Supercharging Your Motivation To Lose Weight With The Power Of Commitment
The most powerful tip you can ever be given about losing weight and actually keeping it off for many years to come is right here: motivation goes hand-in-hand with commitment!
Motivation vs. Commitment
Having weight loss motivation simply means you have something in mind or physically in front of you that is driving you to take actions that lead toward weight loss. For example, if you were out for a jog and two vicious dogs started snapping at your heels you would be very motivated to run faster. This is the same as than hanging a pair of size 8 jeans on your bedroom wall as a visual motivating tool that makes you want to skip dessert and hit the treadmill for an extra half hour.
Commitment to losing weight is something very different. instead of looking to outward objects or focusing on things you would like to achieve in the future, you focus on your own strength and determination. A genuine commitment will mean that you cannot be detered from your goals. You go to the gym whether you feel like it or not, and you eat a salad instead of the cheeseburger and fries no matter how deprived you feel in the moment.
Have you cut-off mentally and given yourself no way of backing out – You have your goal and nothing is going to stop you from achieving it? That is commitment.
Without a steely commitment to achieving your goal your chances of keeping the weight off long term are low. You need a devotion to yourself in order to pull you through those rough times when motivation simply escapes you. Those periods are going to come, and it is a solid commitment to your goal that will keep you on track, even if you are kicking and spitting all the way.
Motivation will come back and stimulate you to keep running but commitment is the boost that gets you through the difficult times.
Boosting Your Motivation To Lose Weight
You have to count on having periods when things that normally motivated you no longer work. For instance, what happens when you get into those size 8 jeans? You will need a new motivating factor, right? The motivation that works today is not guaranteed to work tomorrow.
Commitment to your ultimate outcome is the boost that will see you through these difficult moments when you feel like you’ve lost your motivation to lose weight. Every single day you must stick to your plan and do all of the things you have vowed to do in order to lose weight. This may mean going to the gym as planned but with the condition that you can leave ten minutes early. Once you get going with that workout, chances are high you won’t actually want to leave early! Small, simple changes combined with commitment can have a powerful impact both on your motivation, and on your weight loss success.
Essentially, commitment to weight loss equals out to day to day action. Just commit to doing something every single day that will propel you closer to your weight loss goals. Some days you will notice your weight loss motivation in overdrive while other days its not as strong. Commitment is there through it all!
Use all of your goals – such as losing 50 pounds, fitting smaller jeans, or impressing your husband in bed as motivation… but never let go of your commitment!
Filed under Fitness by on Jul 2nd, 2010.