How to motivate yourself to lose weight?

to a weight loss program it should leave the time it finds - except for medical needs. Blaming oneself is always, for various reasons, wrong and counterproductive.

To increase the chances of success it is therefore desirable to try to understand what are the primary causes of failure in an attempt to lose weight. The outpatient experience and the sports technicians reveal that the main reason is the lack of motivation.

So, "I would like but I can't" means "I am not sufficiently motivated".That's a big deal, as motivation can only come from oneself. Of course, the task of a good dietician or personal trainer is to set a good example and to keep the stimulus high but, to manage it, somewhere, the stimulus must be there.

To be honest, fortunately, today there are many who have grasped this aspect; nevertheless, the average course of food therapies and cutting paths in aesthetic culture does not seem to have changed. It is therefore necessary to investigate, first, what drives us to undertake this project. In the next section we will clarify the difference between "motive" and "motivation", and how one affects the other.

which nourishes will and perseverance, arises from the reason or cause for which you intend to lose weight. Normally, the more important the cause, the better the chances of success.

On the other hand, the reason is a constant, a fulcrum, while the motivation is a fragmentable variable in the infinite moments that characterize our daily life. The motivation, to be sustained, must never move away from its source; ergo, the goal. it must always remain a priority and well focused during the hours, days, weeks, months and sometimes years.

Heavy? Obsessive? Poorly sustainable? If so, it is because that commitment is disproportionate to the cause. To better understand what we are talking about, let's take some examples.

• Subject A: slightly overweight forty-year-old male who aspires to exhibit the abdominal turtle on the beach, while loving alcohol and good food. The reason becomes futile in front of a beer and a sandwich with porchetta, and the motivation consequently, especially in the perpetuation of routines - which, for slimming purposes, can be defined as wrong.
• Subject B: obese woman suffering from a principle of liver cirrhosis following a fatty dietary steatosis, with a high risk of aggravation up to organ failure. The reason is strong and the motivation equally, at any time of the day.

The example is perfectly indicative, even if there are vertices, a thousand exceptions and facets.

Motivation to lose weight can be high even in people who do not have a medical cause; in this case passion, determination and perseverance take over. Habits will depend on the goal and not the other way around. Psychologically some subjects are certainly more predisposed than others. Furthermore, we cannot hide it, there are those who have to face greater difficulties. Let's take another example:

• Subject A: mother of two young children, works as a shift worker in a nursing home, should lose some kilos gained with her last pregnancy but does not have the financial resources to enroll in any physical activity course
• Subject B: university student, practices body building and is followed by a personal trainer, lives with parents who provide to support him financially and in the management of life (meals, laundry, cleaning, etc.).

This example is also perfectly fitting, albeit a bit extreme.

Then there are situations in which the maintenance of motivation takes on a "disproportionate importance compared to the reason that" should "generate it. Apparently positive, this circumstance is instead very delicate and indeed often worrying. Motivation is no longer built on positive emotions, about discipline and the desire to do good, but negative, like fear - this is where eating disorders begin.

But why, even with all the cards in our favor, even if we do not fall into a series of pathology, sometimes we do not find or lose the right motivation to lose weight? Almost always due to an emotional instability, or a lack of psychological balance.

, is a symptom of instability; therefore a vicious circle takes place.

With clarity it should appear obvious that, if it is not possible to reach the goal with this system, it becomes necessary to intervene first of all on the emotional balance. Let's now make a small summary of the psychological condition that distinguishes people continuously looking for weight loss but who unfortunately continue to fail.

We said, losing weight is a rather widespread necessity. On the other hand, not everyone "must" do it for medical reasons; more often, on the contrary, it represents a means to satisfy the need - let's say "narcissistic" - to like oneself and to please.

It goes without saying that in contemporary Western society no one, not even the most balanced and stable person, can totally disregard this mechanism. Therefore, so-called "low self-esteem" is perhaps the most common cause of moodiness, anxiety and depressive symptoms.

It is for this reason that getting as close as possible to the ideal image of beauty becomes a duty, alas sometimes impossible to fulfill, because one's body image is not a real parameter, that is objectively measurable, but a construct influenced by many variables.

Regardless of kilograms and centimeters, if the consideration we have of ourselves and the tone of our mood are low, the weight will always be excessive, the belly always prominent, the stature always low, the shoulder blades always winged, the breast always small , calves always thin or thick, shoulders always wide or narrow, etc.

In summary, first of all, it is good to focus on stress reduction. Once this is done, there are some tricks that can prove very useful in finding the right motivation to lose weight.

if necessary. People who feel more confident in their knowledge and skills tend to lose more weight

Focus on the focus, i.e. the reason or cause from which the motivation takes strength. It is not a redundancy; neglecting this point it is almost impossible to motivate yourself to lose weight. In practice, some find it useful to write them down from the beginning and read them daily, using them as a reminder to the "rise of counterproductive temptations.

It is also very useful to remember all the beneficial effects of losing weight, such as the prevention of metabolic diseases (diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, etc.), maintaining body fitness and superior performance (especially in terms of endurance).

Appreciate periodic progress, without just focusing on the ultimate goal - which is sometimes quite long in coming - and focus on the process. A study of 126 overweight women who participated in a weight loss program found that those who were focused on the process, not the end result, they were more likely to lose weight and less likely to deviate from their diet than those who only focused on the end results

Set SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based. Some examples of SMART goals include: I will walk briskly for 30 minutes five days next week, I will eat four servings of vegetables every day this week, I will only have one soda this week etc.

It is essential to focus on the positive aspects of the trend, not only the negative ones - if any. For example, losing 3 kg in the first month and 1 kg in the second, should not be interpreted as a reduction in weight loss, but as the achievement of a loss of 4 kg - which in itself is already evident. Additionally, people who have positive expectations and feel confident in their ability to achieve their goals tend to lose more weight

Search for realistic goals, avoiding FAST diets. This is crucial, because unlikely goals will almost certainly generate failure. Let's not forget that, also for health reasons, most professionals recommend losing about 3 kg per month - if you are overweight. Some studies claim that people who reach their weight loss goals are more likely to maintain the result; as well as those who aspire to lose a lot of weight quickly have a very high probability of abandoning the program losing motivation

For those who need to lose weight for health purposes, we remind you that even a weight loss of 5-10% of the initial one can have a great impact on health: improving blood sugar control, lowering cholesterol, triglyceride, uric acid and blood pressure (consequently also the risk of heart disease), reducing joint pain and reducing the risk of some cancers

Base your system on 5 key principles: Reduction of calorie intake, Reduction of portion size, Reduction of the frequency of junk food, Always understand fruit and vegetables, Do physical activity every day

Some find it helpful to keep a food diary, to monitor their behavior and compare it to the weight loss achieved periodically

Celebrate Successes: Losing weight is hard, so it's good to celebrate all your successes to stay motivated

Create social support, involving the right people with whom to share goals and methods

Formalize the commitment by making it public: by doing so you are more likely to pursue your goals, by increasing the sense of responsibility

Accounting for holidays and anniversaries: this helps prevent excesses and compensate for an extra dinner or lunch in a healthy way

Avoid perfectionism and don't be too hard on yourself. Any weight loss has its ups and downs, none excluded

Learn to love and appreciate your body. Research has repeatedly shown that people who don't like their bodies are less likely to lose weight

Combine the desired motor activity with the diet. It does not matter if it is not the most effective, at the end of the course it will be more useful than the others to maintain motivation and reach the goal.