Weight Loss - Five Ways to Stay Motivated

So you've decided that it is time to lose weight. You've started your exercise routine and you are choosing healthful foods. Everything is going great for the first week. The second week rolls around and you ditched your exercise routine a couple days and find yourself not paying too much attention to what you are ordering at the restaurant with your friends. By week 3 you are back to your old habits and your weight loss goals are not being met. This is an all too common scenario when the comfort of our old habits takes hold and our new habits disappear. What happened to that motivation during the first week? It is possible to get your motivation back so you can meet all your life's goals. Practicing these 5 steps can help you stay motivated for the long haul.

1. Create a vision.

Have you ever written a business plan before? Writing a vision is crucial for the success of your business and it is crucial for your weight loss plan. Your vision is what you are working towards and how you envision your life. Why do you want to lose weight? You must go beyond "I want to lose 15 pounds" or "I want to fit into a size 8". Go a bit deeper. What will weight loss bring you? For most people it will bring increased energy and better health. It may even allow you to participate in something you have been longing to do like run a marathon or go on a back packing trip. These are heart-felt reasons to lose weight that will keep you motivated in the long run. When you start to slide back into your old habits, just ask yourself, is this choice bringing me closer to my vision?

2. Set goals each week.

 

One thing that can keep you on track is to set specific goals each week. Sit down at the beginning of each week and map out some simple goals that you can set for yourself. These don't have to be huge goals, just simple ones like: I will limit my ice-cream to 1 time this week. Goals help you to stay focused while changing habits. Post your goals all over as reminders.

3. Schedule your exercise

When embarking on a new fitness program, many people go at it whenever the time permits. This is a sure-fire way to slip out of the habit. It becomes too easy to let other things in your life become the priority. Try to schedule your exercise routine the same time each week. For example scheduling your weekly walk Monday - Thursday at 5:30pm helps you to create a habit which will get easier and easier to stick with. Keep your appointment with yourself just like you would a doctor's appointment. It is just as important!

4. Build your support system

Support comes in all different forms. This may be a walking buddy, group meetings, or professional services. No matter what road you take it is crucial to have your support system in place. This not only keeps you motivated but also helps to keep you accountable. Professional services such as a Registered Dietitian, Personal Trainer, or Life Coach can all help to provide sound advice and strategies to help you reach your goals. There are many wonderful resources out there to provide these kinds of services. Build your support system around each topic: nutrition, fitness, and self-discovery. Even signing up for some free e-newsletters or joining a weight loss message board helps towards building your support system.

5. When all else fails: the 3-step backup promise

Ok. You've tried all of the above and your old habits are just too strong of a deterrent. This is when you break out the 3-step backup promise. Make yourself a list of 3 minimum steps you promise to take daily. These steps will differ for each person. The key is they have to be completely easy and doable for you and still work towards your weight loss goals. It could be having a fruit or vegetable with each meal, going for a 10 minute walk, lifting hand weights for 10 minutes, etc. Then, when things start to derail you can agree to do the minimum After all you did promise yourself! Make up your 3-step back-up promise so when things aren't going well you can at least stay somewhat on track with 3 doable steps. http://ezinearticles.com/?Weight-Loss---Five-Ways-to-Stay-Motivated&id=98970

The Weight Loss Program For Your Individual Needs

So you have accepted the fact that you must lose weight now. The next step is to find the best way to go about it. With the hard and fast rules that exist in many weight loss programs the required change in lifestyle can seem incredibly daunting. However, with a professional, effective diet plan things are made a little bit easier especially one that promotes a stress free, relaxed approach which will not come as such a shock to your system. If you have been inactive for some time, starting an intensive exercise regime could do more harm than good. For this reason it is recommended that you obtain the advice of your doctor before beginning any form of exercise. The advice will generally be to take things easy initially and have check ups on a regular basis. These early visits to your doctor will ensure that consultations for more serious matters could become history.

Although the most efficient weight loss programs have to be flexible and suit every individual, it should be seen as a new way of life and not just a way to lose those unwanted pounds so that you revert back to your old habits when your desired weight is reached. Your goal should be to reach your perfect weight and remain at it, not the weight that the charts indicate but the weight that you feel most comfortable with. If you are truthful to yourself carrying an extra twenty or thirty pounds around your midsection is far from ideal and by losing it, the ability to carry out many of the mundane tasks in life would become much easier.

A great deal of the actions of the human body are carried out with the use of the back and stomach. When your stomach increases in size even the task of tying shoe laces can become extremely difficult. The advantages of reducing the size of your stomach are that you become more flexible with less pressure being placed upon the spine. In addition, with an improvement in posture this will result in a healthier circulation system thus allowing the blood to flow to your vital organs much easier as compression on your heart decreases.

It is not about spending endless time in the gym but a realistic change in your lifestyle is essential to improve your quality of life. A gradual change in the way you conduct yourself could save you the uncertainty of numerous visits to the hospital and endless courses of medication. This is why the Anything Goes Diet plan is in place to make a difference to you and your life and offers an alternative way to remain there.

Losing weight can be extremely stressful if you don't choose the correct weight loss program. http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Weight-Loss-Program-For-Your-Individual-Needs&id=7548538

Do Your Habits Support Your Fitness and Weight Loss Goals?

Do you want to keep your weight at a healthy level? In order to maintain weight loss, whether it is from surgery, calorie restriction, or exercise, a lifestyle that supports weight maintenance should be adopted. It is important that you work to break old, destructive habits and create new, positive ones. Doing so can help you achieve your goals and maintain weight loss long-term. Here are four tips that will help you to adopt new behaviors so that they become long-term habits.

1. Create a written agreement between yourself and someone who is supportive of your goals, such as a spouse or your personal trainer. Be specific about any behaviors, commitments, or attitudes that is expected of you and the other person who is assisting you in creating the agreement. Both should sign the agreement, post it somewhere in clear view, and revise as goals and situations change.

2.Create a behavioral contract which has the goals that you want to achieve and a non-food reward for achieving each goal. Plan to complete goals by a certain date. Develop action-based goals such as "I will visit the gym 2 days per week for 45 minutes" versus "I want to lose weight and tone up." Update the contract periodically as you meet your goals.

3. Create an environment that is conducive to your fitness and weight loss goals. For instance, if junk foods are your weakness then remove them from your house. Another example includes setting an alarm to remind you to go to the gym. Using cues such as these will help you to stay on track.

4. If you need to weigh the pros and cons of changing a habit, then create a decision balance sheet. This worksheet helps you to consider the benefits and barriers of changing a behavior, as well as develop strategies to either initiate the change or work around the barriers that prevent you from doing so. Take a piece of paper and divide into four sections. Label each section respectively: benefits, barriers/obstacles, strategies to maximize benefits, and strategies to minimize barriers. Use this to help you to develop a fitness and weight loss plan.

So, to achieve success at long-term weight loss, it's important that you change your old habits that are keeping you unhealthy, and adopt new ones that are going to make you healthier and happier. These strategies, when implemented, are effective at helping you to adopt new behaviors. Adopting new habits is a process; however, in the long-run your body will thank you and you'll have the healthy body to show for it!

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