Read on for some great tips to staying motivated on your weight loss journey
Ask yourself ‘how will I feel if I stop now?’
Think about the future and how disappointed you will feel if you stop and then revert back to old bad habits and are not focused on your health and wellness.
And if you have had a bad day or bad week – that is NOT a reason to give up! Get some tips here on how to recover
Thinking about being fit and healthy for your kids, and setting a good example for them can be a powerful motivator to keep going. Get some more tips here on how to stay motivated.
Remember how good you feel after exercising
Yes, the couch can be very tempting sometimes but the good feelings that you get after working out are worth the effort.
Bottle up that post-workout high and remember it whenever you find yourself making excuses not to put your trainers on.
Set some goals and rewards for the end of each month
Instead of focusing on your major goal (e.g you might want to lose 15kg) set some short term goals so that you can be rewarded along the way.
Goals don’t need to about numbers on the scale either – it could be things like ‘I will go for a jog for 45 minutes twice each week ’ or ‘I will enjoy a Healthy Mummy Smoothie every morning’. See some more tips here on SMART goal setting
Reward yourself with things like pedicures, some nice new workout gear, or a new recipe book from our cookbook range. Read some more of our ideas for non-food rewards here.
Commit to a goal and work for it
It’s great to have some non-scale goals in mind, especially some bigger ones that you may never have dreamed about doing before you started losing pregnancy weight.
For instance, why not go for a 45 minute walk every day? Or sign up for a 5km charity run? By committing to something that is external to you (as in, you just have to show up) it can help with lagging motivation.
It also means you have to train in order to take part, which is a great motivator to go for that walk or jog, or to pop the Healthy Mummy Exercise DVD in the machine and work out.
Set up a healthy house
Make it easy to make healthy choices by setting up a healthy kitchen. Chop up fresh fruit and place it in see-through containers in the fridge for a quick snack.
Keep unhealthy options out of the house so that you are never tempted. Use our 28 Day Plan so you learn how to make healthy meals.
Keep your blender clean and accessible so that it’s no effort at all to whip up a Healthy Mummy Smoothie.
You can also set up a healthy house in other ways – such as having plenty of nice workout gear to wear, and leaving your trainers where you can see them. Inspire yourself every day by surrounding yourself with positive things.
Choose to focus on wellness, not weight loss
If you find yourself weighing in every day and using that as the basis for your mood (weight loss = good day, weight gain or maintenance = bad mood) it’s time to adjust your settings. Read our advice for why you shouldn’t trust the scales here.
Instead of focusing on ‘I want to lose weight’ start to focus on health and wellness instead – and the weight loss will follow.
Be the type of person who makes the healthier choice at dinner, who doesn’t nibble mindlessly on biscuits or chips, who takes care of themselves by partaking in regular exercise – and all of these positive choices will add up to pregnancy weight loss in the long term.
Back to basics
And here are some really useful links and resources to help you refocus and get back to basics
- Work out your BMR so you know how many calories your own individual body needs. As you lose weight your calorie needs decrease so it is important to re-calculate and adjust accordingly. Use our BMR calculator here
- If you haven’t yet joined up to our FREE members area, register here so you have your own private dashboard to log your weight, measurements, exercise and BMI so you can visually see your progress. Join up here
- Snacking is essential for energy levels and for boosting your metabolism – see our healthy snacking category here
- Are the scales not giving you the results you want – see what could be happening here
- Read here about why you shouldn’t always trust the scales
- Get some tips on staying motivated here
- See the most common weight loss issues here and how to over come them
Need to stock up on smoothies or books? See our shop here
