Procrastination, and loss of motivation are some of the leading obstacles to losing weight. Add to that - stress, not knowing where to start, and feeling overwhelmed, and you can clearly see why it’s so challenging for many people to stick to their goals over time.

What has your experience been with lack of motivation?

Share your story and reply to me.

I truly think that one of the best strategies for staying on track to meet your goals is by taking a baby steps approach. Small, consistent actions add up to significant shifts over time.

Let’s talk about how to stay motivated on your weight loss journey and beat procrastination once and for all!

But first, we need to understand WHY we lose motivation?

It really is enemy number one of many of our goals and dreams. But why does it happen?

It comes down to various factors:

I’ll do it “Tomorrow” Syndrome

Here’s the thing… we all tend to overestimate our amount of motivation and inspiration. We tend to think for some reason, that we will be more motivated at a time in the future.

I’ll start the diet on Monday. I’ll go to the gym tomorrow. I’ll give up processed foods after the holidays. Sound familiar?

These are procrastination techniques that rely on the false assumption that at some unnamed date in the future, we will be more likely to take action.

I’m not in the Mood

Many people also feel that they have to be in right mood to start a new health plan or an exercise routine. It’s common to say, I’ll feel better tomorrow or next week so I’ll do it then.

The problem is that usually, even when your mood improves, you might make some changes but will quickly lose motivation when your mood has shifted again. It’s not sustainable.

Feeling Overwhelmed

When we feel that we must deal with the entire goal in one go, we get easily overwhelmed. If you are focused on losing say 50 pounds and see it as one big step, it becomes easy to lose motivation. It’s just too much to envision all at once.

But if you break your goal down into smaller, manageable pieces and know exactly which tasks to do first, then you are faced with much easier, workable tasks that you can follow up on.

Perfectionism

Not always a good thing. When you feel you have to do everything exactly right, you are likely setting yourself unreachable goals. When the goal is unattainable, you have set yourself up for failure in a form of self sabotage.

Fear of failure can be awfully paralyzing. You are more likely to abandon your goals entirely when you set these kind of over the top parameters for yourself.

Indecision

Having lots of different ideas, plans and goals can mean we get stuck in indecision and don’t know how to begin. That prevents us from going full steam ahead with a goal, because we feel like we cannot start until we are sure it’s the right thing.

This can be the case with a diet or new regime. You’re not sure whether to do yoga first thing or go for a walk. Should you go to the gym before breakfast or last thing at night, etc?

You have to just decide and do something, even if you change the routine down the line. The most important thing is action!

If you recognize any of the above in your own mindset, do NOT throw in the towel!

Here’s what you can do to change it.

Take the Baby Steps Approach

Taking small steps each day is a much better approach than trying to do everything all at once and keep your motivation up.

If you create a plan that involves taking small steps each day, you radically increase your chances of sticking to your goals and seeing success.

It’s so much easier to gain momentum with small steps. Plus, as you start to see your goals come into focus, it adds to your motivation to keep going.

For example, say you want to shift your diet to include more healthy breakfast smoothies instead of your usual coffee and pastry on the go.

Why not make a goal to switch out just 2 breakfasts a week to smoothies?

Try sticking to that for a month. Then increase the mornings you choose smoothies to 3, and do that for a month.

See how you are far more likely to actually make the shift when it’s manageable instead of changing all at once?

Breaking down your goal into smaller actionable goals is KEY. Not only does it decrease the feeling of overwhelm, it also allows you to focus more on the bigger picture, and helps you to plan effectively.

Be sure to celebrate your goals! Creating a dopamine effect when you achieve your small goals is a vital part of your motivation too and gives you the confidence and self esteem you need to keep going.

It will get easier over time. As you create lasting habits that you can actually stick to, they will eventually just become part of your routine.

You can achieve your weight-loss and health goals if you take small, consistent steps to get there.