Motivate yourself to lose weight

The self motivation model can just about any pursuit you can think of. In my next couple of postings I will look at some.

Let’s look first at the self motivation model.

SELF MOTIVATION = ƒ (VISION, SUCCESSABILITY, ENVIRONMENT).

When Motivate Yourself: A step by step guide to becoming all you can be is printed I will be starting on my next book, which will be either Motivate Yourself for Weight Loss or Motivate Yourself for Financial Freedom.

Let’s see how the model for self motivation relates to the first title.

I’m especially interested in weight loss because I was a fat kid when I was little, although my mother always lovingly referred to as me as “husky.” As I was getting ready to celebrate my 13th birthday, I was around 5’3” and weighed 165 pounds.

I’d been overweight ever since I was a little boy, and never thought much about it, certainly not enough to do anything about it. But when I was 13 I joined my junior high wrestling team. At 165 pounds, I was wrestling boys who were normally 180 pounds, but had intentionally lost 15 or more pounds so they could wrestle opponents who were normally lighter, and therefore less strong than them. The whole thing didn’t make much sense, since they usually ended up wrestling someone who normally weighed 180 pounds, but who had intentionally lost 15 pounds as well. It did make sense when wrestling me, however, a chubby (excuse me, husky) 165 pounder. Wrestling me was fun for them, but not a lot of fun for me. I spent a lot of time on my back (getting pinned) so I quickly went down to 133 pounds, though I could get down to 127 if need be. What’s interesting about it is I don’t recall ever feeling I was depriving myself. It feels like that on some level my vision, me as a slim wrestler, was so powerful the pounds just melted off. Burning calories for two and a half hours every day on the wrestling mats didn’t hurt either! The results speak for themselves, 32 pounds in a month and a half. I was certainly motivated.

I think weight loss for a busy, involved adult is a bit more of a chore than it was for me as a child. So let’s see how one intentional woman, I’ll refer to her as Barbara, applied the model for self motivation to losing weight.

In applying the model to weight loss, the first factor, vision, can be many things. It might be written as Me at a Healthy Weight or Fitting into a Size 12 or Me Liking My Body Image. The vision Barbara wrote down was short and to the point, Me Slim. Barbara knew that inside she was a slim woman, just like she had been before four children.

The second factor, successability, requires clarity, which can be achieved by the three step process for successability:

vision >> goal >> task.

This is how Barbara applied the three step process to weight loss.

We already know Barbara’s vision is Me Slim. Barbara wrote down the following as her goals, those achievements which will result in her manifesting as her vision. Four of her goals were:
1. Lose 35 pounds
2. Join Weight Watchers
3. Eat junk food only one day a week.
4. Set up a system of rewards for success

For each of these goals, Barbara made a list of the tasks, the actual behaviors she needed to do to complete each goal. For example, goal #3, Eat junk food only one day a week, involved these tasks:
1. Determine what day is the day I can eat junk food
2. Define junk food so I am sure I don’t eat it the other six days
3. Keep healthy foods in the refrigerator so I always have healthy foods to eat
4. Make sure there is no junk food in my house except on junk food day, so I am not tempted to blow my plan on non-junk food days. (This one was later modified after a rebellion by Barbara’s husband and four children. Treats were thereafter allowed in the house, so long as they were not ones that Barbara has a weakness for.)

Don’t forget to break your complex tasks into subtasks. Barbara broke down task 3, keep healthy foods in the refrigerator, into these subtasks:

1. Determine what healthy foods I like
2. Start a shopping list
3. Buy the “healthy foods”
4. Clean and prep any vegetables that need it so they are readily accessible to me

Environment is the third factor of self motivation. It involves your physical environment and your social environment. The main aspect of Barbara’s physical environment as a stay at home mom is her kitchen. Two of the ways she makes her kitchen enhance her motivation are 1) making sure it is stocked with healthy foods so she is not tempted to go off her diet, and 2) posting on the refrigerator a picture of herself when she was slim.

Barbara made sure her social environment was set up to keep her motivated in her weight loss as well. She made Weight Watchers a big part of her social environment, attaching herself to a built in social network that supports her, cheers her on her victories, and makes sure she works the program. Included in her social network is her supportive husband and her children, who, understanding how important weight loss is for their mother, forego all those particular treats Mom loves so much. Barbara made a good friend at Weight Watchers, and has made that friend a part of her social environment as well.

Barbara applied the model for self motivation to weight loss, and it helped her stay motivated to lose the weight she wanted to lose, and keeps her motivated to keep it off.

What is your big dream? How can you apply the model for self motivation to it? Using the model can help keep you focused and motivated as you work toward this wonderful you.