How to Find The Motivation to Lose Weight (Even If You Don't Feel Like It)

One of your New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight and heal your hormones. You’ve been making the same resolution every year for the past ten years now, but it seems like you’re never getting any closer to your goal.

Come mid-January, you’ve already lost motivation, forgottten all those good intentions and you’re back struggling to do up your work blouse or getting those jeans to fasten around your waist. Sound familiar?

Your problem isn’t your goal. Your problem isn’t a lack of willpower. Your problem definitely isn’t an indication of whether you’re a ‘good’ person or not.

Your problem is motivation.

It’s lack of motivation that will keep you on the sofa finishing off that last box of Quality Street from Christmas. It’s lack of motivation that will have you postponing that workout because it just seems too hard. It’s lack of motivation that will keep you exactly where you are right now and never move forwards towards your dreams.

So let me share with you some tips (plus exercises) that will help you unlock your inner motivation and achieve your goals this year, whether they be weight-loss, menopause, work-related, or even helping you achieve your dreams. Let’s take a look.

1. Admit that you don't feel motivated to lose weight

It’s OK if you don’t feel the least bit motivated right now. That’s completely normal. Many people feel like they should do something about their weight, their peri-menopause or menopause symptoms, or their life in general, but making the necessary changes just seems too confusing and overwhelming.

But what isn’t OK is pretending that you’re motivated when you’re not, because it’s not being true to what’s going on inside. Not to mention the fact that we can’t do anything to move forwards if you’re trapping yourself behind a lie.

So be brave and open up about how you’re really feeling- you’ll be amazed at what a difference it can make.

ACTION STEP: Write it down.

Open up a journal or notebook (or open up a document on your computer) and give yourself ten minutes to get everything off your chest.

2. Find your ‘why'

Instead of thinking, ‘I know I should get up and do some exercise, but I just don’t feel like it’, or ‘Diets are sooo boring- I’ll never be able to stick to one,’ it’s often useful to move away from the details and keep in mind why you want to make these changes.

Once you find this ‘why’, you won’t need to summon up as much willpower as possible to keep you away from that chocolate muffin, nor will you need to drag yourself into your trainers to get in that HIIT session. It will all be easy, because you’re moving towards a goal that really lights you up inside and propels you forwards without you needing to put any more effort into it.

But a word of warning- think carefully about your ‘why’. Ensure that your ‘why’ comes from within you, not from the demands of someone else. Trying to lose weight or get your libido back because your partner wants you to will never be good enough .

ACTION STEP: Find your why.

Why do you want to lose weight or change your life? Honestly. Take your time to think long and hard about it. Then once you have your answer, why not write it down into your journal or scribble it in big letters on a Post-It note and pop it onto your fridge or on your desk at work? Then you can remind yourself of your ‘why’ when you feel like your motivation is starting to lag.

3. Support your hormones

Support your hormones to achieve optimal hormonal balance and you’ll feel your motivation accelerate away, plus it will be much easier for you to lose weight whilst feeling great.

You see, it’s not just what you’re eating or how much exercise you’re getting that determines your weight. Your hormones also play a massive role in how you look and feel. An imbalance in oestrogen can cause low motivation, high insulin levels can cause increased weight gain. High levels of stress hormones can also increase weight gain, food cravings and increase any desire to throw yourself into the nearest family-sized block of ice- cream!

Here are two quick tips:

#1: Eat fat

Eat more healthy fats like avocados, oily fish, nuts, seeds and coconut oil to feed your body with everything it needs to produce optimal levels of those hormones and keep your nervous system healthy. Yes, it might sound counterintuitive if you’re used to the low-fat diet fad(click here to watch my video rant about low-fat diets) but it works. Eating fat helps you lose fat.

#2: Rest & manage stress

Chronic levels of stress don’t just make you feel overwhelmed- they also impact upon your sex hormones, cause you to gain weight, and leave you feeling terrible. Not to mention the fact that stress is also likely to lead you straight to the biscuit tin and into the arms of comfort eating.

So start taking action to reduce the amount of stress in your life (where possible) and ensure you make stress management part of your daily routine so you can diffuse any stress bomb before it explodes in your face. Daily practices like meditation, yoga, visualisation, taking a nice hot bath, reading a good book or going for a walk somewhere green are all great ways to feel calmer and soothe your hormones too.

