How To Get And Stay Motivated While Dieting!

By Anne Carson:

Dieting for most people is never easy, and motivation can be the key ingredient that may make or break your diet. Dieters who can get and stay motivated are much more likely to be successful in losing pounds and inches. But how can you get motivated and stay that way? What works perfectly for one person may not be as effective on another, and motivation should be a personal choice that fits your personality, needs, and lifestyle.

One step to motivation for dieting involves the scale. At the beginning of a diet people want to weigh themselves every day to see results. This is not always advisable, because this can actually lead to losing motivation if you do not see any changes in weight. While dieting you may reach a period where the weight loss slows down, because muscle is replacing fat, and this can lead to disappointment and depression. These may lead to an attitude of not caring, because the diet does not seem to be effective. This plateau is common, and motivation will help you get over this hump and start losing again. Instead of once a day weigh yourself weekly, or measure your waist, hips, arms, and thighs once a week, so you can see inches lost instead of pounds. Muscle weighs more than fat, so you may not lose weight at times because lean muscle is replacing fat, but you are still becoming thinner and healthier.

A great motivator for many dieters is a special occasion where appearance matters, whether it is a family wedding, a school reunion, or even a date with your spouse or someone special. This gives you a goal and motivation to take steps to meet this goal. Others may buy an expensive outfit which is a size or two smaller than what they wear and hang it up in the closet, where it is seen every day, as motivation to work towards the reward. Many people put pictures and cartoons about obesity or weight on the refrigerator and cupboard doors, as a reminder to eat healthy every time they get food.

Use small treats and rewards to stay motivated. Pamper yourself with a spa treatment or a light lunch out when you meet a weight or size goal. Dieting is not about punishing yourself, it is about becoming fit and healthy. If you have an intense craving for chocolate, eat one small piece instead of the whole bar. You will have a taste and will not feel deprive, but you have not ruined your diet and are more likely to keep the motivation.

One terrific motivator is a kitchen stocked with healthy choices. Go through your entire kitchen and get rid of foods which are highly processed, high in sugar, calories, and fat, or are unhealthy in any way. Now go grocery shopping and choose healthy foods to replace the ones you discarded. Use fresh and frozen fruits instead of deserts, or any time you want something sweet. Eat fruit sorbet instead of ice cream. Go out to dinner at a restaurant and choose a salad with meats, cheese, fruits, nuts, and other high nutrient, low calorie and fat foods.

When there is no junk food in the house, your eating habits will be healthier and you will feel better, and will have an easier time staying motivated than if the chocolate cake is staring you right in the face. Over time you will see and feel the difference in the way your clothes fit, and this will in turn motivate you even more to stick to your diet and exercise plan. Dieting fails many times because the motivation method fails. It is important for you to determine your biggest motivating factors, and use these in your dieting plan to make your weight loss program a complete success.