Five Tips to Increase Motivation to Reach Your Weight Loss and Health Goals

In this article:

• A high level of motivation can help you make healthy changes and keep them up, but sometimes it’s hard to find or maintain motivation.
• It can be motivating to remember that it’s your choice to choose which goals to pursue.
• It can help to embrace setbacks and to remember that every small step counts.
• It’s important to identify and remind yourself of reasons for making good lifestyle choices.
• Recognize your victories to stay positive and on track.
• Lark can support your goals and help you stay motivated as you make progress towards your health and weight loss goals with or without GLP-1s as you log food, get tips for eating healthier, and make small changes that can turn into healthy habits.
  

What do eating your vegetables, going to the gym, and getting 8 hours of sleep all have in common? They’re behaviors that many people recognize as good for health and weight, but that many people don’t do regularly.

People often say they need more motivation to change their behaviors to reach their goals. If that's you, you’re not alone. Here are some ways to increase motivation and make healthy choices easier.

1. It’s your choice

When you choose to do something, you’re more likely to excel at it than when someone else tells you to do it. Many people notice this growing up as they choose an instrument, sport, or afterschool activity and do well at it compared to if their parents force something.

It’s similar to health behaviors. It’s easier to make changes if you want to and harder to make changes if you’re only doing it for someone else like your doctor or a significant other. If you want to make healthy choices, that’s your choice. It’s your choice which goals to pursue.

By the way, the benefits are yours too!

2. Failure can be good

You’ll probably fail. You’ll probably fail thousands of times. You will probably never stop failing. Here’s why.

It can take 20-60 or more tries to form a new habit. When it comes to health behaviors, that habit might be something like filling half your plate with vegetables, standing up and marching in place for 2 minutes for every 30 minutes that you sit, or drinking an extra glass of water before each meal.

Forgetting to do your new habit is called a “setback.” As you establish multiple new habits, you’ll continue to forget them every so often. Over time, you’ll probably forget thousands of times, and that’s okay as long as you keep trying.

Here are some things to celebrate when you have a setback and work through it.

• You kept trying, which shows your commitment once again
• It’s an opportunity to figure out what didn’t work, so you can make it work better next time
• You came a step closer to making your desired behavior a habit
• You still got the benefits once you started up again

3. Everything counts

Every change you make affects your body. That means each positive change you make is worth the effort, even if it seems like a tiny change. Often, small changes are easier to make than large ones.

Here are some examples of small changes that can be effective.

• Have a bowl of puffed cereal instead of granola
• Put half the amount of cream in your coffee or switch cream for almond milk
• Get one pump of syrup instead of two in your coffee
• Order two tacos instead of a burrito
• Use brown rice instead of white rice
• Ask for dressing and other salad toppings on the side
• Swap half the potatoes for pureed cauliflower when making mashed potatoes
• Stand up when talking on the phone

It’s not an “all-or-nothing” game. Instead, it’s a “do-what-you-can-do” game. So, what can you do to be a little healthier?

4. You can do it your way

This journey is all about you. There are literally thousands of possible changes you could make to be healthier. You can’t make them all, so why not choose changes that are easy for you? That way, you can be more successful with less effort.

Here are a few examples.

• If you’re not a morning person, plan to walk at lunchtime or in the evening instead
• If you don’t like cooking, plan to add bagged salads or microwaved frozen vegetables to your dinners
• If you want to keep eating fast food, try ordering smaller portions or having half and bringing your own apples and baby carrots to stay full
• If you love the steak and potatoes that you order every week when you go out to dinner with your family, consider targeting other swaps like salad instead of rice the other nights of the week.

The point here is that you can choose changes that seem doable to you.

5. Know your why

It’s easier to do things when you know why you’re doing them. Knowing your reasons for changing your behaviors can help you get motivated, stay motivated, or regain motivation.

Harvard Health describes two categories of rewards linked to motivation. The first type of motivating factors that you may think of are Hedonia, or “H-rewards.” They may include extrinsic or short-lived rewards. They may involve pleasing others.

Here are some examples of H-rewards.

• Wanting to lose weight to get compliments or recognition from others
• Completing an online exercise challenge to win a prize or bragging rights
• Limiting fried foods and desserts to lower blood sugar to please a healthcare provider

These types of motivators are common when starting a weight loss or healthy program. People who continue their programs and turn their changes into longer-term habits may gravitate towards another kind of reward known as Eudaimonia, or “E-rewards.” These rewards may be intrinsic.

Here are some examples of E-rewards.

• Working out every day to maintain and increase functionality to be able to help care for your grandchildren
• Drinking more water because it reduces afternoon fatigue and increases energy
• Learning how to cook instead of eating out to be able to maintain a healthy weight to have a long public career
• Choosing fish instead of red meat at dinner to have a healthier heart to be able to play tennis with friends

These types of rewards are more likely to keep you motivated for years to come compared to H-rewards.

How Lark Can Help

Weight management and health are about healthy choices every day, and staying motivated can keep you on track as you pursue your goals. Your Lark coach is available 24/7 for encouragement and nutrition and physical activity coaching and tracking. Lark can help you make healthy choices and establish habits that fit into your lifestyle, so you can lose weight and keep it off with or without GLP-1 medications.

Click here to see if you may be eligible to join Lark today!

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