Four ways to stay motivated to lose weight

Staying focused on a plan is always the hardest part about losing weight. While positive feedback does provide encouragement when you first start dropping sizes, it inevitably wanes. And with our tendency to use food as emotional support, slipping back into old eating patterns when we’re stressed, makes it doubly difficult to stay on course.

How then do you stay on target? Here are four tips to lose weight:

Think slim

When overweight people see food, they think of how it’s going to taste. Slim people, on the other hand, focus on the consequences – how fattening is that going to be? Practice imagining how you’ll feel after consuming weight-increasing food. Keep it up until this becomes a natural habit for you. It may seem simple, but this change in mindset is truly effective.

Eat when you are hungry

Eating junk food when you are hungry can cause a crash in energy, and create a craving for more food. But if you eat protein with every meal along with complex carbs like whole grains, vegetables, fruits and beans, you’ll be able to regulate your food intake better.

Surround yourself with fit friends

According to research, the average body type of the people with whom you hang out affects your weight and size. At HealthifyMe, we use WhatsApp groups to stay connected and set healthy benchmarks. And this doesn’t mean you isolate your overweight friends. Just make sure you’re also in touch with people who understand your struggle and can help you push forward.

Don’t be too strict

There will be slip-ups. But that doesn’t mean you quit the plan. You could lose 5 kg, have a weak moment and gain back 2. At this point, don’t throw caution to the wind and just binge. Instead, be prepared for this fluctuation by having a ‘sliding scale’ in your mind that allows 1-2 kg around your target weight.

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Written by Roshini Gilbert

After a diligent workout plan helped her lose 30kg of post-pregnancy weight, chartered accountant Roshini Gilbert was inspired enough to go from tallying numbers to training others. A freelance personal trainer today, Roshini has been certified by the American Council on Exercises (ACE) for functional fitness and specialises in post-natal weight loss, exercises for low back pain, arthritis and osteoporosis. She also has REHAB Trainer certification from Australia for rehabilitative exercises and has trained with reputed sports physiotherapist Ulrik Larsen in corrective exercises and injury management. In HealthifyMe, Roshini has found a collaborator with a common cause – making people fit to live life to the fullest. Her assessment of how fit you are is based on three broad guidelines — stamina, body age (a person who looks way older than his age can’t be deemed healthy) and lifestyle (beware, those with bad eating habits and sedentary behaviour). Prepare yourself mentally first and then your body will follow, she says, of the opinion that if you want to change something about yourself then you need to challenge yourself to do it. Are you up for it?