Weight Loss Motivation: 10 Best Tips To Get You On Track

weight loss motivation

You want to lose those extra pounds but you can’t find the weight loss motivation to get started? I get you!

I’ve struggled being overweight for many years but once I found the drive and of course saw my first results, nothing could stop me.

The key is to GET STARTED!

As long as you procrastinate on that very first step, you will find yourself battling more and more.

Without any further ado, let’s dive right in to find 10 best weight loss motivation tips that helped lose over 60lbs.

I Have No Motivation To Lose Weight

If you’re on this post I bet you’ve had this thought or even said this to someone: “I Have No Motivation To Lose Weight”…

Most of the time when we are desperate to shed those extra pounds, we will come to a point where we’ll utter these words.

But don’t feel guilty at all! This proves you are human and also this means that deep inside you want to lose weight…

It’s just that you feel no energy to start but you want it…

You want to get your body transformed but you don’t know where to start.

Usually, when we don’t know where and how to start something, we don’t feel driven or propelled to do the thing.

That’s where a tad bit of motivation from someone who was once in the same shoes as you comes into play.

And I know and hope that after reading this whole article, you’ll be stimulated more than ever to embark on your own journey to lose weight.

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weight loss motivation

Why Is It Mentally Hard To Lose Weight?

weight loss motivation

Well, I won’t ever say that losing weight is easy. No, it’s not!

Otherwise, everybody would be thin like a baguette!

I really think the trigger is “hidden” somewhere in our minds. But once, you click in, things start happening.

Alrighty! Let’s see a few things that can impede your motivation to lose weight and what makes it mentally difficult.

Being Too Comfy

When I say comfort, I’m not saying that you are comfortable being overweight.

Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here! 🙂

It’s pretty much being comfortable at where you are.

Sometimes, we are OK in our own bubble of comfort that we don’t want to change a thing.

So, what I’m saying is that you might feel comfy and USED TO your actual weight that you find it a colossal work to start changing things about your lifestyle, eating habits and so on.

When I was overweight, I was always comfortable in my skin. I was never ashamed or had any complex being chubby.

I was a happy girl, I had a good job at the Bank, my family and friends loved me. You see I was in such a comfort zone that I used this an excuse to not take care of my weight and health.

Well, I didn’t have any health issues being overweight but if I didn’t start paying attention to my weight, it’s sure I could get in trouble later.

Weight Loss Myths

You Should Starve To Lose Weight

weight loss motivation

One thing that held me from starting a diet was the few misconceptions I had about losing weight.

First of all, I always thought that I would have to eat only veggies and water. I was all wrong!

Let’s admit it: food is good!

Eating the foods you love is not wrong and should never make you feel guilty!

For me, dieting should not be about restrictions and rules but rather being conscious of bad foods that can hurt our health, and obviously avoiding them.

As a matter of fact, dieting is simply embracing good eating habits for a healthy life.

I’m not talking about some strict diets where you not allowed to eat this and that, which can become painful and boring to follow.

So many times during my weight loss journey, I have pleased myself with the foods I love and in spite of this I have been able to lose 41 pounds in a few months.

Of course, I’m not telling you to start binge-eating ice cream, burgers and soft drinks every week but once in a while won’t hurt.

You Can’t Lose Weight If You Don’t Exercise

The second misconception I had is that if I don’t exercise like crazy I won’t ever become thin.

Again, this thought was erroneous!

Being active is beneficial for health and I encourage you to do a few exercises, at least once in a week.

But, you can definitely lose weight without exercising. I did it! My brother did it!

To back what I just said, health experts agree on the 80/20 rule that stipulates that 80% of a clean diet and 20% of working out are the contributors to weight loss.

So, you can see that nutrition is the most important aspect of weight loss.

If you think you have to exercise like a freak to lose weight, I want to clear the air out of this misconception.

You can reach your desired weight without working out but hey exercises can really boost the process.

As a result, you can reach your weight loss goals much faster.

