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How to stay motivated to lose weight is a topic that almost no one is exploring.

The reality is that it is something you should be looking at if you’re trying to lose weight.

Most people are looking into what foods to eat and what foods to avoid instead of learning how to stay motivated to lose weight.

Obviously, nutrition plays a huge role in figuring out how to lose weight.  However, the real problem for most people is learning how to stay motivated to lose weight.

If it was simply a problem of what people were eating and motivation was a driving force you probably wouldn’t see continual increases in the percentage of the population that is overweight or obese. 1

Stop and think about what you’ve experienced before.

Is the problem with weight loss that you can’t lose weight?  

I mean really stop and think about this doesn’t your diet, program or whatever else you’re using to try and lose weight work up until you can’t follow it anymore?

In reality, the problem for 99% of people who struggle with weight loss is that they struggle maintaining the habits required (or that they feel are required) to lose weight.

Most of them look at this as a problem with staying motivated to lose weight.

What Most People Experience with Motivation & Weight Loss

Stop, think about a time in the past where you tried to lose weight.

What happens?

At first, you are doing well.  You are losing weight, you’re sticking to your diet.

All of a sudden, the number on the scale isn’t going down any more.

Or a more accurate way to describe it.

The scale isn’t going down fast enough to make it worth all the feelings of being deprived, not enjoying what you’re eating and all the other parts of the diet and losing weight you hate.

Often it can start off innocently enough.

Usually someone has been doing great.

Then they see a chocolate bar at the grocery store calling their name.

Or they have a big dinner with friends or family.

Or maybe, a holiday is coming up.

Regardless, something comes up.

Then, you tell yourself. It’s okay, I’ve been doing great lately.  It’s just one chocolate bar.

Or it’s just one weekend. Something similar to that depending on what triggered it in the first place.

Motivation Problems with Weight Loss

At the end of the day, it’s a sentence or thought that justifies and allows you to eat what you want to eat in that moment.

In that moment you have no doubt you don’t know how to stay motivated to lose weight.

But, the problem isn’t that one chocolate bar or dinner.

The problem is how you feel after you’ve eaten it.

You’re suddenly overcome with feelings of guilt. Feeling like you’ve ruined all the hard work you’ve put into your diet.

You feel like you’re completely off track.  Those are the triggers that are making it feel like you

don’t know how to stay motivated to lose weight.

The Realities of How to Stay Motivated to Lose Weight

Alright, we’ve established the problem.  At least, one version this problem presents itself.

Weight loss and motivation can present itself in many different scenarios.

For example, So, what do you do to help with this weight loss and staying motivated problem?

• How to stay motivated to lose weight and exercise

• I have no motivation to start losing weight

• How to stay motivated to lose weight during the holidays

• Why do I lose my motivation around certain foods?

• How to stay motivated to lose weight for your wedding

These are just a few of the examples.  

But, the good news is that most of all of the different potential challenges you have with weight loss and motivation have similar strategies to help you stay motivated to lose weight.

How to Get Motivated to Lose Weight Infographic

Below, we have our do’s and don’t for how to stay motivated to lose weight infographic.

We created this list of do’s and don’ts with accountability (big part of motivation for weight loss) based on our experience having worked with thousands of clients looking to lose weight over the last 12 years.

The do’s are what we see our more successful clients doing.  And the don’ts are what we see from our clients who continue to struggle to stay motivated to lose weight. ation Do’s & Don’ts Infographic

These are examples of common things our successful clients do that can help you learn how to stay motivated to lose weight.

In today’s article we are going to cover exactly how to stay motivated to lose weight by following two simple steps.

• Understanding your real goal for weight loss

• Set realistic expectations for weight loss

Step #1 : Understand Your Real Goal for Weight Loss

First, you need to understand your real goal.  Almost no one does this.

Okay, you’re probably wondering what does this mean.  I’ll walk you through this.

Right now, think about what your goals are.  Actually, stop reading for 5-10 seconds and think about them.

I bet you came up with some like lose 10 pounds (or some other number), get more fit, tone up, work on my core, improve my health, better quality of life.

I’m guessing after having sat down with thousands of people over the years these are the types of goals that come up most often.

These are the goals on the surface.  However, they aren’t your real goals.  I’ll use the weight loss example (since this is an article titled “How to Stay Motivated for Weight Loss.”

Jane says her goal is to lose 40 pounds so she weighs 150 pounds.  That isn’t really what their goal is.

Pause, think about this.  Why does Jane want to weigh 150 pounds?

That’s one of the first things we often do with our coaching clients who are looking to lose weight.  Actually, explore why they want to lose the weight.

