More and more on city streets we see women with very curvy shapes. If before their age was estimated as 45+, now more and more young girls under 30 have started to suffer from the problem of overweight as well. Poor diet, a sedentary lifestyle leaves traces in our appearance, sometimes stronger than genetics.
Surprisingly, often many young women do not even think about taking health seriously and losing weight, they think it is very difficult, or, conversely, a very easy process: you just have to want it - and the fat will disappear on its own. But this is by no means the case. And the sooner we start controlling our weight, the easier it is for us to keep it at a normal level.
How to motivate yourself to lose weight, what goals to set, where to start so as not to break down and take the issue to the end? After all, it is important not only to lose weight, but also to consolidate low weight for a long time, to make it the norm.
How not to start losing weight
Let's say you're serious about losing weight. Sports and diets immediately come to mind. And then comes that dear Monday, when you start a new life, sign up for the gym, give up buns, sweets, eat only vegetables and cereals without salt, torture yourself with daily physical exertion.
And then a few weeks pass, a party happens - and you break down. After all, 1 slice of cake, 1 day lost sport will not affect anything. "I'll solve it later, " you think and take the second piece of dessert.
After such interruptions, the next time in the gym it is already harder to train, I really want to feel sorry for myself, to lower the load. Then you skip some other workouts, on a weekend you abandon them altogether in favor of barbecues with friends in nature. Gradually, your enthusiasm wears off, sport does not bring joy, it becomes a heavy profession, it is increasingly difficult to follow a diet and the pounds lost in the first few weeks return.
This is the most weight loss scenario: start playing sports and lose weight intensely with great enthusiasm, and then relax. After that, few can start over.
To prevent this from happening, you need to lose weight gradually. Restriction on food is prohibited until you lose consciousness, as well as exercises with the last force. And the biggest key to success is the right motivation! Action should be placed not so much on refusing to eat as on sports and regular exercise.
Motivation is the most important key to success in losing weight
Now let's consider where the exact weight loss process begins, which can easily become your habit, a lifestyle, and will not require extreme effort or excessive restraint.
How to motivate yourself to lose weight? There are some simple guidelines for this:
- Remember the reason he gave you the idea of being overweight. For example, an ugly swollen belly in your favorite dress, unsuccessful photos, a feeling of great inner uneasiness in the background of thin friends. An important stimulus may be the desire to satisfy the opposite sex. Or maybe you are looking forward to the start of the summer season and are afraid to undress on the beach?
- Once the most important reasons for the desire to lose weight are actualized, you will feel a lot of discomfort from those extra pounds. Decide for yourself that you are starting to lose weight right now, forget the mystical "next Monday"!
- Change your diet on this day, sport should become a mandatory daily activity! Show interest in the nearest fitness center near your home, buy a subscription to one of them.
- Discard all foods that seem useless, harmful, unhealthy. Be guided only by your logic. In the future, as you expand your knowledge in the field of proper nutrition, the habit of buying only healthy foods will become unconditional. After a few months of such a life, it will be hard to imagine how it was possible to eat what is now on the fridge shelves!
- Print your ugliest photo, hang next to a photo of the person with the figure of your dreams. When there is an irresistible urge to eat something high in calories, to eat at night, check out these photos.
- Repeat with yourself: a delicious cake stays in your mouth for just a few minutes and in your stomach for a few weeks. Remember that 100 grams of cake is a minimum of 30 minutes of intense sports activity!
- Make sport an integral part of your life. At first you will force yourself to go to the gym by force. But if you do not give up, you will overcome yourself, for a month or two it will be hard to imagine your life without training!
- Start buying smaller and prettier clothes. Getting into it is a big boost!
- Reconcile with your conscience. Do not test your willpower. If you desperately want something sweet or unhealthy, eat it. Only such "weaknesses" should occur infrequently, as an exception, for example, as rewarding oneself for a longer workout.
- Avoid solid diets. The main rule to follow every day: "The number of calories consumed with food should be less than the number spent in the gym. "
Sport is the most important factor in successful weight loss
For people with a good metabolism, a moderately active lifestyle, sports are not as important as for those who are prone to overweight.
Normal daily activity for weak people is enough to restore energy balance. But if you are already overweight, then sport should become a regular and mandatory activity, such as brushing your teeth.
If you are new to sports, then it is best to train with a coach for the first few months. He will show you how to properly organize your day, write the right physical activity, diet, teach you how to safely use exercise equipment.
When you start doing sports yourself, remember that every workout should start with a 10-minute warm-up of all the muscles and end with a stroke and stretch.
Strength training is desirable to alternate with aerobic exercise, to give different muscle groups a long rest 1-2 days after strength training.
The most effective and intense energy exercises are considered interval training, inter-fitness, complex sports activities, during which all muscle groups are involved.
Whenever the sport starts to bother you, when you get tired of exercising, think about your favorite dessert. This is one of the options for good inner motivation. If you actively do sports, burn 600-900 kcal for exercise, then you can afford 50-100 grams of biscuits or dark chocolate. After all, the caloric content of such sweets is 2-3 times lower than your energy costs.
Proper diet while losing weight, active sports may look like this:
- In the morning - high-calorie carbohydrate food. Prefer slow carbs.
- Lunch: fruit, cakes, protein.
- Lunch: protein and low fat.
- Before sports training - fast carbohydrates + quality protein.
- After sports - protein food. Eliminate fats, fast carbs.
You should eat 4-5 times a day, give up foods between meals, make sure you eat before playing sports.
Final recommendations
To improve motivation during weight loss, the most important thing is to see the first results. Usually they appear only 1, 5-2 months after the usual rhythm of life changes and sport becomes an integral part of it.
With some nutritional restrictions, initially 3-4 exercises a week, there will be no noticeable improvement. This period will be the most difficult. After all, I have had to give up so many things, it is so difficult to do so, and the result is zero. But if you stay for the first few weeks, by the second month the pounds will start to melt. Trust me, this will be the best motivation to continue to lead this lifestyle!
Try to surround yourself with like-minded people, strong people who pursue the same goals. Together, it is much easier to stick to the right diet, to observe the training process.
Remember, a positive attitude, a strong desire, exercise and maintaining a negative calorie balance are, in fact, all that is needed to successfully cope with the problem of excess weight!