ACTION STEP: Consider the following questions:

How could you get more time to rest and de-stress? What do you already love to do that helps you feel calmer and at peace?Which foods will you include in your diet to provide more healthy fats?

3. Celebrate your greatest successes

Boost your confidence in your own abilities and lift your mood and motivation by remembering all of the times in your life when you’ve been successful. This will remind you that you are a strong and capable woman and you’ve achieved great things before, so will again, including losing weight or changing your life.

ACTION STEP: Sit alone for a while and think about your greatest successes.

What are you good at? What have you achieved? Write each one down then go back to that time mentally and notice how you feel, psychologically, physically and emotionally too. Once you’ve worked through it all, put your list somewhere you can see it to remind yourself how successful you already are and give you even more confidence to succeed.

4. Focus on how you want to feel

When it comes to losing weight or changing your life, it’s all too easy to get caught up in the idea of reaching whatever goals we’ve set ourselves, such a fitting into a size 12, hitting 10 1/2 stone or doing ten sit-ups without gasping for breath part of the way through.

But when we do this, we’re focusing on the superficial details and forgetting to consider what is most important of all- how we want to feel. It’s no good being a size 12 or fitting into your jeans if you’re just hungry and miserable, is it? Focusing on how you want to feel will speak to your emotions instead of your conscious thoughts and will guide your weight-loss journey towards longer lasting success without you ever feeling deprived.

ACTION STEP: How do you want to feel?

How do you want to feel? Can you imagine what life will be like when you achieve your goal? Take some time to sit quietly and consider your answers. Choose up to three then write them down and place them somewhere you’ll see them often.

5. Get support

Whatever journey you’re on; whether you’re trying to lose weight, rediscover your libido, eliminate night sweats, sleep better and so on, you’ll find it much harder to do it if you don’t have support. So go out there and get some!

Working with someone else, whether that’s simply a friend or support network or even a professional like a health coach, hypnotherapist or NLP practitioner will help keep you accountable and motivated enough to reach your goals whilst also acting as your personal cheerleader.

ACTION STEP: Find yourself a support network

Who could you connect with to get more support and ignite your self-motivation? Do you have a close friend who might also join you on your journey or would a professional be the best option? Take a moment to think about what would work for you, then take at least one tiny step to make this happen. Get in touch with that person, look up your local health coach (or contact me!) and start making that change happen!

6. Use the power of your mind

Visualisation is a tool that is used by elite athletes, students, entrepreneurs and many other people to help them achieve almost anything they set their minds to, and it can also help you shift those excess pounds and change your life too. Simply by rehearsing your dreams and goals in your mind’s eye, by practicing how everything will look, feel, smell, taste and sound, you’ll feel like you’ve already travelled that path. Your motivation will be stronger, making the lifestyle changes will feel easier and you’ll feel closer and closer towards your goals.

ACTION STEP: Visualise.

Sit down somewhere quiet and close your eyes. Allow yourself to imagine how your life will be when you have achieved that goal. What will it be like when you’ve lost weight? What will your experience be like? How will you feel? What will you do? Allow it all to come to life before you, and don’t forget to use all of your senses.

6. Start small

Don’t expect to be able to transform your life beyond recognition overnight- you’ll just feel overwhelmed and ready to give up before you’ve really got started. Instead break your goal down into smaller steps then take action. Pick one thing and do it every day for one month, then look back to notice how far you’ve come. You’ll be amazed at the results and your confidence will get a well-deserved boost.  

ACTION STEP: Choose your baby step.

What tiny thing could you do every day for one month that would contribute towards health and happiness? My suggestions include:

• Go to bed before 10.30pm every day (this is what I do)
• Drink more water
• Go for a walk
• Be mindful for one minute per day
• Eat your dinner at a table instead of the computer or the TV
• Do a short yoga session each night before bed

Even if you’re sick of feeling tired, fat and frumpy, it can be pretty hard to find the motivation you need to change your life. But work through the tips I’ve shared here and you’ll discover that you were motivated all along, you just needed to know where to find it.

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