Common answers Jane might come up with:

• “Before I had kids I weighed only 150 pounds, I felt so much more confident.”

• “I feel like I have this constant worry about my weight.  I feel guilty all the time like I can’t enjoy myself when I’m going out to dinner with friends or my family.”

• “When I look in the mirror I hate the person that’s looking back at me, I don’t feel like myself anymore.”

• “My energy levels are in the tank.  I can’t even play with my kids for more than 10 minutes without having to take a break.  If I weighed less I know I could keep up better.”

• “When I’m out in public if I see someone, I know who I haven’t seen in a while I want to try and avoid them because I feel so self-conscious and worry about what they’ll think of me.”

These are actual response we have had from clients.  So, if they sound familiar to you I assure you that you’re not alone.

And a person could go even deeper and explore each of these answers more.

At the end of the day someone wants to lose weight because they have attached a meaning to losing that amount of weight.

It’s giving them a feeling or getting rid of a negative feeling.

Real Motivation for Weight Loss

If you look at the above example.  With the first one the woman remembers a time before she had kids when she felt super confident and good about herself.

She wants that feeling back.  She feels that weighing a certain amount will give her that feeling.

But, make no mistake about it.  That feeling is her real goal. I know for a lot of people when we first start discussing this, it seems really nit-picky.  I mean what’s the difference?

Well, there is a huge difference in terms of motivation.  Losing 40 pounds doesn’t really mean a whole lot in terms of emotion (which is the real thing that motivates human beings).

However, if you truly get behind what the feeling or emotion is that losing weight represents to you.  Then, you have something powerful in terms of motivation for weight loss.

Take your time and really figure out the “why” behind your goal.

Step #2 Set Realistic Expectations for Weight Loss

One of the biggest reasons people struggle with how to stay motivated for losing weight is they have unrealistic expectations.

I almost guarantee you that you have had unrealistic expectations for weight loss…….and not realized it.

First, understand there is a big difference in what’s realistic in terms of weight loss depending on the context.  People often look at what’s possible and substitute that for realistic.

A lot of this isn’t at the fault of people trying to lose weight.  You constantly see advertisements for weight loss that sound like this:

• Lose 10 pounds in 10 days

• Losing 1 pounds per week is a healthy pace to lose weight

• Aim to lose 4-5 pounds per month that’s realistic

These are just a few examples that will often lead to people having unrealistic expectations of themselves when it comes to weight loss.

There are numerous weight loss scams out there that are ruining your perception of reality when it comes to weight loss.

What does this have to do with learning how to stay motivated for losing weight?  Everything. I would say the biggest reason we see people feeling a lack of motivation with weight loss is their expectations of how quickly they should lose weight are not anchored in reality.

Unrealistic Goals Impact Motivation for Weight Loss

How often do I sit down with someone who has unrealistic goals for weight loss?  Constantly, a little more than 8 out of every 10 people we sit down with has unrealistic weight loss goals.

How can I definitively say that 8/10 people have unrealistic goals?  Well, after we begin coaching them we start to see where they are at in terms of readiness to change.   Although their goals may have been realistic for some people their goals were not realistic for what they were ready to commit to.

Again, there is a big difference between what is realistic in the real world compared to what is realistic in terms of physiology.

To begin, is your goal to lose weight over a short period of time or is your goal to lose weight and sustain those results for prolonged periods of time (ie. 2 years, 3 years, rest of your life).

There is a massive difference in what is realistic for one scenario vs. the other.  Most people don’t stop and think about this. If you want to sustain the results you need to be capable of continuing to eat, exercise and live your life that way for the extended period of time.

I’m going to assume that you want to sustain your weight loss results long-term.  You want to have weight loss motivation that lasts for good.

What makes a weight loss goal realistic?

First, understand that it is impossible to have ONE standard for what’s realistic weight loss.  There are so many factors at play that will impact what’s realistic.

When you don’t look at these factors and it leads to an unrealistic goal.  That is what creates problems with figuring out how to stay motivated for weight loss.

Examples of Factors in Creating a Realistic Weight Loss Goal for Motivation

• Do you have 0 kids?  4 kids?

• Do you work 30 hours/week?  Or 60 hours per week?

• Do you travel frequently for work?

• Have you dieted 1-2 times in your life?  Have you dieted 10-20 times in your life?

• Are you going through menopause?

• Do you enjoy drinking 3-5 glasses of alcohol on the weekend?  Do you think 3-5 glasses of alcohol per year?

• Do you have huge family dinners frequently?

• Do you eat out at restaurants 1-2 times/week? Do you eat out at restaurants 1-2 times every few months?

