Why do you want to lose weight?

The first step to losing weight is figuring out WHY you want to lose weight.  You may think it sounds pretty obvious - I want to look better!  But, you need to do a lot of thinking and map out WHY you want to "look better."  It is harder than you think.  Write down the reasons why.  Don't just keep a mental note.  You need to be able to look at your reasons at moments of weakness.

I successfully lost about 15 pounds before I got married.  I hired a trainer, and she was fantastic.  I didn't have to do any thinking.  She told me what to eat, when to work out, and what to do every step of the way.  Piece of cake.  I dropped the pounds fast!  After I "finished," I didn't know what to do next.  I should have known, right?  I had followed her plan for 12 weeks.  I should have had it down.  I finally figured out my problem (years later).  I didn't have to be responsible to anyone anymore.  I could cheat and eat whatever I wanted without any repercussions.  Wrong.  The scale magically had a higher number every time I stepped on it.  The bottom line was that I hadn't figured out the WHY in my journey.  I just knew I wanted a smaller size of jeans.  Who doesn't?

More to the story... I gained 40 pounds fast!  I went through cycles of losing and regaining, still not knowing why I wanted to lose the weight.  Also, I hadn't found my "soul mate workout."  This is different for everyone, and I will get more into that later.  I even went as far as thinking I must have some major medical issue to have gained so much so fast.  Hypothyroidism, etc.  Yes, some people do have medical issues, and I do have empathy for that.  However, I myself was looking for an easy cop-out.  But did it change the fact that I was overweight?  Nope.

I finally decided WHY I wanted to lose the weight.  Heck yes the number on the scale terrified me, but that wasn't enough.  I wrote down things such as... I no longer wanted to weight 80 pounds more than my husband, I didn't want to feel negative about my body, I wanted to be a fit and healthy mom for my son, I wanted to finally get a family picture (I had put this off because of my weight), I wanted to be able to wear my wedding ring comfortably, etc.  Be specific.  Some of those things sound silly, but they helped me.  I had to set priorities.  I had to set a time I would work out.  I set mini goals (10 pounds at a time) and set rewards and consequences for my mini goals.  I set timeframes of when I wanted to hit each mini goal.  I told myself that I could buy a new pair of pants once I reached a certain weight.  I hung up my reasons on the fridge to constantly remind myself of why I was doing this.  I hung a picture of myself as a cheerleader as motivation.  Find every ounce of motivation you can, and make it work for you.

Also note that you need to reevaluate this often!  Just because you figure this out one day does not mean that you are set for life.  Reset the reasons as needed.  Recognize when you are losing motivation and REEVALUATE!

Last, but not least, take a picture!  I waited to take my "before" picture until I had already lost 40 pounds!  And believe it or not, as soon as I took that picture, I did not believe for a second that I really looked like that.  Fast forward to my after picture, and I was SO happy that I had taken that before picture.  I could see major progress.  It is a huge motivation for me to look at that picture and think, wow!  I've come a long way.  The amount of weight shown in my before/after picture is 50 pounds.  Can you imagine seeing the whole 92 pounds I've lost?  This motivation of the picture does help me realize that yes, I can lose 15 pounds more.

First step, FIND OUT WHY YOU ARE DOING THIS AND WRITE IT DOWN!  Second step, TAKE A PICTURE!