Have you ever started the weight loss journey full of enthusiasm, only to find the motivation fading away within days or weeks? You’re not the only one, I did too.  As stated in my last post, about 51% of Americans make weight loss-related New Year’s resolutions, but after the first two months only about 6% follow through with those goals.  Lacking willpower is not the problem, it’s not understanding how motivation works for you.

Here’s the good news. Staying motivated isn’t about fighting your way through each day, while relying on fleeting bursts of inspiration.  It’s about building sustainable habits that keep moving forward, even when our motivation naturally drops.

In this post I’ll discuss:

• Why traditional motivation advice fails and what work (at least for me)
• Strategies to maintain long-term motivation

There are psychological strategies I learned that can help you create a road map that works for you. Some worked. Some didn’t. You may find your own strategies that work for you as you read this. The best part, it’s about what works for you. Adjust as you go to make it work. Whether you’re starting your weight loss journey or looking to revive your motivation, there are strategies that you can implement. You can always tweak your goals and motivations as you go. It’s all about understanding how motivation works for you.

The methods in this guide aren’t meant to be temporary solutions or quick fixes. Remember, consistency is the key to weight loss. This is to help develop an understanding of how motivation works. It starts by building psychological and physical habits through repetition until they become natural.  I’ll explain techniques I used, adjustments made and how I created a personalized motivation system that still lasts.

Why Traditional Motivation Fails

You’ve probably heard this motivation advice: “Just stay positive!” “Use more willpower!” “Keep thinking about your goals!”  Theorectically, these sound good, but they often fall apart when applied to our journey. Let’s consider why traditional approaches to weight loss motivation often fail and may work.

The Illusion of Willpower

Understanding how motivation works can help build willpower. Willpower is like a muscle we have to develop. When it gets tired, it depletes throughout the day. When we build it up, it gets stronger. The American Psychological Association found that willpower gets exhausted throughout the day as you make decisions or try to change lifestyle habits. They also found there are ways a person can strengthen their willpower through repetition and practice.

Think about it. You spend a stressful day at work, including avoiding eating the donuts or snacks brought by a coworker.  That evening you’re raiding the pantry for anything you can find.  It’s not your character that’s the problem – your willpower has been drained from a day of decision making.

Common Motivation Killers

Unrealistic Expectations

Setting unrealistic goals can quickly kill motivation.  There are advertisements everywhere promoting rapid weight loss results, leading people to expect dramatic transformations in a few weeks or months.  When this doesn’t happen, our motivation plunges.

This caused me more frustration and ended many weight loss attempts.  I tried diet pills and some diet fads like low carb and keto.  I also tried the acai berry and green tea supplements.  Maybe these work for some people, but the changes didn’t come fast enough, or I got tired of the diets.

Does this sound familiar? According to Livestrong and Men’s Health, it is safe to lose about 1 to 2 pounds per week.  This may vary at times.  You may drop more some weeks or less other, there are times you’ll plateau. The problem, most of us expect to lose 5 to 10 pounds per week.  This can cause disappointment and diminish motivation.

All-or-Nothing Thinking

Have you ever told yourself, “I ate a cookie, my diet is completely blown.” “I missed my workout, this week is ruined.” “If I can’t stick to the plan, why bother continuing?”

You’re not the only one. If I overate, indulged in a meal or had a piece of cake, then I told myself I ruined my diet. When my way of thinking changed to reminding myself that one meal or enjoying something sweet was not going to ruin things, it changed the way I approached my diet. I also realized that enjoying a meal once in a while was healthy. See, part of my problem was I created an unhealthy relationship with food, something I’ll discuss in the future.

This type of thinking destroys a person’s motivation. What happens is that small, normal setbacks turn into perceived massive failures.  This leads to self-doubt and causes you to abandon the effort.  There are small steps a person can take to begin challenging this type of thinking.

