How to develop inner motivation

If you have discovered that your weight loss motivation is outer - you don't need to wait until it becomes inner or live constantly under the pressure, in fact these are the worst 2 ways to develop inner motivation. Don't panic - you've got everything you need for inner motivation, you only need to try yourself and there is one thing that will help you on your way to great figure and health - before-now-after journal.

You already know how important is to control your nutrition and sport habits if you want to lose weight.
When something doesn't go like you wanted it is very easy to concentrate on negative result. And after some time there are so many negative thoughts that you start to think that motivation is lost. In reality motivation isn't lost, you've just surrounded yourself with the boundaries of outer motivation. You don't know how to switch to inner motivation when you need to.

If you want to learn how to switch to inner motivation - you have to learn to recognize positive results from sport exercises and right nutrition and appreciate them. It is not easy and BNA (before-now-after) journal will help you to start.

Everything you need for this journal is a notebook (or text file in computer) and some time.
1. Before
Every time you don't want to do exercises or stick to your diet stop for a moment and describe your feelings in bna journal. Your note can be very short easy - just write down your thoughts and feelings, don't analyze them. Maybe you feel tired or bored, sad or angry - write it down in the journal.

2. Now
Forget about your feelings and do the right thing (planned exercise or eating healthy meal). Think about your problems now, are they solved? Do you feel better or worse? Write down your feeling during making an effort. Once again, don't analyze, and don't blame yourself if something didn't go like you expected. Just a short note.

3. After
In the evening sit and read all your notes during the day. What didn't help you, what did? What lesson did you learn? How can you use this knowledge to prevent the problem in future?

After analyzing you will probably see that you feel much better when you behave like it was planned and the pleasure from fatty foods and undone exercises is quickly gone and you feel ashamed and guilty.

The attention to your feelings when you decide to do something is a first step on a way to inner motivation. If you write in bna journal honestly at least for 2-3 weeks, your problems with motivation will probably start to disappear and it will be much easier for you not only to lose as much weight as you want, but also live active positive life. Good luck!

Outer motivation, inner motivation

The motivation can also be outer or inner. Outer motivation depends on outer material values.
For example, you need to get up early in the morning and go to work. If you do it, because you need to earn money or afraid of discharge from office, then it is your outer motivation. And for example, if you won a lottery and don't need any money and still get up early in the morning and go to work - it is inner motivation.

When you are trying to lose weight, you need inner motivation, but usually it is outer and that is a main problem.
Some signs that show that your motivation is outer

1.Your motivation depends on scales (measuring tape, size of clothes). If you see a progress - you are motivated, but if you don't - you don't want to continue dieting.

2. You are constantly fighting with yourself. Ordinarily you would prefer to eat whatever you want whenever you want lying on a sofa.

3. You have a feeling that healthy nutrition and exercising is something terribly hard and when you'll achieve your coal and lose some kilograms, you won't continue dieting and exercising.

So, if this signs show you your situation it means that your motivation is wrong and it will be very hard for you to lose weight and what is more important to save it. That is a problem - good news is that this problem has a solution and it will be the topic of my next post.

Positive motivation in practice

If you think that positive motivation suits you more than negative, than let's learn little bit more about it
1. (as was already written) Positive pictures

Find your own positive visual motivator, which would show you what will you get when you achieve your goal. It can be a family photograph or a picture of a dress or costume, what doesn't fit you now.
2. Positive words

Try to encourage yourself constantly with warm words. Always try to be optimistic and think positive, talk to positive people.

3. Books and movies

Read books about motivation, watch positive movies that encourage you to change your life. Find people who have already achieved their goal, analyze their success and use their experience.

4. Positive motto

Find yourself a positive motto and repeat it all the time.

5. Positive music

Listen all the time to the music that improves your mood

And remember - good mood and belief that your dream will come true is a half of success!

Positive and negative visual motivation

You have noticed that you can not stick to a diet (or just healthy lifestyle)? You want to lose some kilograms, but nothing is working for you? You have problems with motivation. I have them too and scientific research shows that majority of people does. Dead end? I don't think so. Let's find solutions!
Remember, I am not a professional psychologist, I am just a person, who wants to give advice using personal experience!

Lesson 1. Visual motivation.

There are two kinds of visual motivation - positive and negative. Some people find negative visual motivation more effective, some positive. My first losing weight experience was connected to negative visual motivation. After one trip I got photos and after seeing myself on those where I didn't know I was photographed, I was terrified. I didn't know I looked that way! It caused bad mood, but also great motivation and I lost 12 kilograms in 2 months.

How to make negative visual motivation work?

1. Take pictures of yourself naked (or in bikini or underwear). Do not try to look good on those pictures, be honest with yourself. Watch pictures very carefully, compare them with your best looking pictures, draw a conclusion and when you want to eat something in the middle of night, or before bed time, or something you know deep inside is unnecessary- take a look at those. You can also hang pictures all over the house if it doesn't cause any problems (not naked ones) especially recommend to hang them on a fridge.

2. Try the clothes from times when you were slimmer. Make a promise to yourself that those clothes WILL fit you again. And every time you want to eat extra piece of pie, or extra portion of the supper - take a look at those clothes or even try them on.

How to make positive visual motivation work?

1. Here is exactly opposite picture. Hang all over the house your "slim pictures" - especially on a fridge. Find pictures of actresses or models who's figure you think is perfect and put them as a desktop picture.

2. Make yourself a promise of reward. Like - if I lose 5 kilograms in a month, I will buy myself an expensive dress, or spend a weekend in spa or something like that.

3. You can also try to lose weight to some occasion, like your boyfriend's or husband's birthday. Tell him that, otherwise you may not fulfill your promise. Do not give some blurry promises - always connect goals to a date, but be real - normal speed of losing weight is 1 kilogram a week. The faster you lose weight - the harder it would be to maintain it.


I think, that would be enough for a start. Lose weight and don't lose motivation!

Funny picture for motivation