Making the commitment to lose weight and undertake a weight loss program can be quite a challenge. It will require time, mental toughness and consistent action to change the habits of a lifetime. Regardless of which of the many weight loss programs you decide to use, you alone are the one who has the power to lose your excess weight. Because the key to losing weight is having sufficient desire and motivation to do it.

Everyday we hear of weightloss success stories on television and in newspapers, magazines and tabloids, all about people who have lost their excess weight and kept it off with fad, fashionable or miraculous weight loss programmes. Yet it is not the programme itself that determines success it is the mindset of the dieter.

Weight loss Research

In one study for example, people who had used many different diets to achieve their goals were found to have certain common traits. As they lost weight they became more energetic, felt more confident, had a better mood, felt their health had improved, got more attention from people and even felt they were better at their job. This positive feedback increased their motivation and dramatically increased their likelihood of diet success. But typically this ‘positive feedback’ phase did not start to kick in until five to nine weeks into their diets.

The study reported that 84% of people had quit before this phase as shown by the dropout rate chart alongside. Yet all of the dieters who reached this phase and went on to achieve their goals shared the same three traits. They were all doing it for themselves, for personal reasons. They were highly motivated and they had effective ‘coping strategies’ for when the going got tough.

Use the checklist below to find out if you have the same traits as the successful dieters from the study.

Do you have the right weight loss mindset?

So start with asking yourself who you are losing weight for. If the answer is ‘me’ or ‘for myself’ you’ll find it easier. However, if your motivation is for someone else then it is increasingly hard to succeed, as you’ll constantly struggle, regardless of the diet you attempt to follow.

Do you have the sufficient motivation to lose weight?

Many people who struggle with motivation have few benefits to losing weight. To increase the benefits write a list of how you would feel if you were at your desired weight. Get creative with the benefits, for example they may include; looking better in your jeans; not getting out of breath walking up stairs; having more energy; or improving your love life. Should you need help with this the Motivation for Weightloss download is a 50 minute hypnotic audio programme that will help you to fully realise all the benefits. Because the longer your benefits list is, the more motivated you will be to lose weight.

Do you have the right weightloss ‘coping strategies’?

Probably the single most important aspect of losing weight is to know what to do when the going gets tough. The ‘No Diet, Diet' provides useful advice in this area and suggests that you would be well advised to have coping strategies for; knowing how much to eat; knowing what to eat; recognising when to say no; adapting your food choices; enjoying your diet change; what to do if you binge. All of the dieters found that these strategies helped them minimise the damage done by occasionally going off the rails.

You may also find it useful to enlist the help and support of friends and family. Perhaps you have a friend you could work with? Could your partner also do with eating a more healthy diet? Or consider asking your work colleagues to do a fruit run rather than a bun run every afternoon?

Then you’ll find that once the weight starts to come off, the positive feedback will start to kick in – and this will just increase your motivation. Good luck!

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