Ep: #13 - Motivation For Weight Loss

Faye Casement Author

May 05, 2024 |

Motivation is actually a really big topic. So this is Motivation Part 1!. I am going to do at least a couple of blog posts on this topic.

So, diving in...

It can feel really tough at times to get and stay motivated on a weight loss journey.

Am I right?

You know those days/weeks where you feel like you're doing everything right, but the scale isn't moving.

Those weeks when you just can't be bothered to keep up the “same slog”, “the battle”, only to see that scale spit out a number that you did not want.

Those weeks where you feel like you have put so much effort in and you are simply exhausted.

It is so easy to get into a negativity spiral about how you're doing something wrong, that you are not doing enough, or that you simply can't achieve your goal.

It is an emotional roller coaster, as you flit between engaged, happy, elated at a loss on the scale, and then so much frustration, discouragement, and desperation that you want to scream!

Ladies I hear you, I have been there ❤️.

I see the struggles of women around the world, post after post on social media asking other ladies if they are doing enough, are they doing it right, why is the scale not moving.

I see the frustration, the anger, the hurt, the shame, the guilt...oh the pain that is out there!

The battle is real !!!

But what if you could ease your suffering?

What if you could ease your suffering and find motivation?

What if you could ease your suffering, find motivation, and lose weight peacefully and for good?

When it comes to weight loss, there's a lot of information out there. This can make it difficult to know where to start and it is easy to get overwhelmed as you are bombarded with a ton of 'shoulds' and 'musts' from the diet world. Which, if you listen to it will lead to you getting stuck in the diet cycle and this kills your motivation in the end as it starts to feel really hard, real quick, as you try to keep up with everything you are being told to and then you will quit.

So what is motivation?

It gets thrown about in general conversation when talking about weight loss.

"I just can't seem to go motivated."

"My motivation has totally gone."

"I am just not motivated enough to lose weight."

But what is it... what are you actually saying when you say these things.

I've got to be honest and say I wonder sometimes if we actually stop and think or if it is, for want of better words, a stock phrase when we just can't figure out what else to say. A little get out of jail card...oops just not motivated.

But what is really happening?

Why aren't you motivated?

I'm a word geek and love a good definition and one that came up is:

“The psychological feature that arouses an individual to action. It is the reason or reasons for taking a particular course of action."

So, what stands out to me there is the words reason and action.

So, you have to have a reason to act.

A reason to embark on the journey.

A reason to decide at that moment if you are going to say no to Carol in accounts who is trying to give you a donut.

A reason to keep going.

The starting point is getting motivated to start losing weight in the first place.

In the Triple-A-Way we deep dive this in the INITIAL AWARENESS module.

One of the lessons is about developing your WHY POWER.

I have included a little bit of the exercise so you can tap into your WHY POWER today.

Before I dive in, why not join the FB Group you can come along and share your whys or get support.

So, to get started you are going to want paper/notebook and a pen.

When I did this exercise, I came up with a list of 45 of them once.  I bet you could come up with a fair few in a few minutes too.

Step 1: List all of the reasons you want to lose weight.

Step 2: Next you are going to take each one at a time (Start with the heaviest) and ask yourself why that is important.

Step 3: Ask yourself again why that is important

Step 4: And again, try to go deeper and ask why that is important.

Step 5: And again, if you can.

What you should have now is a really deep set of whys. Try to get really specific!

For example:

Step 1: I want to be healthy

Why is that important?

Step 2: I do not want to have the general ache and pains I do now.

Why is that important?

Step 3: I want to give myself the best chance of health in my older years.

Why is that important?

Step 4: I want to ensure I am around as long as I can to support my Daughter. For example, she may have children and she will likely need my support and therefore I want to be well enough to help.

Why is that important?

Step 5: It is really important to me to be able to support her throughout the whole of her life and I want to be there for her every step.

You can then keep repeating if necessary deep-diving why weight loss is important personally to you.

What you are likely to have in your list is a mix of 'intrinsic' and 'extrinsic' reasons which are the two most common types of motivation.

Intrinsic motivation comes from within, whilst extrinsic motivation is connected to external factors.

So intrinsic motivation would be things like wanting to improve your mood, or feel better about yourself.

While extrinsic might be things like wanting to fit into a certain dress size, dropping a dress size for an event, get a beach body for summer.

Intrinsic motivations are deeper in nature and therefore tend to be more motivating long term.

Both have their positives and negatives but intrinsic is more about self-improvement goals while extrinsic might be more focused on appearance goals.

Both can be motivating but relying too much on extrinsic factors can exacerbate yo-yo dieting.

So ultimately the more compelling you make your reasons the more you are likely to keep going.

I am going to talk more next week on how you can utilize your why power regularly. This isn't just a one-hit-wonder.

As you will know if you have caught some of my other recent blog posts I strongly advocate curiosity and kindness rather than beat downs and talking down to yourself so try to reframe those whys if you need to e.g. rather than saying I have to lose weight because else my health will suffer ….you would say something like I choose to prioritise my well-being as I want to ensure I have the best health so I can spend time with the grandkids.

If you get stuck on this reach out.

Check out the Triple-A-Way Membership HERE.

Come join the Wellness4Women Facebook Group where you can watch the live video to accompany this blog plus catch other free training, resources, useful tips and connect to a community of women just like you!.

Categories: : mindset, motivation, Weight loss