Losing weight can be very challenging, and oftentimes this leads to a lot of frustration. Unfortunately, that frustration can eventually lead to discouragement, especially when you haven’t seen the results that you expected or wanted.
But even when you’re discouraged, there are ways to combat that. Most of the time, the discouragement comes from not achieving the goals that you have set forth. This, in turn, happens because many of us focus on unrealistic goals as we start our weight loss journey.
This is just one of the many reasons, though, that people get discouraged.
So in this quick article, we’re going to take a look at that and give you some tips on staying motivated and things you should avoid to keep yourself from being discouraged during your weight loss journey.
Is this Common?
Losing weight is not easy. Anything that is challenging clearly requires breaking bad habits and leads to a lot of frustration. Unfortunately, with so many temptations and easy access to things that will challenge weight loss goals, it is quite common for people to get frustrated.
After all, many of us have expectations on this weight loss journey that are not easily achieved. On top of that, many lifestyle changes come along with your weight loss journey, and without the proper support system, this could be challenging as well.
Many factors can contribute to being discouraged with weight loss, and because there are so many, it is quite a common feeling to have.
Why Does it Happen?
There are quite a few reasons people may become discouraged with their weight loss journey, but ultimately it has to do with them not reaching the goals they set for themselves. The chief culprit is that that happened because people often set unrealistic goals.
Unrealistic goals can be quite dangerous, and when things don’t get achieved at the speed and pace we want, we often wind up discouraged.
But there are plenty of things you can do to help keep your motivation up and your frustration down when it comes to your weight loss journey.
What Can You Do About it?
The best way to overcome the main culprit of becoming discouraged with your weight loss journey- unrealistic goals- is to simply be honest with yourself. Don’t try to meet the level of others, and don’t overestimate your initial abilities.
In order to have a successful weight loss journey, you have to change a lot of things in your life. This is all hard work, from adding in exercise and physical activity to streamlining your dietary plan.
However, these are all habits that must be broken, and when you choose to be unrealistic about the goals, it is very easy to become discouraged, which could, in turn, lead to you giving up altogether.
How Can You Stay Motivated?
Along with being realistic about your overall capabilities at the beginning, there are many other ways to stay motivated and do that quite easily.
After all, this is a journey, so you’ll have to work up to really hitting the hard aspects of the lifestyle changes required to lose weight.
Here are just a few of the ways we suggest that you can stay motivated:
The scale may be your friend in some aspects because that’s the way you’re going to monitor your change. However, if you are focused on that and weigh yourself every day, you may not lose as much weight as you thought you did.
Never seeing the scale move when you step on it or move very infrequently can greatly deter your continuing success.
Another way to stay motivated is to have an accountability buddy. Finding a friend who wants to work out with you or that you trust to hold you accountable in a constructive way could be just the push you need to stay motivated.
This is simply because none of us want to disappoint someone we care about, and having someone there to root us on always will leave us more encouraged than discouraged.
Setting up smaller goals that lead to the larger overall goal you’re focused on can help you feel productive. Oftentimes these unrealistic goals are unrealistic because they’re too lofty. But you could see better results by taking that bigger goal and breaking it down.
In other words, if you’re looking to lose 100 pounds, staring at that 100 pounds is going to be very daunting. But if you break it down into 10-pound increments, it seems more achievable, and that will keep you encouraged.
Things You Should Avoid Doing?
One of the best ways to overcome finding yourself discouraged, especially when you’re looking to lose weight, is, of course, as we’ve said, to not focus solely on the scale. Focusing on the scale can be debilitating, especially since it doesn’t always move as fast as we want.
But there are other mistakes you can avoid that will keep you from discouraging yourself.
For us, here are the top mistakes to avoid if you’re looking to stay on track and motivated.
A lot of people utilize calorie counting as a way to really catapult their weight loss journey to success. But calories are tricky.
Because if you eat too much and too often, you’ll gain weight. And also, if you eat way too little, you may lose weight, but you won’t have enough fuel to be energized throughout the day.
So to ensure this is the best option, it’s just simply eating last. Calories are important, but they shouldn’t be the only focus of your journey.
You have to include physical activity. This doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be high-impact training, but you have to have some physical activity.
On the other end of the spectrum, exercising too much could overtire your muscles and cause you to miss out on future gym visits, which will impact your overall results.
Not tracking what you eat is a problem. As we said, calories are a big part, but the food you are taking is just as important.
That means you need to ensure that you have enough protein and fiber and take in all the nutrients you need to support you with enough fuel to be successful.
Final Thoughts on Getting Discouraged With Weight Loss
Becoming discouraged when you’re losing weight is very easy if you don’t take into account that it’s not an exact science and nothing is going to be consistent when it comes to it.
That means one week you may lose 4 pounds, but the next week you may only lose one, and by seeing this, sometimes people get discouraged.
Setting realistic goals is the first step in ensuring you do not get discouraged. In addition, we have given you other information that we hope helps you stay motivated to tackle your weight loss goals.