To lose weight or change the way you eat, you need to get and stay motivated. You have eating habits that are strongly ingrained: You’re accustomed to eating a certain amount ad certain types of foods at certain times. If you need to lose a substantial amount of weight, you may be talking about changing lifelong habits—habits you’ve probably had even longer than you’ve carried those excess pounds.
Breaking old habits is one of the most difficult things about making lifestyle changes that lead to healthier living. The way to do it is by creating distractions from your usual routine and filling your time in new and different ways.
Commitment First
Even if you’re only trying to shake off 10 or 15 pounds, or give up a certain type of food that isn’t good for you, you still have to be committed to making changes in your thinking patterns, eating habits and, mostly likely, your exercise routine.
Commitment is especially important when you’re trying to maintain a healthy weight because, for most people, sticking to a maintenance plan is harder than losing the weight in the first place. If you make a commitment to better health, rather than to a change in appearance or a passing diet trend, you’ll be less likely to fall for gimmicks or “magic bullets” or pseudo-science that hints at solutions that don’t really work. You’ll realize that these false solutions only get in the way of real progress because they distract you from getting to the root of the problem.
An Incentive Plan
What are your incentives for changing your diet and getting fit? Think about all the things you want out of life that depend on your good health. Maybe you want to be better at sports. Maybe you want to live to see your granddaughter through college. Maybe you want to increase your energy level, set a good example for your children, be happier, control a disease, get stronger or leave obsessive thinking behind. Think about the incentives in your own life and write them down. You can refer to them on those days when your attitude seems to be, “why bother?”
Rewarding a Job Well Done
Of course, your best reward for getting fit is your own good health and, ideally, that’s enough incentive to keep you moving toward your long-term goals. But let’s face it. We’re all human here, and once in a while, we need material rewards. Come up with a list of non-food things you can use to reward yourself for progress. You might take yourself to a show, get a massage, buy a hardcover book, or indulge in an expensive face cream. Maybe the best material reward for losing weight or sticking to an exercise program is buying new clothes to fit your new shape.
Get motivated to stick with your plan by figuring out what matters most to you, what makes you feel happy and satisfied. Motivation comes from the rewards you get for working so hard to improve your attitude and behavior. If you’re not concerned about your health right now, then preventing heart disease probably won’t motivate you to take an aerobics class or cut back on fatty foods in your diet. On the other hand, if you want to lose weight and feel better about yourself and the way you look, those are your best motivators right now for going to the gym and watching what you eat.
Reaching for Help
You may find yourself in a push-pull situation, what psychologists call approach-avoidance conflict. It’s very normal for people who want to change their behavior. You want to be physically healthy, but at the same time, you don’t want to give up any pleasures. Only you can decide whether to struggle against the problem or give in. Under these circumstances, a good coach—whether it’s a friend or a professional counselor—can help keep you motivated. When you are distracted by conflicting desires or other events in your life, it might help to have someone routinely remind you to focus on your goals.