Cheating Will Double The Pounds Back

The third misconception I had about weight loss was if I cheated one day or two, I’ll gain the double of my weight. LOL

I have this question soooo many times and this is pure myth!

Your body is not some sort of capricious thing that will boomerang your pounds back at you the next day or week.

I understand that not every person’s body reacts the same way to diets but your cheat day won’t make you bigger than before.

It’s important to keep in mind that a cheat day is not one where you give free rein to all kinds of junk foods to enter your body. Ha!

Doing this will end up all your efforts!

But a cheat day is a day where you allow yourself a little pleasure of yours.

It’s also actually a very effective method to boost your weight loss. No I’m not crazy! I will touch a bit on this later in this article.

For a long time, I freaked about that and this stopped me from getting on my weight loss boat.

Let me know in the comments if you have some sort of misconception you want to get cleared out of your mind…

How Do I Get Motivated To Lose Weight?

weight loss motivation

Now let’s get into the meat of the subject.

How do you get your weight loss motivation to finally start this amazing journey to a transformed body?

I’ll share with you the best and most realistic and actionable tips for you to click that motivation switch once and for all.

Set Your Focus

Many people mix up focus with obsession. It is not!

Setting your focus is an effective way to trigger the motivation you‘re looking for.

In weight loss, your focus should not be weight loss itself.

Weight loss is only the result of what you’ve been focusing on.

For me, when I started dieting, my focus was on adopting a good and healthy eating lifestyle.

No matter how hard it would be (i loved eating good foods) to say no in the beginning to those yummy junk foods, I would do it.

What I’ saying here is that behind my focal point was my end results and what I desired the most; a thin body in good health!

Define Your Goals

I had this misconception about goals being only big ones.

With that said, I encourage you to define your goals, be it small or big ones.

But I recommend you kick off with on small and realistic goals first. Why? Because small yet precise goals are achieved much easier.

Defining your goals, say on a piece of paper, will help you find that weight loss motivation because your brain will try to convince you to work for what you’ve just written.

No one takes the time to detail something on paper just for the sake of writing.

After expressing your desires, needs and goals, this will prompt something in your mind to go and do that weight loss thing!

Educate Yourself

If you’ve done steps 1 & 2, now is the time to educate yourself.

I’m not telling you to spend months researching about weight loss, how the body works or what’s in a banana…

But the thing is this: jumping blindly on a weight-loss wagon is simply not a good thing!

For instance, let’s say you’ve chosen to do a Keto Diet. Do your research on the basics first and then you start.

Obviously, there are a few things here and there that you will discover along the way but before you set off, try to educate yourself on what you’re doing, what will happen if you eat X, what can happen if you don’t do Y and so on.

Doing this will avoid frustrations or headaches ahead.

When I started dieting, I didn’t know about weight loss plateau.

After 5-6 months, I hit that wall and was frustrated that inspite of eating correctly, I wasn’t losing weight like before.

You see if I did a few research before, I would have known that it’s a normal thing to hit a weight loss plateau after a few months of dieting.

And if I was aware of this, I would have done a few things (that I know now) to bust through it much faster.

Start A Weight Loss Journal

weight loss motivation

If you’ve made until here, this tells me you’ve already found a bit of that weight loss motivation. Yayyy!!! Otherwise, you would have left…

Ok! This one is really important and it will serve as a daily motivation to you.

Starting a weight loss journal is not hard at all.

You don’t have to track EVERY SINGLE THING but jotting down your essential steps will motivate you to do better as you progress.

Things you can write down in your journal are definitely up to you but let me give you some pointers on how you can go about it.

Before Diet

A few things you might want to write down is your body measurements. Usually, we measure around our breast/chest, waist, and hips. You can also measure your arms if you want if your goal is to lose a lot of fat in your arms.

Next is to get on the scale and weigh yourself. Jot down your actual weight.

This one is optional though but I wrote everything I loved eating that wasn’t good for weight loss. This was a way of reminding me what foods could alter my weight loss.

Having that list in front of my eyes motivated me to stay away from them.

