2022

How To Stay Motivated When Losing Weight?

Ask Lasta Psychology

Knowing how to stay motivated when losing weight is important to achieve your goals. One thing that you should know from the start is that motivation fluctuates over time. You might feel ultra-inspired one day, and lose all your motivation the next. While most people are looking for weight loss inspiration and motivation for dieting, here’s what you should know instead:

  1. It’s better to build consistent healthy habits than look for daily weight loss motivation. The truth is that you will not always feel motivated, and that’s okay. Instead, try to introduce daily practices like exercise, choosing healthier food options, and seeking support. 
  2. Your environment matters a lot for fat loss motivation. Is your environment supporting your weight loss process? For example, do you have healthy food options in your house or are your cupboards full of sweets and snacks? No matter how much motivation you have, there will still be days when you’ll feel like snacking on whatever you see around you. Perhaps the best advice on how to stay focused on losing weight is to create consistent healthy habits and optimize your environment for success.
  3. Invite other people to join your weight loss challenge. We are more motivated when we set common goals with other people. If you know anyone who wants to lose weight, ask them to exercise with you or set weekly challenges together. This is a great tool for weight loss encouragement. 
  4. Place visual cues around your home. This prevents you from forgetting your main weight loss goal. If you place reminders of how you want to look, your mind will know to act in accordance with that goal. The reminder can be a picture of your ideal figure, a number, or a picture of how you’ll enjoy life once you’ve hit your ideal weight. 

Be gentle to yourself when you’re feeling less motivated. Even if you want to admit it or not, you’ll still have days where you’ll have no motivation to exercise or stick to your diet. And that’s okay. Instead of beating yourself up, speak to yourself gently and remind yourself that weight loss is a process. This is most important in the moments when you have no motivation to lose weight.

Asked by: Stacy N.

CBT Psychologist / Cognitive Neuroscientist

Teodora is a cognitive neuroscientist with a background in Psychology and Integrative Psychotherapy. She has experience working in clinical trials with Alzheimer’s and Dementia patients and adults with various mental health diagnoses. She has an integrative approach towards mental health and aims to help people recognize the importance of physical, emotional, and spiritual health to their overall mental wellness.