Fear prevents many people from getting motivated when it comes to tackling weight loss. The fear of not knowing where to begin or if what you are doing will work well for you is very common. With this in mind, here are a couple of ideas and recommendations to help you get started:
Tackling the Fear Factor:
Identifying and understanding what you are afraid of in this weight loss journey is step one of helping increase your motivation. Take a few minutes to follow these steps to help identify your beliefs, attitudes and assumptions when looking towards weight management and helping find a solution.
- Write down at least one belief that is holding you back
- What is an underlying assumption for this belief and a potential solution?
- Consider: How can you think differently about this situation?
- You will want to look for an alternate attitude, affirmation, self talk, its flip side etc.)
- What are possible solutions?
Fueling Your Motivation:
One significant way to help fuel your motivation is to identify and clarify what is important to you in terms of losing weight. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What do you want to happen when you lose weight?
- How do you want to feel when you lose weight?
- What don’t you want to happen and feel when you lose weight?
Understanding what is important to you can help you visualize your end goal and boost your motivation on how you would like to get there. Use the following exercise to help with identifying your Prime Motivator in your weight loss journey:
- Identify your top reason for losing weight.
- Begin pinpointing what will inspire you to action. Ask yourself, “Why is this important?” Then ask yourself again, “Why is this important?”
- Each time you give an answer, continue to ask yourself “Why is this important?” until you arrive at your most compelling reason for losing weight.
- Make the link between your top reason for losing weight and what matters most in your life. The resulting statement is your “Prime Motivator”
How Has This Process Helped Others?:
Sarah, a busy professional and mom, called my office for help. She said she wanted to like what she sees in the mirror, have more confidence, and feel that she had accomplished what she set out to do. Yet, she was afraid to start a weight loss program and then fail. To get started, we focused on the easiest small step that was doable. Most of the time she was successful with weekly actions and her confidence grew. We also worked on her mindset about making mistakes. I urged her to see mistakes as a learning opportunity. Her progress accelerated when she began to see making mistakes as part of learning. Her confidence grew week by week, and she reached her goal to lose 25 pounds. She also loved that she liked who she saw in the mirror and felt a sense of accomplishment.
Identifying your fears and seeing what truly motivates your weight loss is the first of many steps in a successful weight loss journey. Keep an eye out for next week’s blog post on the following step in understanding how weight loss is fueled by connecting your journey to what gives your life purpose and meaning!
- Click here to watch the Latest Sweet Life Wellness Podcast Episode on How to Enjoy Mindful Eating.
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Kay Loughrey, MPH, RDN, LDN
Transformational Speaker, Breakthrough Coach, Nutritionist-Dietitian
Lana Shahine
Nutrition & Food Science – Dietetics
University of Maryland, College Park | 2023