Motivation is the driving force that gives us the incentive and the will to lose weight. If you want to succeed in losing weight, being motivated is one of the biggest factors. One’s resolve and motivation will establish your success rate. It is generally believed that if you are motivated enough you will succeed even if your strategy is not 100% correct.

Obviously since you are trying to lose weight there is some motivation, now the trick is to keep yourself motivated until you reach your goal. Here are some tips that will keep you motivated:

Desire

The first tip to stay motivated is desire, and since you want to lose weight that is half the battle won. Make a list of the reasons for losing weight and staying healthy.  Every time you think of more reasons keep adding to your list. When you feel down look at your list and you will know why you want to continue towards your goal.

Be Realistic

Make sure to keep targets realistic, everyone has their own thresholds and abilities, every body is different; therefore, make you targets realistic so you can achieve your goals. Set your targets and keep a record of your progress. Every time you see a positive change it will be an incentive to work harder to get to your final goal. When you lose focus look back and see what you have achieved and you will keep going.

Treat Yourself

Treat yourself with something nice, it can be anything from watching a movie or buying yourself that great book you’ve been wanting for a while. Every time you reach a target that you had aimed for treat yourself with some reward, this is a great way to keep yourself motivated. You will then keep looking forward to your next reward as well as getting into shape at the same time.

Success Stories

Read success stories of others, especially on forums and support groups, focus on the success stories of people who have already achieved what you have set out to achieve. If others can do it, so can you.

Spread The Word

Tell everyone you know what you have set out to do, the fact that everyone knows you are trying to lose weight will make it harder for you to back down or quit. It will be another form of motivation to keep you going.

Do It For Others

The biggest motivation should be to lose weight for yourself. But you can also do it for your loved ones, your children, your spouse and your parents. Because losing weight will not only make you look good, it will also prolong your life by keeping you healthier longer.  Unnecessary weight is the biggest cause for many medical problems, which you can avoid by simply keeping your weight in check.

It’s natural to want to lose weight fast. You want to lose 10 pounds in a week just like they say on all those weight loss commercials.  However, losing weight rapidly can ultimately jeopardize your weight loss plans. So what is a healthy rate of weight loss?

How Fast Should You Lose Weight?

Most experts agree that a healthy rate of weight loss is between a half-pound and two pounds per week. So if you have 20 pounds to lose it will take about 10 weeks. Yes, this sucks, but you should realize it took you 5, 10, 20 years to gain the weight, so it will take some time to come off.

Losing about 1-2 pounds a week is realistic and achievable for most people. Since a pound of fat equals 3,500 calories, to lose a pound per week requires cutting back by 500 calories each day or burning 500 more calories per day. The best option is to eat 250 less calories a day and work off 250 more through exercise. Exercise not only helps to prime the metabolism, but has additional health benefits as well.

The Problem of Losing Weight Too Fast

Why is it important to maintain a healthy rate of weight loss? Why not lose it as fast as you can? Ultimately, this strategy will work against you. When you restrict calories too much, your body goes into starvation mode as a strategy to conserve energy. This means you’ll burn fewer calories as you restrict your diet more. Even though you may lose weight in the beginning, the weight loss will eventually slow down leading to the dreaded weight loss plateau.

The other problem with losing weight too fast is the risk of nutritional deficiency. When you decrease calorie intake below 1200 calories per day, it’s very difficult to get all the vitamins and minerals a healthy body needs. The goal should to lose weight in a healthy manner – not to feel tired all the time and have your hair fall out.

Achieving a Healthy Rate of Weight Loss

Before beginning a weight loss program, the standard advice is to use a calorie calculator to determine how many calories you need each day for maintenance and subtract 250 calories from that total. Once you know how many calories you need the next step is to plan your menu, keep a food diary and write down how many calories you’re taking in each day along with how many you’re burning off through exercise. Keep in mind that as you lose, your calorie requirements will change and you’ll require fewer overall calories. Make adjustments for that. All of this planning, calculating and tracking will take at least 2-3 hours each week.

Instead of wasting time planning your diet use the EatDrinkAnything.com Weekly Menu. In just 5 minutes you get to select anything you want to eat and drink. The application then instantly calculates and prepares daily menus with foods that provide your nutritional requirements and that are portioned so you lose weight. So you get to eat and drink anything, you lose weight, you save time – Plus it’s free.

The Bottom Line?

Fast isn’t better or achievable when it comes to losing weight. Be patient and realize that a healthy rate of weight loss will give you a better chance of long term success. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you must lose weight fast.

Weight Loss Cycle

If you have decided that it is time to start a thin new life, congratulations. Like everything else in life, successful weight loss follows certain cycles. The progression of a dieter through the weight loss cycle is predictable and successive. The weight loss cycle may be explained in three sections. Dieters can easily succeed as long as they know about the following:

First Part of the Cycle:  Decision and Resolution

The Latin root of the word “decide” means “to cut off from.”  Anthony Robbins pointed out that when a person makes a decision, they have cut off from all other possibilities.  That is it.  The decision is made and there is no more going to and fro and thinking about the issue.  Once a decision to lose weight has been reached, a true decision, then what follows that is decisive action toward the goal.  The person has left their old self with old habits, patterns and excuses behind and is marching toward a new tomorrow.

Second Part of the Cycle:  Action

The second portion of the weight loss cycle is action.  Without action, all the thinking, wishing, hoping and dreaming in the world will not have any results.  A true decision is followed by action.  Now, which type of action is a very crucial question.  The best recommendation is to find a weight loss program with a proven track record of success and follow it.  Do not fall for any fad diets or little slogans.  In the matter of weight loss, personal health and fitness is greatly affected and the best approach is a tried and true one.  Also, change does not happen overnight.  Any approach should not be really viewed as a “diet” for the short term, but rather a whole lifestyle change that the person is going to stick with for the long term.

Final Part of the Cycle:  Helping Others

Once success in weight loss has been achieved, as it certainly will with a true decision, and action on a proven plan, the next course of action is to share what has been learned with others.  Become a coach, counselor or meeting coordinator and pass on to others the knowledge that has been learned.  It is the very best way to give back.  If everyone did this, then helpful knowledge would always be freely available to all.