For those losing weight, you can finally cue the confetti and pop the champagne only when you hit our goal weight. Right?
But does it have to be that way?
Can weight loss be fun even before you hit your goal weight?
The answer is absolutely YES! Weight loss doesn’t have to be a boring chore. It can be fun and exciting!
Here are some ways to make weight loss fun:
Simply decide that weight loss is FUN
Start now and decide that weight loss is FUN. If you think weight loss is hard, then your brain will go out and find all the evidence for you that weight loss is hard.
Have you ever bought a new red car and then you hit the road and it seems like everyone and their mother owns a red car just like yours?
Your brain uses the reticular activating system to filter unimportant information out and only focus on the stuff that matters (like the car you just bought so the brain filters out all the other cars and focuses on the ones just like yours).
But how does your brain determine what’s important? By the thoughts you think. Your thoughts are literally the instruction manual for your brain. So if you tell your brain that weight loss is a struggle and is hard, then it will ignore any evidence that weight loss is easy or fun. It will focus only on the evidence that it is a struggle and is hard.
So decide on some thoughts you want to think about weight loss being fun and practice them daily.
Here are a few ideas that I use:
“I enjoy moving my body intentionally every day”
“I feel light and energetic when I choose nutritious foods”
“I blow my own mind when I see how easily I resist urges and temptations”
Create ways to celebrate making good decisions
Going from 250 pounds to 150 pounds requires making different decisions. Humans don’t like change especially doing less of what feels good (you know, like eating less of delicious foods).
So to make those hard decisions more appealing, you have to make them feel good by celebrating the hell out of them! Seriously, every small decision that you make should be celebrated so your brain looks back on that decision and wants to do it again.
The brain loves to avoid pain and seek pleasure. If all you are feeling on your weight loss journey is pain of moving your body and deprivation from not eating the foods you love, it simply will not work. You have to create pleasure throughout the process so the brain will start craving those new choices.
Here are some examples:
After a hard workout, pump your fists in the air and shout “I’m a champion! I’m amazing!”
Use a habit tracker and put cute stickers for each task you accomplish
Put a dollar into a jar every time you pass on dessert and then buy yourself something nice with that money
Buy the cute clothes NOW
I remember when my size 18’s were getting tight, I vowed that I wouldn’t buy myself any new clothes until I lost some weight. I was hoping that the allure of new clothing would make me more committed to working out and eating better. Instead it just made me feel more uncomfortable and sad. It was a constant reminder of how I hadn’t lost any weight yet and the shame I felt about my size.
Don’t wait until you are at goal weight to buy clothing you really love. When you look good, you feel good. When you feel good, you make good decisions. I have never found myself eating a bowl of ice cream because I felt amazing in the clothes I was wearing. But when I feel fat and frumpy, I spiral into “what does it matter” thinking and serve myself a heaping bowl of Ben and Jerry’s to console myself.
The body you have now is the body you will have when you lose the weight albeit smaller. It deserves your love, admiration and cute clothing now, not later. The more you love your body now and celebrate with clothing you love by wearing things that look and feel good on you, the more you will want to continue on the path towards your health goal.
Make a weight loss bucket list
Weight loss isn’t rocket science. Once you figure out what works for your body it simply becomes a game of consistency until you reach your goal. Make weight loss more interesting and give yourself other goals to look forward to along the way by making a weight loss bucket list.
A weight loss bucket list can include a variety of things such as workouts, new foods, personal records, and experiences. For myself, I want to do at least one unassisted pull up, try Cross Fit, incorporate more vegan dishes into my meals, take swimming lessons and complete a 5k in under 30 minutes.
Don’t include anything you think you “should” do. These bucket list items should purely be something that would be fun to try or will give you satisfaction.
Create Reward System
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
When I decided that I was going to lose 100 pounds that goal seemed really, really overwhelming. It’s a lot easier for my brain to believe I could lose 10 pounds (heck, I have done that at least thirty times in my lifetime). So I broke my weight loss into smaller 10-pound goals. Then decided on rewards for each ten pounds lost. I even made a chart I could check off a box for each pound lost and see how close I was getting to my next reward.
Some examples for rewards include:
- New clothes (hello, Stitch Fix boxes!)
- Manicure and pedicure
- Workout equipment
- New jewelry
- Hair cut and color
So friends, find a way to celebrate your hard work and dedication to losing weight each and every day. No celebration is too small. The more you celebrate, the more you will find to celebrate on your journey!
Your Coach,
Andrea
P.S. I have made this special weight loss tracker just for you to help you track your weight loss and plan rewards too. The tracker is set for 100 pounds however if you have less to lose simply cross out the spaces from 100 down to the number of pounds you wish to use. Have more than 100 to lose? Just print out multiple copies!