Healthy Eating – Simple Tips To Improve Your Digestive System

You have been losing weight for a few weeks or months now, but you notice that the energy and motivation to persevere is decreasing. Recognizable? Then you’re not the only one.

It is normal to run into a dip. Fortunately, with the following 6 tips you can make sure that you are better at dealing with a motivation dip.

Tip 1: Find out where your dip comes from

The first tip is to find out what has reduced your motivation. In other words, what obstacles did you encounter?

Don’t you lose weight, for example? The next step is to find out why you don’t lose weight anymore. For example, when do you eat too much? What does a day like this look like?

Furthermore, is it possible that other aspects of your life compete with your goal to lose weight? For example, you may not have much time to exercise because your mother is ill and you have to take care of her.

I advise you to write down the obstacles as concretely as possible. This helps you to look for solutions. Below you will find a number of obstacles that have been formulated in a more abstract or concrete way.

For example:

Abstract: I don’t lose weight anymore
More concretely: I don’t lose weight anymore, because during the day when I’m busy I have too much candy.

Abstract: I don’t have time for sports anymore
Concretely: I notice that exercising 4 times a week costs me too much energy, because my priority is to take care of my mother.

Tip 2: Look for solutions

Now that you have written down the obstacles, it is important to look for solutions. What are you going to do, for example, to stop eating during the day? Or how do you make sure you have more time for sports? Maybe Thursday isn’t such a handy day, but Friday afternoon is. Or maybe it’s better to exercise less times a week at the moment.

Tip 3: Ask yourself how important the goal really is to you

Another reason why your motivation drops is that you don’t think the goal is important enough. You can set yourself all kinds of goals, but it becomes difficult if you don’t feel enough motivation to go for it.

Therefore, check for yourself how important you really think the goal is. Be honest with yourself about this. If you notice that your goal is not that important, then it is good to realize that it will be difficult to reach the goal.

In order to better map out how important it is to lose weight, it is useful to write down both the short and long term advantages and disadvantages.

Tip 4: Provide realistic expectations

The fourth tip is to have realistic expectations. A lot of people I’ve coached are very focused on a target weight that they want to achieve. Often this target weight is too ambitious. Different studies show that 5 to 10 percent of your current body weight (about 3 to 8 kilograms) losing weight is realistic to maintain.

I always tell customers that it’s much better to focus on small steps at the same time. Focus on healthier lifestyle behaviors that you can sustain.

Would you like to know more about drawing up a weight loss plan? Then read this page with weight loss tips.

Tip 5: Don’t be too strict with yourself

From next week on I won’t eat any more sweets, exercise 4-5 times a week, drink no more alcohol, drink no more sugar with my coffee, etc. I’ve often seen these kinds of lists of targets pass by.

It also makes sense if you impose so much on yourself, that you become demotivated and can’t stand it anymore. So don’t be too strict with yourself, but start with small changes. Suppose you want to tackle 5-6 habits, start with the one that is easiest to change. It helps to write down such a goal and to check daily whether it has succeeded.

For example:

From now on I don’t add sugar to my coffee

Monday: successful, Tuesday: successful, …… Sunday: successful etc.

If you notice that a new behavior has become more and more a habit, then set a new goal.

Furthermore, a goal like never again candy is unrealistic and fortunately not necessary.
It’s all about learning how to keep pace. This also applies to sports 4-5 times a week. Be honest with yourself, will you be able to keep up the goal if you are a few months ahead and have a number of busy weeks? Therefore, choose a sports rhythm that you can maintain in such weeks.

Tip 6: Prepare for difficult moments

Finally, I recommend that you prepare for difficult moments. In the beginning, when you start losing weight, you’re often full of new energy. This is also called the honeymoon phase. But after a few weeks/months this feeling diminishes. That is normal. I advise you to prepare for this.

You do this by asking yourself the following questions:

What are you going to say to yourself, for example, if you don’t feel like exercising? Or what do you say to yourself if you have had too much to eat?

Write this goal down in the form of an if-then plan.

Example as a plan:

If I come home and want to eat something, I’ll take an apple instead of eating it. You’ll notice that there are many things you can work on. Start with something that’s easiest to change. This often results in a success experience, which gives you more self-confidence.