These are just a few of the endless factors that impact what’s “realistic” and sustainable to lose in terms of weight loss.

Having a generic number of what’s realistic or sustainable to lose is impossible.

Here is a video that expands more on this area:

What No One is Telling You About Weight Loss

Alright, so how do you know what’s realistic in terms of weight loss and how to set those expectations?  Pretty simple.

You stop and look at what you’re experiencing.  What happens with most people is that they don’t lose weight as quickly as they think they should (or as high as they’ve set their expectations).

Next, they draw the conclusion that it is hormones, slow metabolism, genetics or “nothing works” when it comes to weight loss.  Unfortunately, we see this time and time again.

People keep looking for the next quick fix instead of slowing down and actually learning from what they’re experiencing.

Most people (in large part due to the media) think that if they start making better choices with nutrition and start moving more they should be able to lose 1-2 pounds per week.

Although, this may be the case for some people who are morbidly obese.  Also, it might hold true for the first 2-4 weeks of starting to lose weight.  

In my experience, having worked with thousands of people trying to lose weight.  It does not cause people to lose weight at that pace.

Guidelines on Commitment Required for Weight Loss

If you want to lose 4-5 pounds/month for more than 3 months:

• Exercising at least 4-5 hours per week

• Adjusting how much you eat based on hunger levels

• Getting the right serving sizes of: lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, smart carbs, and healthy fats (see our 21 Day Quick Fix Program for details on serving sizes…….no one that comes to work with us are doing this……many think they are, but they’re not).

• Make sure you’re getting enough water (at least 2-3 litres per day…..at water not other beverages that contain water)

• Make sure you’re eating at least 80% of your foods from whole foods

Having a game plan with indulging that is adjusted based around the results you’re seeing…including alcohol consumption

If you want to lose more than 5 pounds/month for 3 months or longer:

• You’ll probably need to track your food in-take and learn how much protein, fat and carbs are in different foods

• Make adjustments to how much food you’re getting based on the results you’re seeing

• You’ll have to carefully watch how often you’re eating: sugar, out at restaurants, family dinners, snack foods, and numerous other high calorie foods….especially alcohol consumption is a common one that is not monitored

• Exercising and physical activity 6-7 hours/week

• Make more adjustments as you go

The vast majority of people aren’t ready to consistently do the things listed in there of those scenarios for prolonged periods of time.  This includes vacations, birthday parties, holidays, etc.

Most people attempt to go through this process forcing themselves to follow through on these habits.  It is the biggest factor that leads to people feeling like their motivation for weight loss disappears.

This is precisely why we focus on coaching people with a more moderate method of learning to lose weight with our online coaching clients with our Lean Living Coaching Program.

How to Get Motivated to Lose Weight

So, what do you do with all this information?  How does this change how you look at weight loss?  Hopefully, you start by shifting your focus away from the number on the scale.  Instead, start looking at the real goal.

That is, what feeling do you want to feel.  What is it that weight loss represents to you.

Next, sit down and actually look at what habits you’re ready to commit to changing right now.  Start with one or two of those habits and consistently start performing those habits.

At first, this might not produce huge weight loss results.  However, if you continue making changes and focus your energy on your habits and working towards your real goal (not just the number on the scale).

You’ll start having less struggles with figuring out how to stay motivated to lose weight.

Finally, understand that you will get off track.  That is how it works when you’re trying to reach any goal that is challenging.  Don’t think that you’ve completely failed when you do get off track. Instead slow down and try to learn from the situation.

Losing weight is a process not an end destination.  That is why so many people struggle with figuring out how to stay motivated to lose weight.

Here is another video that will help to give you some practical tips on how to stay motivated to lose weight:So, what do you do with all this information?  How does this change how you look at weight loss?  Hopefully, you start by shifting your focus away from the number on the scale.  Instead, start looking at the real goal.

That is, what feeling do you want to feel.  What is it that weight loss represents to you.

Next, sit down and actually look at what habits you’re ready to commit to changing right now.  Start with one or two of those habits and consistently start performing those habits.

At first this might not produce huge weight loss results.  However, if you continue making changes and focus your energy on your habits and working towards your real goal (not just the number on the scale). 

You’ll start having less struggles with figuring out how to stay motivated to lose weight.

Finally, understand that you will get off track.  That is how it works when you’re trying to reach any goal that is challenging.  Don’t think that you’ve completely failed when you do get off track. Instead slow down and try to learn from the situation.

Losing weight is a process not an end destination.  That is why so many people struggle with figuring out how to stay motivated to lose weight.

Here is another video that will help to give you some practical tips on how to stay motivated to lose weight: