Staying Motivated Through The Doom And Gloom
Speaking from experience when I’m on a serious diet and exercise program like I am now. I sometimes get a little bit ratty because I crave certain foods and the reduction in calories makes me sometimes very hungry which leads to frustration.
Some mornings depending on which site I’m visiting I can have a one hour drive to get to my destination. This morning being one of them, I had the radio on but for most of the journey all that I heard was the doom and gloom that is happening around the world. People dieing, people losing there jobs, house prices plummeting the list just seems to be getting bigger and bigger. Top it all off with the miserable weather that were having today. It’s raining and the wind is so strong it’s blown over all my plants in the back garden and my swinging hammock. More work for me when I get home.
But with all this doom and gloom how do you stay motivated and focused to keep moving forward with your diet and exercise plan. Well the way I look at it is this. I’m beginning to see big progress in my fat loss and I’m feeling much happier and life is beginning to feel like it should be feeling. I dread to think of how I would feel if I was back at 234 pounds with a 30+ body fat percentage. Well I know exactly how I would feel, absolutely terrible I started 2009 feeling crap and looking back I think it’s probably one of the most unhappiest times in my life. I was so unhappy and down I was probably on the verge of a breakdown.
Losing weight makes you happy it’s as simple as that, and at the moment were living in a time that we need to focus on things that will make us happy. If you’re trying to lose weight focus your mind on what you will feel like once you reach your goal. My goal is 10% body fat at 200 pounds, I stay motivated by thinking what I will look like and how I will feel once I achieve my goal.
I’m not expecting overnight results and I know that it will take hard work. But I’ve set myself a target of reaching my goal by the end of 2009 so I’ve plenty of time left to work at it. This doesn’t mean I can take my foot off the pedal. It’s just a realistic target which is attainable, the problem with most people who are trying to lose weight is that they set there target too high, and when they don’t reach there target they get down and quit.
Keeping Motivated When You Are Not Seeing Results
The hardest thing about losing weight and body fat is keeping motivated. Usually when you are dieting you are eating foods that you do not really enjoy eating. Also you may be exercising and for lots of people we find sat on an exercise bike for 45 minutes extremely boring. You are working hard, but at the end of the week you are not seeing the results that you are looking for.
Most of us set our goals too far and when we don’t reach them we quickly lose motivation and ask ourselves is it really worth it. The best way to look at it is, it’s going to be a long and slow process. If you have only a few pounds to lose you are going to achieve your goals a lot quicker than someone who’s got let’s say 50 pounds to lose.
Personally I have made the mistake in the past of expecting quick results, but with quick results come quick returns. I’ve got 50 pounds of fat to lose to reach my goal. So I’ve set myself the whole of 2009 to achieve it. The old me would of said, I want that gone in 3 months. I now know that it just isn’t possible to lose 50 pounds of fat in 3 months.
I’ve set myself 52 weeks to achieve my goal, so each week is going to yield difference results from the next. I’m already hitting a few ups and downs, but I still feel motivated and focused to carrying on with the goal in hand. Last week my body fat percentage actually rose even though I still lost weight. I was gutted slightly but did it stop me from carrying on. Not at all, in fact it made me even more determined.
Don’t expect rapid results it’s going to be slow, especially if your goal is to reduce your body fat percentage like I’m doing. Losing weight is the easy part, losing fat is were it starts getting difficult. If at any time you feel like your not seeing results ask yourself why. Maybe you could work a little harder. Maybe you could be a little more strict with your diet. Whatever the reason, it’s all down to you and keeping motivated is a big part of it.
What Motivates You To Losing Fat
I always get asked the same question by people who are overweight and too be honest are too damn lazy to get off there arses and lose this excess weight. The question is Why should I lose weight when I will only put it on again and probably more. Well the answer is why should you, 90%+ of us who diet and lose weight will almost certainly put it all back on and more besides.
The biggest winners are the people who can lose the weight and fat and keep it off. I am one of the many who has never really been able to achieve this. Well this time I am going about it all differently. A part of me is doing it the same way again, because I’m at the moment trying to lose weight for my friends stag weekend which is now less than 5 weeks away. I have lost weight for that special occasion on numerous occasions now, well this time it’s going to be different.
I’m asking myself what motivates me to losing fat. And the answer to that is simple, my health and quality of life is much better when I’m not fat. Even to the degree were I am wishing the weeks away till I achieve the body that I’m looking for. Wishing your life away is not the way to do it. When I was 30 pounds heavier I felt awful and didn’t want to meet people. Since starting my fat loss journey my life is slowly getting better and better. Life is to short being in a body that you are not happy with.
A good motivation for me is thinking back when I was carrying a lot less body fat and the way it made me feel. I want that feeling back and there’s absolutely nothing stopping me doing that except me. What I do in 2009 will dictate whether or not I fail in my target of reducing my body fat percentage to 10%. It’s still early doors but I’ve got a long way to go, but I’m working my butt off at achieving it.
I’ll end this blog post my saying the main thing that motivates me to lose fat is my life will be better. Being fat is stopping me from leading the life that I should be leading. So what motivates you to want to lose fat.
