Weigh Less Often
I think you should weigh yourself less often when on a weight loss program, especially if you are a woman. Our weight fluctuates so much. Seeing the number go up after working so hard, exercising so much, and being hungry for days can be so demotivating.
Sometimes a person will step on the scale, see no weight loss, and it can be the straw the broke the camel's back. They start wondering why they are even doing all this hard work anyway if they aren't losing weight, and then they just quit.
You may have heard this before, but weight loss is not linear. Your weight will go down 5 lbs, then up 2 lbs, then down 4 lbs, then up 5 lbs, then down 8 lbs, and on and on until you reach your goal. Sometimes you will stay the same weight for weeks on end, even though you are doing everything right. In those times, you may need to shake things up, as you have hit a weight loss plateau. But by all means, don't give up.
The best way to avoid this problem is to stop weighing yourself so much, and never give up on your weight loss efforts. I recommend to weigh about once a month. Pick a day and weigh on the same day each month.
Take Pictures
This tip goes hand in hand with the last tip. The number on the scale doesn't always show the full picture when it comes to weight loss. Sometimes you can see your body changing drastically, but the number isn't changing much at all.
It's frustrating, I know, but your whole point to losing weight is to look smaller, not just see a smaller number on a scale right?
So if you look smaller and fit into smaller size clothes, but the number isn't changing much, that's okay. It may take some time for the number to catch up with all of the changes you are making.
I recommend taking pictures of yourself with the least amount of clothes that you feel comfortable wearing. If that is just shorts and a tank top, that's fine because you can still see a difference with that. Just make sure whatever clothes you are wearing are not baggy and covering most of your body. You want to be able to actually see how fat you are in the pictures, so that you can see the change when it does happen. A sports bra and shorts is a really good choice because you can see your full stomach.
Also (and this is REALLY important) when you take follow up pictures, wear the same outfit as you wore in the first picture. This will really help you see the difference in how the clothes fit. If you are wearing different clothes in each picture, it will be harder to tell a difference.
I recommend taking a new pic once a month on the same day that you weigh yourself.
Weight Loss Collage
A fun and creative project to give you some weight loss motivation would be to make a weight loss collage. A collage is a collection of pictures. They are typically glued to something (like a piece of cardboard) and placed on the wall or somewhere that you can see it everyday. They are usually pictures that are cut out from magazines or printed from the internet, and glued in a creative way onto the cardboard.
A weight loss collage would be any pictures that help motivate you when you see it. So for example, you might print out a copy of your prom photo from high school because you were super fit and it motivates you to lose the weight. You might find a particular quote online that really helps keep you motivated, or you might have a favorite celebrity that inspires you to lose weight.
You can put anything motivational in the collage, as long as it helps you want to keep losing weight. The point is to see it every day and feel motivated not to give up.
Social Media
If you are active on social media such as instagram, facebook, and pinterest then you should follow people that post about weight loss. That means you'll see it every time you login and you will be encouraged and motivated.
Try to follow people that are doing the same plan as you. If you are doing keto, or intermittent fasting, or weight watchers follow others that are doing those things as well. Reddit is a great website to find weight loss motivation as well.
Save Money
Often times when we lose weight, we end up saving money because we aren't eating as much. You could put the money you save each day into a jar and buy yourself something when you reach your goal.
For example, if you used to visit the vending machine for a snack in the afternoon, but you stopped doing that, place that change in the jar. If you are doing intermittent fasting 16/8 place all the money you would have spent on breakfast into the jar.
By the end of your weight loss journey, you could buy yourself new clothes, help pay for a weekend getaway, or pay off a bill.
Dream Dress
We all have clothes we wish we could fit into. It may be a dress, it may be an old pair of jeans from college, it may be a bikini. I'm sure you have some clothes that you would be thrilled to be able to fit into again.
Take those clothes and hang them up in your room. Remember each day that this is a goal you are working towards: to be able to fit into those clothes.
I hope this article helps motivate you on your weight loss journey. I know it can be hard to keep going sometimes, but it's worth it in the end. Remember that you never fail until you give up. That holds true for many aspects of life. As long as you are trying, you are not failing.
That's why I believe staying motivated is the absolute most important factor in being successful at losing weight.
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