Focusing Exclusively on the Scale

Most of us focus solely on what the numbers on the scale say.  This was one of my biggest issues. I still fight the urge to pull the scale out everyday to check my weight.  When I do weigh, if my weight has gone up since the last time I get a little down. I ask myself what I did. I’m not as bad about this now, but it’s still a challenge.

What did I learn? Body weight can fluctuate up to 5 or 6 pounds per day. There are many factors that can cause weight fluctuation like:

• Water retention
• Hormonal changes
• Meal timing
• Salt intake
• Quality of Sleep

Not seeing the numbers constantly going down on the scale often causes people to lose motivation, even if they’re making real progress. Some ways you’ll know you’re making progress is that you have higher energy levels, looser clothing or your appetite is stable.

What Worked for Me: Give Some of These a Try

Once I began to develop an understanding of how motivation works, I stopped relying on traditional motivational approaches. Try some of these principles:

Systems Over Willpower (Create systems instead of relying on Willpower)

Create an environment that makes good choice easier

I kept healthy snacks around. Also, focusing on meal prepping allowed me to decide what I was eating for the week and stick to my grocery list.  I still browsed, but having a grocery list and plan made me think twice.

Establish routines

My life is not built around routines, but certain parts of it are. Meal prepping on Sundays after lunch for a few hours has become something I look forward to. Going for an afternoon walk to take a break doesn’t feel like exercise, it’s a mental reset. I also made sure that to include a vegetable with every meal to add fiber.

Building healthy habit loops that become automatic

This helps establish routines and makes you focus less on food.  One habit loop I established was to get up at my alarm in the morning to get my workout in.  As I extended my workout times, then I would get up earlier. I would reward myself with a smoothie or some sort of healthy breakfast I enjoyed. After being consistent it will become habit. Now, I get up at 5am to get my workout in and if I don’t I feel lost.

Identity-Based Changes

Focus on becoming healthy instead of just losing weight

When I was only focused on the scale, I would get frustrated if it didn’t match what I hoped.  Concentrating on habits allowed me to adjust food intake and exercise, which made me feel more self-confident and feel physically better.

Make decisions based on who you want to become

Consider where you want to be in the coming weeks, months and years.  Setting short-term and long-term goals aids this. For this I started by writing a list of places I wanted to see/hike, things I wanted to do like run a 5k and set an example for my students by doing something that isn’t easy. Then I placed this on the refrigerator so I would see it everyday. I’ve done or begun the first two. This blog is why I’m doing the last.  I’m still working on my goals.

Build consistent behaviors that align with your desired identity

Focusing on where you want to be helps you design a diet, exercise routine and mentality that will help get you where you want to be. This requires progressive changes, but helps because you’re not looking at the number on the scale.  If you want to run a 5k, first aim to walk a mile nonstop, then two, three and build up to adding jogging into your walk.  Consistently building will get you there.

Build Progress Momentum

Celebrate small wins regularly

This was one of the most important pieces of the puzzle for me. A celebration can be buying a book to celebrate losing 10 pounds or something larger like taking a trip after dropping 200 pounds. I still celebrate small and large wins in other aspects of my life. This helped me develop self-confidence.

Track Multiple forms of progress

As already stated, don’t just look at the number on the scale.  Consider your energy level changes. For instance, did you walk further today than yesterday? Are your clothes getting looser?

Create a support group to reinforce positivity

The most important part of my weight loss journey was having a small group of family and friends with whom I could share my accomplishments and failures.  They were great to bounce ideas off or to hear a supportive word. The best part was, when I wanted to celebrate, they celebrated with me. They helped me avoid listening to the naysayers.

Understanding Motivation Helps Establish Doable Strategies

Understanding how motivation works will help you determine why certain traditional motivation strategies work and others fail. This is the first step toward building a more effective approach to weight loss.  Different strategies work for different people.  Don’t give up if one doesn’t work. Pivot and try something else.  Find what works for you. I went through several strategies before I found what worked.  Remember to respect yourself, be forgiving and reward yourself. Lastly, don’t focus solely on the scale, look for other signs of success.

In the next blog, we’ll explore how to build a strong foundation to support motivation.