During Diet

After you started your diet, there are things you might want to keep track of.

Keeping a record of these things will guide you to a better diet.

Things you can keep track of (depending on your diet type):

  • Your carb, protein & fat intake
  • How much water you had
  • Your sleep pattern (do this for the first or two weeks only to see if the diet is affecting your sleep)
  • At what time you feel hungry more (can include a snack in here)
  • What you’ve eaten (secretly) outside of your diet

Again, your weight loss journal is in your control. Write everything you feel you need to track.

The ones I’ve listed are my personal preferences.

Find A Weight Loss Buddy

You know that phrase ‘Surround yourself with like-minded people’

Well, going through a diet with a weight loss pal has many benefits.

Firstly, you know you have a shoulder to rely on in times when you may want to give up.

Sometimes, people that aren’t in your shoes might not always understand your feelings, the hurdles in front of you etc…

For example, let’s say you’re at a party and there are lots of unhealthy snacks on the table and you know (based on where you are in your journey) if you eat a few of these, this will have an impact you don’t want on your weight.

Regular people will tell you ‘hey c’mon don’t be such a baby’ or ‘C’mon what will a few glasses of coke do to you?!

But your weight loss buddy will encourage you to stick to your decision and will not influence you to give yourself up to the bad snacks, soft drinks, and all these stuff.

As I said before, not everybody reacts the same way to a diet and each and everyone loses weight at their own pace.

Another scenario might be this: You might be at a point where you’re not seeing the results you want and might want to give up.

But your weight loss pal is seeing amazing results and is very motivated in his/her journey.

Because of this, he/she can pass on that motivation to you by sharing what’s working for him/her. And this in turn motivates you to keep going and try a few different things that might improve your results.

Seek Support

Support from people who’ve already walked the walk is so uplifting and refreshing.

Nowadays, the digital world offers us so many platforms where we can connect with people who have gone through a weight loss.

Feeling stuck? Need advice? There are amazing Facebook groups and forums online where you can find the support you need.

If you’ve purchased a weight loss program online, most of the time this coach will have a private Facebook you can join for free to connect with other people.

You do not want to go through tough times alone.

Keeping your weight loss motivation is extremely important to reach your desired weight.

Always seek support when necessary.

Celebrate Small Wins

Winning doesn’t always mean big success!

Small wins matter the most in my opinion. Simply because it’s those small gains that will carve the path for much bigger wins.

If you lost only 100g in one day, don’t frown upon it being too little. Instead, let this motivate you and say to yourself that you’re finally losing weight.

After all, losing 100g is always better than staying the same weight.

Share Your Weight Loss Progress

I remember when I lost my very first 3lbs, I was so proud and happy I wanted to share it with everybody.

When this will happen to you, you’ll feel the same.

But be cautious! Not everyone will be happy when you progress in life. Yikes! That’s the cruel side of life.

So, know with whom you share your progress.

I recall feeling odd when I shared my journey with a friend and said to me ‘Oh Nat I prefer when you were chubby chubby’ ????

I wasn’t upset but annoyed!

There are people who can slap you with mean comments and this can put you down and shut off your motivation, especially at the beginning stage.

You can have people telling you something like this ‘Mmm you can lose some weight but you won’t become thin because you’re a big-boned’. A friend of mine got this in her face and was so furious ????

Again, share your progress with your closest family members and friends only.

For the rest, let them tell you how much your body has changed ????????

Allow Yourself A Cheat Day

weight loss motivation

Last but not least!

This is not a rule you need to follow but having a cheat day has a few benefits, although it might seem unreal.

I will repeat myself that a diet should not be boring or a burden.

Ditching the things, the food we love is heartbreaking I know!

What if you can allow yourself a day where you can have something that you love?

This can definitely bring up some weight loss motivation, knowing that once in a while you can please yourself.

As you become more conscious and committed to your weight loss, you will see that you will start craving less for the not-so-healthy foods that you love.

