Apr 16 2009
Five foolproof motivating tips
We all know the thing that lets us down when we are trying to change our lives. In that moment when the cookie jar beckons, we either forget our motivating reasons or, worse, we block them out. Well, here I have five tried and tested ways to motivate you to carry on with the weight-loss regime.
When temptation is screaming at you from the kitchen, and the thoughts running through your head are either “one little bit won’t hurt”, “I’ll cut back tomorrow” or worse, the pre-binge justification “I’ll start again tomorrow”, print off this article and sit and read it. Either you will forget the craving whilst reading, or the motivating tips will put you off ruining your diet for a moment of satisfaction.
1. The Magical Spreadsheet - Everyone who wishes to lose weight in a sustained regime must have a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is a row of cells with the date, your actual weight, your target weight, your weekly loss and your accumulative loss. The final cell is the target date, with the target weight, and each cell between the first and the last is the weight you need to be on that date. Whenever temptation calls, this sheet will be your savior and your best friend. That packet of biscuits you are just about to munch will have you putting a + sign instead of a - sign in front of your weight loss that week. It works, better than anything else I can think of. And the power of it becomes more convincing as the weight falls off. If you are a spreadsheet enthusiast, you can also plot graphs and charts, and track your inch loss at the same time! Try it for yourself.
2. Why does Weight Watchers work? One of the main reasons that Weight Watchers works is that you have to get weighed every week in front of your group. A gret motivator is to tell everyone around you that you are losing weight, particularly at work in the office when you are prone to the munch. Imagine telling your desk-mate that you are well on track and have lost 3lbs that week, then her horror as you tuck into yet another chocolate bar. It works because it makes you think of the shame before you eat anything bad and is particularly effective at making you THINK before you eat.
3. Rehydrate - The last thing you want when you are starving or craving sweeets or fat is a glass of tasteless, tummy rumbling eau. But if you make it a habit when you do crave, one of two things may happen. 1, the process of going to the tap, running the water into the glass and sitting down and drinking it will make the craving pass as you forget, or 2, the effect of drinking a half-pint of water will actually dampen down the craving as science swears it should.
4. Berries, nuts and seeds - If you must eat something, and we all know there are times when nothing else will do, make sure you have berries and nuts to hand. Goji, cranberry, blueberry and Acai berries are not only a tasty snack (imagine they are sweets, it’s not hard), they are also highly nutritious. Nuts too, although containing fats, are nutritious and make you feel full quickly, as will seeds such as Sunflower, Pumpkin and Sesame. They are not empty calories and will sate your cravings. You can even take a small bag of them to work to munch on through the day. It has the dual effect of sating the cravings for calorie-laden foods and keeping your metabolism up and burning the calories you do consume.
5. Stretching – It may seem odd to see this here, but again, it works! Fancy a biscuit or a packet of crisps? Well, get up out of your chair and start stretching. Doing this will take your mind off food, stretch out your body, improve oxygen flow to the body and brain and send a rush of endorphins to the brain that beats any food fix you can think of. You will feel lighter and revitalised too, which will make you loathe the thought of pumping bad sugars ad fats into your body. It also has the effect of counteracting aches and pains from poor posture if you are sat in an office all day. Either perform any stretches you already know, or search up on the internet for basic yoga warm-ups, which are sufficient. Try here http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/yogapractice/yogabasicsession.asp for some excellent stretches you can begin with. The beauty is, you can do many of these in the bathroom at work!
But remember, the biggest motivator of all is to remember why you wanted to lose weight in the first place. Be it health, happiness or to have a wonderful figure to be proud of, this should be first and foremost in your mind when temptation calls.
