If you want to lose weight and get healthy then you have to adopt new behaviors in order to do that. But that’s just one part of the puzzle. You also need motivational tools to maintain that weight loss and health long-term. That’s obviously the harder part since most people who lose weight end up gaining it all back.
You need a plan if you have health goals you want to reach and stick with. And the first thing to do is define your goals and why they matter to you. Then you need to figure out what new habits to adopt to help you reach those goals. Finally, you need some motivational tools to help you maintain those new healthy habits indefinitely. Start by reading the following post.
Related article: The importance of knowing your “why“.
Being healthy is a mentality more than anything else, so we need to use our minds to keep us on track. Healthy lifestyles always run against the grain, so hoping to get motivation from others is just a pipe dream. We’re mostly on our own! But we can learn from the strategies that other successful “losers” have used.
I lost weight years ago and have kept it off by using quite a few motivational tools to help me out. I still use these tools today because it’s always hard to do the unpopular “healthy” thing. Being lazy and eating junk food are things we’re all tempted by! It’s just not the smart thing if you want a good quality of life.
My list
So here’s my list of 10 motivational tools to maintain weight loss and health long-term. These are not in any particular order and one is not more important than the rest. They’re all necessary for me and I hope they can help you too.
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- Always eat before shopping.
- Read all labels!
- Don’t buy things you don’t want yourself consuming later.
- Remember: “Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels”.
- Am I really hungry or just craving salt, sugar and/or fat?
- Will eating more actually satisfy me more?
- Can I justify skipping my exercise for the day?
- Do I want to do as others do so I can look and feel like they do?
- My health is more important than my temporary satisfaction.
- Do I want to live to eat, or eat to live?
Let me start from the top of that list and give you a better explanation of each point.
1. Always eat before shopping
This is such an easy motivational tool because once your belly is full you won’t be obsessing about filling it with things you see while you’re out. This includes both grocery shopping and retail shopping.
The grocery store is mostly full of junk food and you don’t want to be tempted by all the treats you see because you’re hungry. The same holds true for retail shopping. By eating at home you can choose something healthy rather than eating at the food court! Once your hunger is satisfied it’ll be easier to pass up treats like pastries and sugary coffee drinks for a quick pick-me-up.
It’s well-known that most restaurant and convenience foods are filled with extra salt, sugar and/or fat. They need to taste amazing to keep us coming back for more!
“Restaurant food contains more calories per meal, more total fat and saturated fat per calorie, and less fiber, calcium and iron than food prepared at home.” This comes from the Live Well Restaurant Initiative done by the state of Missouri.
So the less you eat out, the better off you are. In addition, the more natural foods you eat, the better off you are too. Most manufactured foods are not made with our health in mind. They’re made to get us addicted. So plan ahead and eat at home.
2. Read all labels!
I’ve already written a blog post about this one because it’s so important! You must know what’s in the foods and drinks you consume so you know how to make healthier choices. It’s also a great way to motivate yourself to put it back on the shelf instead of buying it!
I don’t know how many times I’ve been tempted to buy some junk food or drink then stopped myself after reading the label! A good example of this is one of my favorite treats: Reese’s Pieces. I crave them every time I see them but I rarely buy them because I always read the label first!
In a tiny little 4 oz box, there are 3 servings. Each serving is about 200 calories, 8 grams of which come from saturated fat while 21 grams are from sugar. Since the box is so small I would just eat the whole thing which would mean ingesting about 600 calories! That’s enough calories for a meal but there’s no nutritional value in them whatsoever.
So I know that reading labels is a great strategy for changing my mind and choosing something healthier instead.
3. Don’t buy things you don’t want yourself consuming later
This is one of the easier rules because you only have to have self-control for the short period of time that you’re in the store. As long as you follow rule #1 and stick to your grocery list, this one is simple.
Before you go to the grocery store you should have already planned all of your meals and snacks and made a list. So there’s nothing else you need to buy “just in case”. When you buy that junk at the store you’re giving yourself permission to consume it later. In other words, you’re planning to give in to your cravings.