As I said a few paragraphs before a cheat day is not a day where you indulge in huge amounts of foods like a freak.

But a cheat day is one where you choose to please your palate with one or two of your favorite foods.

It can be a delicious ice cream or a tantalizing burger and fries. Don’t go overboard though!

A cheat day can have an amazing effect on your weight loss. Not directly though.

The reason we hit a weight loss plateau is because of the fact that our system is getting used to our way of eating.

This routine will shut down the fat burning process and we start burning much fewer calories, sometimes not at all.

It’s all natural don’t worry!

Now, when you actually cheat and eat something out of your diet, you’re allowing the fat loss process to reboot itself.

What happens is the body gets confused and sees this ice cream as a new thing.

As a result of this, the fat loss cycle restarts itself and you start losing weight again. Make sense?

However, from experience, I don’t recommend you have frequent cheat days.

When you start a diet, your body will actively flush out water, toxins and of course calories.

If at this crucial point, you have a cheat day every week, this will definitely slow down the process.

You do not want this right?

How To Stay Motivated To Lose Weight?

The tips I just gave are about finding your weight loss motivation to lose weight but they are also the very keys to stay motivated.

Below are a few more tips that will keep you motivated:

  • Read success stories to stay onto the motivation track
  • Do not compare yourself to others
  • Do not undervalue your small wins
  • Set expectations you know you can achieve
  • Know who you share your progress with
  • Try to incorporate light workouts such as walking to boost your weight loss
  • Develop good and healthy habits that can speed up your weight loss

Final Thought on My Weight Loss Motivation Tips

Remember the key is to start. Unless you start you won’t know how many pounds you can shed.

I hope these few weight loss motivation tips will help you find that strength to finally kick off your journey and finish the course with success.

Good luck.

21 comments
  1. Hi Nat,

    I’ve been reading your blog since a few days and this one has really helped find the motivation to start a diet. I had a few misconceptions about weight loss too and now I’m ready to take the plunge.

    You are the best.

    Stay safe.

  2. Amazing one. I will re read this when I’m at home. I’ve already been motivated Reading the first few lines. Thanks Nat.

    1. I really hope it can motivate you. Good luck Steph 😉

  3. Wow I’m really motivated to get on this journey to get rid of my excess 20lbs. Will give it a read when I finish work for sure Nat. You’re amazing.

    1. So happy to provide some motivation and help. Feel free to reach out! 😉

  4. Thanks so very much for these tips my friend. Will surely apply thise motivational tips. Will share results after. Naaaatttt thnxx

    1. No worries Priya! Good luck! :::)))))

  5. Wow I’m so motivated right now to start a diet. Thanks for doing this! I’m 17 and I want to know if you recommend water fasting for a quicker weight loss? Thanks Nat.

  6. Gracias muchas! This article has helped found the motivation to get started. Like you I had a few misconception and didn’t feel ready until today ????????????

    1. Dana,

      I’m so happy to hear this.

      Best of luck in your weight loss journey.

      Take care 🙂

  7. Wait, I’m now motivated more than ever to start a weight loss program.

    Wow your writing is so convincing.

    Thanks Nat.

    1. Haha thank you Chloe.

      I just want to see girls struggling with excess weight find a way to get out. I know what it is.

      Good luck.

  8. Wooo you have persuaded me to take my health in hands. Do you have any recommended weight loss program? Do you have one yourself? Thanks.

    1. Hi Lola,

      So happy this article has been of some help and motivation.

      Send me an email and I’ll give you some recommendations. My weight loss guide will be ready in two months or so. I don’t think you will weight that much.

  9. Thank you for motivating me to start a diet. 🙂

  10. Thank you for giving some hope through this artivle. This one and your weight loss journey have motivated me to start my own. ❤️

    1. So happy to help! Good luck in your new journey. ❤️

  11. I read this article last week and today I’m at my 2nd day of diet. Can’t believe I got started ????

    Thanks for motivatin me.

    1. Really?? That melts my heart. Happy I could help you start your weight loss journey.

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