If there is a magical key to weight loss, motivation is it. Do you know what motivates you? What do you respond to? Do you hop to when you hear a favorite song? Does a picture of somebody with a fit body make you want to have one too? Does repeating a positive mantra make you feel like you can tackle anything? Here are some ideas on methods to use to get motivated and stay motivated to reach your goals.
Music
Whether you have an MP3 player, a portable CD player or a tape recorder, you can always make your own motivational music mixes to keep you moving. You can even download podcasts of mixes with a certain number of beats per minute depending upon what sort of exercise you plan to do. There are plenty of aspiring DJs out there who are giving podcasts like this away for free. I have my entire CD collection loaded onto my computer. When I need some music to get me moving, I just load it onto my MP3 player. Although this may date me, I still have mix tapes that I used to work out to back in the early 90’s. Sometimes Old School is just what you need to get your move on.
Visuals
I used to subscribe to Muscle Media magazine. They had great pictorials of really fit real people, not professional models, that I used to love cutting out and sticking to the wall in front of my treadmill. Visualizing myself with a body like those I saw on the pages of Muscle Media really got me motivated. There are plenty of great magazines that have pictures of fit people in them like Muscle and Fitness, Shape, Muscle and Fitness Hers and so many more. Don’t visualize yourself as a twig, find a picture of somebody who is fit like you want to be and is roughly your height and build. Make it realistic. Sure, I’m the same height as Kate Beckinsale but I don’t recall having ever weighed 115 pounds in my entire life! Well, maybe once in eighth grade…
Brainwashing
Did she just say brainwashing? You betcha! Programming your own mind to believe the things that will help you succeed is done easily enough. OK, so it isn’t really “brainwashing”. Call it what Tony Robbins calls it: Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). It is done easily enough. If you tell yourself something over and over again, every day, throughout the day and believe it, it will inevitably happen. That’s the catch. You can’t say “I weigh 115 pounds”, snicker and forget about it because it’ll never happen. But if you tell yourself, three times a day, at the same times every day and truly believe it, you’ll get there! For ideas on how to use this form of motivation properly, check out your local library for books or audio by Tony Robbins or the classic motivational book “Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude”.
Whatever you find that motivates you – use it!
So what motivates you?