Remember the saying that if you fail to plan then you plan to fail. So make a list, stick to it, and just don’t buy the junk. And remind yourself that your goal is weight loss and health.
4. “Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels”
This is a revised version of the unpopular quote by Kate Moss “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”. She apparently got a lot of flack for saying that and I can see why. It’s not just about being skinny, it’s about being healthy. So I rewrote it.
You always need to remind yourself that most unhealthy things taste good, that’s why we love them. But do they make you feel good in the long run? Are they worth putting your health at risk to enjoy the taste for such a brief period of time?
I think about this one every time I want to eat something really decadent and full of unhealthy ingredients. Every now and then I still give in and eat or drink that thing anyway! But my goal has always been to decrease my risk of cancer (and other diseases) as much as possible so I can have a good quality of life.
So I ask myself if it’s worth consuming it for a few minutes of pleasure when it will increase my risk of cancer. Most of the time no, it’s not. I know that everyone likes to say “everything in moderation”. But that’s kind of vague and can be interpreted any way you want.
Related article: What does it mean to “eat healthy”?
5. Am I really hungry or just craving salt, sugar and/or fat?
This is a great question to ask yourself! If you’re actually hungry then a healthy snack will satisfy you even more than an unhealthy one. If I eat a bag of chips I’ll still be hungry when I’m done. But a handful of nuts will satisfy my hunger, give me some actual nutrients and can help me make it to the next meal.
Yes, I am aware that nuts are high in calories, but they’re also healthy fats and much more filling than chips. Even Mayo Clinic recommends eating nuts as part of a healthy diet. You just have to limit your portion sizes. It doesn’t take much to get rid of those hunger pangs you feel.
Many times when I’m craving something I know it’s simply because I’m addicted to it and just want it for the high. Hello, sugar! It might also be because I’m tired, stressed out or in a bad mood. For all of these reasons, I would rather not give in to my craving because it doesn’t really benefit me.
Related article: How to lose weight without starving yourself.
6. Will eating more actually satisfy me more?
This is a portion control strategy. When I have a sugary treat or dessert I try to keep my portions fairly small. I’ve learned over the years that bigger portions of sweets don’t actually satisfy me more. In fact, it’s a vicious cycle. The more sugar I eat, the more I want to eat!
So even though I want to keep eating I ask myself if I’ve ever really felt better after eating more. I know the answer to that question is no, I don’t feel better. I just ate more. Our food addictions have amazing control over us and there’s no point in analyzing it. The food manufacturers have already done that for us!
They’ve run so many tests to find just the right amount of salt, sugar and fat to add to our processed foods that we just can’t help ourselves. The book “Salt Sugar Fat” by Micheal Moss can explain this to you in detail if you’re interested. But I’m warning you, it won’t make you feel good about the state of food manufacturing in this country!
Just keep this question in mind as a good motivational tool to keep your portions under control.
7. Can I justify skipping my exercise for the day?
It’s so easy to want to blow off your exercise for the day for any reason. But ask yourself, “how will that benefit me and how will it hurt me?”. Sure, one day of not exercising won’t do much harm. But skipping one day makes you want to skip another day and another day.
I don’t work out every day, but I am committed to a schedule of at least 5 days a week. I believe in having days off, and days where you do some other fun physical activity that’s different from your usual workout. This is one way to avoid burnout.
What’s more important to consider is why you want to skip. Is it because some unexpected things came up and now your day is going to be crazy busy? Well, then that’s your day off from exercise. Just exercise on a day you would normally take off instead. It’s a swap-out, not another day off!
However, it’s not enough justification to skip it just because you don’t feel like it. When you give in to this feeling it becomes harder and harder to find the motivation to exercise at all. This is when it hurts you because it’s hard to lose weight, maintain it, or be healthy without regular exercise.
Related article: Tips to make exercise a habit for good.
Myth of motivation
There are many days that I don’t feel like exercising. And I’ve learned that it’s a myth that we’ll eventually just feel like exercising. It’s always a mental hill I need to climb. But I also recognize that when I’m done exercising I feel really good. And it helps me maintain my weight, which is my goal.
