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Popular Diets and Motivation - 3 Ways To Help Yourself Lose Weight

Motivation is probably the most essential driver of success when following any of the top popular diets for weight loss. Having participated in and reviewed several diet and exercise programs the reality is that many of them will perform as advertised. So long as you fundamentally agree with the overall core approach of the diet program (e.g. raise your resting metabolic rate through muscle building to burn calories, eat the right food categories through metabolic typing assessment, etc...) most effective diet and exercise programs work. So the challenge for most people in losing weight is either starting a program or staying with it over the long term.

Several popular diets shy away from goal setting, however, and that is natural. They are focused on helping you understand what you need to do to lose weight. Many people I have worked with in successful weight loss programs can achieve initial weight loss, they just can't keep it off over the long term. Here are three key tips to follow to help you find motivation and keep it going over time.

  1. Pick a Specific Weight Loss Goal - This is perhaps the biggest problem most people face in successful weight loss, regardless of which popular diets they consider using. For successful weight management you really need to two goals: 1) Pick a specific number of pounds (e.g. I want to lose 25 pounds) that you want to lose. Don't pick a range, like 20-30 pounds because the upper end of the range tends to feed a lack of motivation as it may appear unreachable for you. 2) Give yourself a time frame for the weight loss to occur. You need to be realistic and follow the generally accepted rule of 2-3 pounds per week as a guide for which most popular diets can deliver. Don't tell yourself "I want to lose 20 pounds this year" as that isn't specific enough. A better time constrained goal would be "I want to lose 20 pounds by this April". The clock is ticking in this example and you are more likely to work to that time frame.
  2. Have a Personal Image Goal - Don't underestimate the power of visualization and mental imagery in being able to succeed in weight loss. Getting into that little black dress which is a size 6? That's motivation. Want to hit the beach this summer without a spare tire? You can work to that. See yourself reaching the goal, how you look and how it makes you feel. It will help you stay focused on the goal aside from looking at what the scale says or how many times you went to the gym this week. Popular diets work, you just need to provide the motivation and having an image to fall back to helps.
  3. Monitor Your Weight Regularly - I have personally found that by checking my weight 2-3 times per week at the same time is a good and consistent gauge on how my weight loss is coming or being maintained. I do not obsessively check my weight on a scale daily (nor should you). By looking at your weight a few times each week, you will provide yourself enough data points to know if you are making progress or falling back. And that is all of the ongoing motivation you need.

You can't buy motivation but you can create and maintain it. There are many effective popular diets on the market today, so find the one who's philosophy you agree with most and work on the motivation aspect to really achieve sustainable weight loss.

Heath Jackson

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com

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