How to Find the Motivation to Change?

Motivation, the word everyone is familiar with, is so often brought up in conversations about changing your lifestyle for a healthier one. According to the definition, motivation is responsible for all the processes related to the initiation, direction and completion of activities. Changing your eating or regular exercise habits takes time. So how can we find our motivation and keep it?

In this entry, I have prepared some tips on motivation that may help you get started and, above all, stay on those healthier tracks forever 🙂

 

1. Find Your Internal Motivation

Psychology differentiates between two types of motivation: external and internal one. I think it is best to explain through real-life examples. External motivation to lose weight includes, for instance, the desire to buy new clothes in a smaller size, to receive praise from your loved ones, or the decision to make changes motivated by the persuasion of loved ones who are worried about your health. Now let’s compare this with internal motivation, which may be the desire to improve well-being, increase energy levels on a daily basis, or improve blood test results, which will translate into overall improvement in health. Are any of these motivations wrong? No, but research shows that relying solely on external motivators is not the best solution. If you want long-term effects, try to look for your internal stimuli to act that are important for YOU.

 

2. Combine Business with Pleasure

Another issue is the desire to avoid unpleasant consequences or focus on what is pleasant. What I mean here is that we can often hear someone starts a diet to avoid a disease (prevent strokes, heart attacks, type 2 diabetes) and this is of course an important reason. However, apart from this, I encourage you to focus on what you can gain. Better well-being, longer life, activity with children, traveling, ability to concentrate and learn faster – there can be lots of those positive side effects!

 

3. Know Where You’re Going

It’s hard to make changes when we don’t know where we’re going. Therefore, you should set yourself clear, specific goals. Remember that they should be real and measurable. A very good method will also be to set the main goal and smaller, intermediate goals. Example? The main goal may be to lose 5 kilograms over a specified period of time, and the smaller goals that will lead you to the main goal could be 15-minute workouts 3 times a week, regular mealtimes and taking daily walks on the way home from work. You can introduce smaller goals gradually and monitor them (e.g. using the training plan in the Diet & Training by Ann application or writing them down and checking them off in a regular notebook).

 

4. Find Joy in the Process

Research shows that people who focus on the path and find satisfaction in the process itself have a greater chance of success than those who focus only on the goal (e.g. seeing the desired number of kilograms on the scale). That’s why I often emphasize that you shouldn’t be afraid to experiment in the kitchen, look for new forms of physical activity and seek inspiration for a healthy lifestyle. If an action brings joy, it is much easier to be consistent.

 

5. Don’t Fear Change

Motivation can change and you shouldn’t be afraid of that. The fact that you were initially motivated to adopt a healthy lifestyle by the desire to improve your blood test results may not be enough when the results do improve. And yet you still want to stick to your resolutions! Then it is worth stopping and thinking about what motivates you currently. Maybe you care most about being in good physical shape, so that you can keep up with your kids…?

Motivation – just like ourselves – can change, and this is a completely natural process 🙂

 

Bibliography:

1. Brytek-Matera A. Psychodietetyka. PZWL. 2021. roz. Juruć A. Psychologia odchudzania.
2. Teixeira PJ, Silva MN, Mata J, Palmeira AL, Markland D. Motivation, self-determination, and long-term weight control. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2012 Mar 2:9:22. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-9-22.