How To Stay Motivated On Your Weight Loss Journey

Starting your fitness journey is one thing but fighting to stay motivated is another! Don’t worry – many people experience that motivation plateau. The great thing is, you can easily jump back on the wagon when you’ve fallen off, and even implement a few techniques to avoid plateauing in the first place! Check out our best tips below! 

GET A FITNESS BUDDY 

The journey to weight loss can be a long, difficult and challenging one. Finding someone that can join and accompany you – like a partner, friend, or even an online group who are working at achieving the same goal – can supercharge your motivation. Having someone along for the ride to keep you in check and motivate you (as you will for them) can help tremendously at keeping you on track. 

TAKE PROGRESS PICTURES 

When you’ve been working hard on your fitness journey, it may be disheartening to look in the mirror and feel that you’ve made no progress. However, your body has probably changed a lot, especially if you’ve been working out and eating healthy for a long period of time. Because we see ourselves in the mirror every day, these gradual changes may not be detected by our own eyes. The best way to be able to see these changes is through progress pictures. Take one at the very beginning of your journey and continue to take progress shots (of full-body front, side and back profiles) fortnightly or monthly at the same time of the day to see the changes in your body as you progress on your weight loss journey. 

KEEP A WEIGHT LOSS JOURNAL 

Keeping note of anything to do with your fitness journey – like recipes, workouts, progress photos, even your emotions – can help you establish what kinds of things work well for you. After all, everyone’s different and something that works wonders for one person’s weight loss journey might be ineffective for someone else’s journey. Keeping a journal (whether physical or digital – it’s up to you) is great for keeping all your notes in one place, so you can refer to it regularly, recognise patterns and form better habits. It will become an invaluable source to you and help you learn more about yourself! 

DON’T COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS 

Comparison is the thief of joy. Comparing yourself to someone else will only hinder your progress – your journey is unique to you, so it makes no sense to compare it to somebody else’s. The only comparison that’s productive is comparing your present self with your past self. Losing weight and feeling great? Awesome. Keep going. Not doing so well? Don’t be discouraged. Pick yourself up and keep trying! 

CELEBRATE THE LITTLE WINS 

Making the decision to tackle the journey to weight loss is a difficult one. Just acknowledging that you aren’t where you want to be and making the decision to do something about it is already a great achievement!  Keep your emotions toward this journey positive by rewarding yourself for the wins — even the little wins! (Keep in mind that these rewards shouldn’t be things that can hinder or reverse your success.) Celebrate the kilos shed, be proud of your growth in fitness, pat yourself on the back for skipping out on that chocolate brownie after dinner. Making positive changes (no matter how small) should be acknowledged. The journey to a healthier you may be a tough one, but it’s so worth it! 

PLAN FOR SETBACKS 

With every endeavour comes challenges. There will always be a couple of bumps along the way, whether they be in the form of plateauing weight loss, caving in to temptation (hello chips & chocolate!), feeling drained and tired, or simply feeling lazy. The important thing is to get up and keep going. Don’t let these setbacks affect your drive and motivation to keep fighting. It’s ok to have a bad week, so long as the following week you dust yourself off keep hustling  

REMIND YOURSELF WHY 

People tend to forget why they’ve decided to take this fitness journey on in the first place. When and if this happens, remind yourself why you’ve decided to make healthier choices, improve your fitness and eat better. Rather than simply telling yourself that you should continue this journey, find creative ways that will show you why. If your motivation is fitting into that Summer dress, hang it near the mirror so you see it every day. Write about how great you feel after every workout on a sticky note and stick them on your dresser. Create a vision board of all the fitness and health-related goals you aim to accomplish and hang it on a wall in your bedroom. Surrounding yourself with reminders and encouragements will help fuel your motivation and keep you on the right track.