You desperately want to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle, but the hustle and bustle of life -- juggling kids, work, home chores and social functions -- makes finding motivation for a diet difficult. If this sounds familiar, you may be ready for some behavior and thought modifications in your life. Preparing your mind for a diet may be your key to success.
Power of Motivation
The mind is powerful tool. Whether you find intrinsic motivators -- coming from within, such as desire -- or extrinsic -- influenced by external sources, such as money awarded to the winner of a weight loss competition -- the right tools set you up for greater success. A 2002 study published in the "Journal of Applied Psychology" found that specific motivation factors greatly influenced job performance among salespersons. Keeping your mind focused on family, friends, an event, a health condition or whatever drives your desire for a diet will help override your body's desire for that doughnut, order of french fries or candy bar.
Methods of Diet Motivation
Setting a desired destination and a plan of how to get there may reduce much of the confusion out of beginning a diet. Goals are used in successful businesses, schools and sport teams to motivate success. Specifying your goals for your life and desires, and mapping out a detailed plan of action, are often key motivation techniques.
Take before pictures of yourself in fitted clothes or a swimsuit. Pictures may reveal what mirrors do not. Post these on your refrigerator or bathroom mirror next to pictures of what you hope to achieve.
Buy new diet technology, such as nutrition applications for your smart phone, to give you something to be excited about using. Buy new exercise clothes to motivate you to exercise which, in turn, will help motivate you to eat right.
Accountability
You never set out to let others down, so include them in your new diet plans to keep you afloat when the going gets tough. Convince friends and family to join you on your diet, or just express your goals to them so they can keep you on track. Enter or create contests in your work, church or social group to bring out the competitor in you. If the guy in the cubicle next to you is ahead in weight lost for the week, this may motivate you to step up your game next week. Also, blogging, tweeting or creating an online following of some sort will give you a reason to work hard at your dieting goals so you do not disappoint your readers.
Using Success to Inspire
Look around you for people who have had great success with a diet. Acquiring the attitude, "If she can do it, I can do it," may help motivate you to get going. Once you have started your diet, taking periodic pictures of yourself will help you track your progress. Seeing improvements you have made will help motivate you when you feel like giving up. Rewarding yourself each time you accomplish a short-term goal -- lose 2 lbs. in one week, avoid your favorite fast food restaurant for a month or make it two weeks without that soft drink you love -- will remind you of your success and give you reasons to keep working hard on your goals.
Tips
Motivation factors that work for one person may not work for another. So design a motivation strategy for yourself. If you do not achieve your desired success from it, try another one. As the old adage goes, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."
Allow for unplanned changes or events. Life happens. If you get thrown off track, find a way to pick back up as soon as possible and get going.
"Fitness" magazine suggests taking baby steps. If you jump in over your head in the beginning, you may feel overwhelmed and give up. Making small changes each week will help set habits that will last you a lifetime.
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