Brian Tracy shares six tactics for staying motivated while losing weight: track your progress, get support from others, vary your workouts, exercise in the morning, cut bad eating habits, and build a realistic diet plan. He mentions using a calorie-tracking app to monitor intake.
Hello, I'm Brian Tracy, and today I want to give you some tips on how to stay motivated when trying to lose weight. This video is part of our Motivation March series. Every week during the month, I'll be giving you a new video on how to stay motivated through some of the most challenging things that life can throw at you. Be sure to tune in every Thursday in March for a new video. According to the Boston Medical Center, 45 million Americans diet each year. However, going on a diet and staying on a diet are often two very different things, and motivation is a key element in making any weight loss plan successful. If you are determined to lose weight, there are a few tips that you can use to stay motivated during your weight loss journey. First, always chart your progress. Nothing is more motivating than seeing results written down in numbers on paper. While working out and dieting may not provide instant results, it does indeed eventually provide results and some very satisfying results at last. Once a week, step on the scales and write down your weight. Keep up with your weekly progress by doing this each week and keeping a chart of your results. If you stick to your diet and workout routine, you should see your weight steadily decrease each week, and seeing those decreasing numbers on paper can be incredibly motivating. Second, don't go at it alone. Losing weight doesn't have to be a solitary endeavor. If you find other people to join you on your weight loss journey, then you will likely find it much easier to stay motivated. That's why there are so many companies that offer to bring people together to help you to lose weight. Find a workout partner who is willing to try and lose weight alongside of you, or join a class full of people attempting to get in shape. Seeing others work hard toward your same goals can often motivate you to work even harder yourself, and you'll be much less likely to stop working out or abandon your diet if other people are holding you accountable. Third, change up your routine. Monotony is the enemy of motivation. If you stick with the exact same workout routine for too long, you may find that it becomes monotonous and boring. And it's much easier to stick with your goals when you're enjoying the process of reaching them at least a little. To keep your workout routine fresh and exciting, mix it up from time to time, throw in some new exercises and rotate some old ones out. So long as you are burning calories, most any good workout routine will get the job done, and it's beneficial to switch it up from time to time. Fourth, work out in the morning. Most health and Fitness professionals will tell you that the morning hours are the very best time for you to work out. For most people, the morning hours are when motivation is at its highest. After a long day of work, your energy and motivation may be diminished and it will be much harder for you to drag yourself into the gym. If you work out in the morning, though, you can get it out of the way right off the bat. Plus, the exercise will get your blood flowing and give you a little boost of endorphins to get you through the day. Fifth, Kick Bad Eating Habits Bad eating habits can make all of your hard work hard all for nowt, and there's no worse motivation killer than a lack of results. It's important then, to make the commitment to kick any bad eating habits before you ever start your workout routine. Make it a resolution to go without sugar for three weeks, or make a resolution to not eat anything after 8pm if you can kick bad eating habits, your workouts will be much more effective and losing weight will be much easier to accomplish. Finally, Develop a Realistic Dieting Plan Completely overhauling your diet in one day is easier said than done. Yet this is the trap that many people fall into. They'll spend a couple of days eating nothing but celery, sticks and water, realize by day three that this diet is unsustainable, and give up on their weight loss plan altogether. So rather than trying to cut out everything unhealthy in your diet cold turkey, adjust your diet a little bit at a time and develop a realistic diet plan that doesn't require you to starve yourself in the process. The best way to develop a realistic diet plan is to keep up with how many calories you consume and use a calorie counter or calculator to determine how much you can allow yourself each day. I had a friend who I had not seen for several months and he'd always been overweight, chunky, and when I met him he had lost about 30 or 40 pounds. And I said, what on earth has happened to you? This is after 20 or 30 years of friendship. And he said, it's very simple. He said, I got an app and I put into this app every single food or even liquid that I consumed and the number of calories. And I disciplined myself to limit my number of calories each day to a specific number. He said, after six months it's quite astonishing if you discipline yourself to stop when you have consumed a certain number of calories, you eat differently, you spread your diet across the entire day, you eat more slowly and the weight just falls off. So remember, as long as you are burning more calories than you are consuming, you are going to lose weight. It's called calories in, calories out. Very simple formula. So before we wrap up, I'd like to leave you with a thought to share with your friends, friends and followers. You can accomplish virtually any goal you set for yourself as long as the goal is clear and you persist long enough. Now, I'd love to hear from you. So my question today is when is your favorite time to exercise? Morning or night? And why? Leave a comment below and I'll be sure to follow up with you. Thanks for watching. Remember, if you want to change your future, take action. And take action now. If you enjoyed this video and feel it was valuable in teaching you about how to stay motivated, subscribe to my channel like this video and share this video with your friends. Don't forget to click the button on the screen for a free gift. Thanks again for watching.
