Whether it’s baby weight, gradual weight gain, or weight you’ve been struggling to lose for years—maintaining motivation is challenging. You might start out strong, but standard deprivation diets leave you feeling drained. And it’s challenging to fit workouts into your schedule. Not to mention the emotional rollercoaster that comes with making changes of any kind. You aren’t alone. Let’s dive into the key factors that drive sustainable weight loss motivation.
Losing Weight Is Hard!
First up, rapid weight loss isn’t a realistic objective. Diet culture will lead you to believe otherwise, but slow and steady is required for sustainability. All aspects of health and nutrition should be personalized to your individual health, lifestyle, metabolism, and fitness level. So, the new fad diet or fitness trend isn’t likely to be the answer.
Easy access to unhealthy foods and strict deprivation diets lead to overwhelm. Many who tire of yo-yo diets are turning to scientifically proven medical weight loss methods. These methods are still personalized, but they’re based on strategies that are proven to work.
They provide realistic tools and support, including meal plans and lifestyle changes that drive lasting change.
If you’re up for the commitment and challenge of change, turn to the weight loss motivation tips below.
#1 Identify Your Why
Think beyond clothing tag size and the number on the scale to the reasons why you want to lose weight. What’s your purpose for weight loss? Do you want to lose weight in response to societal standards of beauty? Or for whole-body health and wellness? Aesthetic desires are without a doubt relevant, but to maintain motivation—you must dig a bit deeper.
This might include:
- Improved confidence and self-esteem.
- Building physical strength and endurance.
- Boosting day-to-day energy levels.
- Optimizing whole-body health.
When you have intrinsic reasons and goals to focus on other than what you see when you look in the mirror, weight loss motivation is far more sustainable.
#2 Craft a Personal Mission Statement
Creating a personal mission statement is a fun way to help you get motivated and stay motivated. Often reserved for businesses and charitable organizations, you can create a mission, vision, or value statement to activate a mindset shift. If not a mission statement, a series of mantras or affirmations. Your personalized statements will serve as an anchor to guide your daily decisions and actions. They’re a way to check in to ensure you’re making aligned choices.
When crafting your personal mission statement:
- Reflect on Your Values: Consider what’s most important to you and how losing weight aligns with those values.
- Define Clear Objectives: Set goals that are specific, realistic, and measurable. Ensure they resonate with your values and desired outcomes.
- Consider Potential Obstacles: Anticipate challenges you might face and contemplate strategies for overcoming them.
- Craft Your Statement: Distill your mission, mantras, or affirmation into a concise, powerful expression of your goals.
- Review and Revise: As your journey unfolds, refine your personal statements to reflect new insights and goals.
#3 Setting Yourself Up for Success
Now that you’ve identified your why and you’ve created an inspirational values statement or mantra, it’s time to identify what you need to succeed. Your weight loss motivation can stop in its tracks without the appropriate support, tools, and resources. Where most go wrong, is in trying to go things alone. Shedding excess weight is hard, so reach out for help.
Here are a few tools and resources that can help you succeed:
Annual Physical
Now is the ideal time to schedule a physical with full bloodwork, urine, and stool samples. This will provide you with an in-depth starting point. Beyond your weight, the results may impact how you personalize your health and wellness strategy.
Weight Loss Experts
Schedule an appointment with Valley Medical Weight Loss and Med Spa to discuss weekly Semaglutide shots. Semaglutide isn’t your only option, as we also have science-based weight loss programs, meal replacement shakes, vitamin injections, and supplements that support optimal health.
Personalized Meal Plan
If you sign up for our weekly or monthly weight loss programs, we include a nutrient-rich meal plan. While this plan is likely to reduce your caloric intake, it prioritizes nutrition to ensure you have the energy required to live your best life. And don’t forget to hydrate!
Fitness Strategy
Moving more and gaining muscle will accelerate your results. Think beyond traditional gym workouts to physical activities you truly enjoy. If it’s something you enjoy, you’re more likely to stick with it. Also, consider what investments you need to make to support your commitment to physical fitness.
Accountability
Accountability is an often forgotten element of activating sustainable weight loss motivation. We’re not referring to shame or guilt, but to creating a healthy support system. This can be anyone who will cheer you on, and help you get back on track when you miss a day or two—or more than a day or two.
#4 Map Out Your Strategy
Now it’s time to map things out. One of the most effective ways to achieve goals of any kind is by setting SMART goals.
SMART goals are:
- Specific: Think beyond losing weight to how you want to feel and what you want to achieve for your whole-body health.
- Measurable: Instead of measuring success by inches, the scale, and clothing tag size, measure success by how well you stick to the plan. Results come later.
- Achievable: Don’t overwhelm yourself with too many changes at once. Feel free to start small, making incremental shifts over the next several months.
- Realistic: Even with a science-based program, you’re likely to lose between 2 and 5 pounds per week. Yes, contestants on weight loss reality TV shows lose more, but most gain it back when the show ends.
- Time-Based: Set a timeframe for different milestones. This will hold you accountable and give you little wins to celebrate along the way.
#5 Give Yourself Grace
Adopting healthy habits of any kind is a journey, not a destination. While you don’t want to plan for failure, setbacks are inevitable. If you’re realistic from the onset, it’s easier to maintain your weight loss motivation.
The holidays are an excellent example, as you’re more likely to indulge. Or if you’re a stress eater, consider how you’ll manage nutrition and fitness the next time stress is high. Or if you prefer to exercise outside, but it’s too hot in the summer, consider how you’ll get your physical activity in. Or if you’ve plateaued, who will you reach out to determine why?
In addition to factors that are often out of your control, allow yourself guilt-free splurge meals and splurge days. This might be a meal or two a month, your birthday, holidays, a meal a day on vacation, and other planned days.
When you have a day, week, or even a full month where you get off track, learn the lesson, and keep moving forward. Developing resilience is a process that often requires analyzing your individual triggers and areas of opportunity and continuing on. Sometimes, this means adjusting your initial strategy. Resist the temptation to continue the negative self-talk and story that you can’t change. You can change, but change takes time!
#6 Celebrate
Finally, celebrate or reward yourself for Every. Single. Milestone!
It might sound like a bit much, but sustainable weight loss motivation requires a mindset shift. Making healthy lifestyle changes is hard work. Instead of thinking that you’re finally doing what you should have been doing all along, celebrate that you did it!
For example:
- When you lose 2 pounds, don’t calculate how much more you have left to go, celebrate your win.
- When you put on a pair of pants and the waistband isn’t as tight as it used to be, do a 30-second happy dance.
- When you successfully resist the donuts in the office, treat yourself to a non-food reward.
- When you have the willpower to hydrate and stay on your meal plan this week, reward yourself with a mini splurge.
- If you didn’t skip any workouts this week, reach out to someone in your accountability network to celebrate.
- When you notice that an incremental shift is something you now do on autopilot, plan your next splurge meal.
Live In the Phoenix Area?
How Can Valley Medical Weight Loss and Med Spa Help You?
If you’re burnt out on yo-yo dieting and are searching for a sustainable weight loss strategy—it’s time for a personalized approach.
During your consultation, we’ll discuss your individual goals and suggest the most effective success strategies. This may include Semaglutide, but we have a variety of science-based medical treatments that can be used solo or as part of your personalized program.
We also have aesthetic body treatments to address sagging skin, cellulite, and the other physical side effects of gaining and losing weight.
Reach out today to schedule your consultation. For your convenience, we have offices in Phoenix, Tempe, and Glendale.
