How To Keep Weight Loss Motivation: Motivate Your Own %*$@ Self in 4 Simple Steps

Find out the 4 very easy and simple steps to get you working towards your goals whether you feel like it or not.

This morning, I was excited I had lost 5lbs in two weeks. I made an Instagram post about it, then got started on my to-do list. Slowly, as the day lagged, I got more and more down, less and less motivated. I decided I was slipping into a funk, and I was going to do something to get out of it. I’d done it so many times before, it was almost like following a template:

1. Fix Your Attitude Through Gratitude & Visualization

2. Psychologically Orient Yourself Toward Doing the Action

3. Set Yourself Up to Win

4. Make the Process Easier for Next Time

Several months ago I wrote about that behavior / mood template in real time on Reddit, editing the post as I went about my day.  Since I was in a similar funk today, I read the post and just started following it like an automaton. And….it worked, as it always has.  At the end of the article, I'll show you how I followed the template again today, and how simple it really is to get out of the slog and get moving toward your goals. Here it is:

I feel so demotivated...

I stepped on the scale. It's heavier than yesterday. I got the vaccine a few days ago, so I've been tired and the last few days of chores have piled up. Two people today have caught me still in my nightgown. I feel so demotivated....

So what?

I've done this long enough to know that my feelings don't matter toward making forward progress toward my goals. I don't have to feed my emotions and gain weight just because I'm having a low day. I can do what I can do today that will make me feel good about what I accomplished by the end of the day today.

You can be bored, and still do it. You can be sad and still do it. You can be mad and still do it. You can be furious and still do it. You can be demotivated AF, and still do it.

I don't need to be motivated to do it. I'm going to do some things today that will help make forward progress today, and I'm going to update this so you can see, that you can have a frown on your face and still get it in.

I'm going to work on three areas: attitude, food, and exercise.

Edit #1: I worked on my attitude. Calming down my negative feelings through an attitude of gratitude. I thanked God for my blessings. I remembered that I've made an incredible amount of progress so far:
 

Then, I visualized my goal.  I watched it twice for extra motivation.
 

I showered while motivation videos on slogging through the boredom played in the background. Yeah, no professional athlete is hyped up all the time to workout. It's the same grind day after day. We only see the highlight reel.  Nothing like being told "so what it's boring, deal with it!"

I know from experience that clothes matter. Being in your nightgown or pajamas is a psychological trigger to orient yourself to the bed. After a shower and teeth brushing, I'm in bike shorts and a t-shirt, a baseball cap and gym shoes. What do you think psychologically I will orient myself toward?  I'll let you know later what else I got in today.  I also filled my water bottle.

Edit #2 I just got back. I went outside for a walk in the heat 2hrs ago. My feet hurt and I'm pouring with sweat. I went to buy some breakfast: cherries.

******If I do nothing else today toward my goal, I will be able to say I made forward progress on my goal today. I exercised, drank water, ate something healthy, and grew my self-control today (through both fasting and pushing through a terrible mood.*****

I know that the day is still young, so I can do more without too much hassle. What I will work on, if I get around to it, I'll do a bonus round: help my future self find easier success.

I hope you see here that I took things one bit at a time. I didn't say to myself, oh, wow, today sucks, let me do 2hrs of exercise, fast half the day and drink water.  No. That was too overwhelming. I said, let me see what I can do now to adjust my attitude and push through.

The key here was that was the only thing I thought about doing: adjust my attitude.  Once that was finished, then I thought about the next thing: what can I do to just get myself ready to do some mild exercise. Then, and then and then.

Yard by yard, life is hard. Inch by inch, life's a cinch.

Edit #3 Okay, so that was fast. I went outside to rest my tired feet and sit with coffee and water after grabbing some more breakfast (tomato basil flavored rice cake, cream cheese, tomato). After that, I rinsed some chicken legs with water and vinegar and set them to boil. I minced some garlic and onion and threw that in with some spices. I was too tired to chop veggies, so I just put them out on the counter for later. I got back in my bedroom, and picked out a workout outfit, and folded it together for easy access later.

My future self will have access to delicious and healthy chicken soup, and a much easier workout. Starting to workout is the hardest part, so I just helped myself make getting started easier.  

Simply helping myself make it easier to psychologically orient myself toward exercise makes the activation energy needed to go workout much lower.  I could go ahead and do some ab work, but I think I'll call it a day and just relax. I've refilled my water bottle.  

**The reason I started this post was because the day started off feeling like it was bound to be a failure. But I knew that if I decided it wasn't going to be, it wouldn't. There was no way I could have said to myself this morning, I want you to fast half the day, do your work, exercise for two hours, eat healthy, meal prep and lay out your workout clothes for your next workout. I would have put the covers over my head and told you that you were dreaming.

But, I took it one step at a time, as I've done countless times before. I knew I could do it. And I know you can to.  What will you do today? And then what did you do? And then? And then.

Bit by tiny little bit.

So you've reached the end of the original article.  I read it today, and here's how I went about following that template:

1. Fix Your Attitude Through Gratitude & Visualization
I looked at my progress pictures and watched the video of Nia Dennis' gymnastic routine.  I almost forgot how amazing she looks.

Today I put on a zippered sweatshirt, jean shorts, long socks and roller skates. What do you think I will psychologically orient myself toward?  

I did end up roller skating all over the house, and practiced skating backwards, (a fulfilled childhood ambition), and crossovers.  

I filled up my water bottle with water and ice and put it next to me on my desk. I'd already meal prepped the day before, but I decided to grab some veggies for chopping later and set it on the counter.

4. Make the Process Easier for Next Time
I wrote this article, again.  The more you do a thing, the more you reinforce your brain's pathways to form habits.  Habits make the entire thing easier every time you do it, until it's automatic. Writing this article helps reinforce to myself that I can do this, and that it's simple and easy to do.

Weight loss is not an easy thing to do, I know.  I've tried and failed many times.  Yet I can do it now, much easier (and tastier) than ever before.  Bookmark this page for whenever you are lacking in motivation and need to find the wherewithal to motivate yourself.  It's 4 simple steps.

Which one will you do, now?  Let me know in the comments below.