Since long-term health is also my goal, it’s not worth it for me to raise my risk of disease by skipping exercise very often. So I stick to my schedule and think of it as my healthy pill. This is why it’s important to have a good “why” for your new habits. Just losing weight isn’t enough. You need a higher motivation, like a good quality of life full of fun adventures.
Related article: Get motivated with a heart rate monitor.
8. Do I want to do as others do so I can look and feel like they do?
With over 73% of the American adult population overweight or obese I really don’t want to follow the crowd! It’s easy for me to stay motivated to make healthier choices by looking around at others. If they’re struggling with their weight and having health problems then do I want to be in the same boat? No!
I’ve watched too many family members and friends struggle with diseases that could’ve been prevented. But even when diseases can’t be prevented, healthy lifestyles can lessen their negative impact.
Most of our behaviors are influenced by our close family members and friends. When you’re surrounded by unhealthy people they negatively influence your decisions. If you spend time with people who are fit and healthy, they’ll have a positive influence. Weight loss and weight maintenance don’t usually happen by chance. They’re planned.
Spend some time observing the people around you and notice what they eat and how they live their lives. Do their choices lead them to better or worse health? See if you can find some health-oriented people in life and emulate them.
Related article: The woman I want to be.
9. My health is more important than my temporary satisfaction
This is a good point to remember when you’re feeling tempted by junk food. Of course you’re going to want to eat that great-tasting food that was manufactured just for your pleasure! We’re only human! But remember how temporary that pleasurable feeling is.
It might take me about 2-3 minutes, maybe less, to eat an incredible dessert. But the effect it has on my health is much longer-lasting. I have to work really hard to work off those calories to keep them from being stored away as fat. So I just ask myself if that sweet taste is worth the negative health consequences.
Sometimes it is worth it, of course! I’m not passing up birthday or wedding cake! But do I need that little bit of pleasure constantly like most advertising would have us believe? No, I really don’t!
You have to learn what you can handle to keep yourself in shape and healthy. One small dessert a day is enough for me. The scale will let me know when I’m getting carried away.
10. Do I want to live to eat, or eat to live?
Getting all of our pleasure from food is the definition of living to eat. Eating nutritious foods to fuel our bodies in order to feel our best is the definition of eating to live. Social gatherings are occasions where we have to be very aware of our priorities concerning food. The holidays are a great example of this!
You might find, as I have, that most parties or gatherings offer little to no healthy food options at all. I can usually assume this will be the case, so I plan ahead and find healthy, tasty recipes to share. That way I know I have at least one thing to eat that’s good for me.
When I go to family gatherings or parties now, I remind myself that I’m there to socialize not stuff myself full of junk food. The relationships I have with those people are the reason I’m there. This doesn’t mean I don’t like to enjoy my food but I don’t want to throw my health out the window to do that.
So I pick and choose the healthiest options and try to quit while I still feel good! If you want more tips on that, check out the following post.
Related article: Tips for a healthy holiday season.
My final thoughts
At this point, I feel the need to explain that I’m not a believer in diets or calorie counting. I believe in overall health as a goal. For me, that means eating nutritious foods and exercising most of the time. Focusing on eating real food instead of all the highly processed junk allowed me to lose weight when I needed to and to maintain it still.
Most people just seem to want quick weight loss without any regard for their long-term health. You have to be able to change your habits for good in order for them to be sustainable long into the future. So if you’re only committed to losing weight, then keeping it off will be very difficult. Good health leads to weight loss.
I haven’t cut out all the junk from my diet because I’m human and I like it too! But I have swapped out most of it for healthier options most of the time. By doing that I’m able to fill my belly and not feel deprived, while at the same time lowering my calorie count and staying healthy.
Natural whole foods usually have fewer calories but will also give you more energy because of the vitamins and minerals they contain. Exercising will also give you energy! And you’re going to need that energy to plan your strategy for losing and then maintaining your weight!
Write these 10 motivational tools down so you can see them every day and remember to put them to use. It takes practice, like everything else, but it worked for me and I think it can work for you too!