The number one question I get asked about my 80 pound weight loss is how I found the motivation to start exercising and eating healthy and stick with it. How to get healthy is a common theme with my clients and one I consistently read in last month's survey too.

Here's some things people are saying. I'm sure many of you can relate.

Motivation Is Easy When You Let Go Of Dieting

For me, the question of how to motivate yourself to get healthy is always a hard one to answer because truthfully, motivation is quite simple once you let go of the diet mentality. That's not to say motivation isn't tricky business, but the problem is most of us go about it in the wrong way. Let me explain.

How You're Un-Motivating Yourself

How many times have you said to yourself, "I should lose weight, I should eat better, I should exercise," etc? The key word here is should. When you say to yourself that you should do something this means you don't really want to do it. 

The Bottom Line....You Don't Really Want To Do It

When you say these things to yourself, they're coming from an external place of motivation. By this I mean, you want to lose weight, fit into a certain pant size, look a certain way, or are following a doctor's orders. 

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The One Thing That Prevents You From Losing Weight

When motivation comes from an external source, we are less likely to do the things that support getting us to a specific goal. Working out and eating well feel like a chore, something you "have to do." It took me a lot of years to figure out that's not what healthy living is about and is what prevents most people from losing weight.

Finding Internal Motivation

Looking back on my 80 pound weight loss, my motivation was not external, it was internal. At that time, I was at a low point in my life feeling depressed. One day after work, I went to the beach to clear my head. It was that day I saw people walking on the beach that decided I needed to walk.

Ironically, walking was supposed to be a way for me to figure things out, but that wasn't what happened. As I walked, I started feeling better on the inside which led me to desire more walking, wanting to experiment with exercising and eating better. Walking made me feel so good on the inside that my love for it motivated me to find more ways to live healthier. It was an addicting feeling!

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​How To Motivate Yourself To Get Healthy

Healthy isn't about how much you exercise, how much weight you lose or how much good food you eat, it's about finding healthy things you love and making them part of your life! This means getting in touch with the inner you. Not the image of who you think you should be on the outside. See, there's that word again.

We too often focus externally and not internally. Those internal demons are what hold us back from doing great things. When things come from a place of should, it means we don't want them. However, when they come from a place of want they never feel like a have to.

​The Key To Unlocking Your Motivation

Today I never think about what I should or should not do to be healthy. I get up at 5am to workout everyday because I love how energizing it makes me feel. While most days I eat healthy, there are some days filled with more cookies than others. Instead of trying to be perfect all the time, I focus on doing healthy things consistently most of the time. Ironically, this shift in perspective is what's helped me keep the weight off now for almost 7 years.

Instead of forcing yourself to do things you don't enjoy, do the things you love. If you don't know what you love, then this takes some trial and error but believe me, once you find something that clicks with you it will become your motivation. It will no longer feel like something you must do. Instead, it will become a matter of "when and how do I fit this into my schedule." Because it's energizing and feels so good, you will want to do it. This is the key to unlocking your motivation. 

​How Do You Find What You Love 

Experimenting with a lot of different things is one way to do it. For lack of better words, I think a lot of people are too busy to take the time to do this. That's where a health coach can be helpful. They can provide you with suggestions on how to assess your likes and dislikes and define for you how you can easily incorporate different things into your lifestyle so you're not playing the trial and error game, getting frustrated and giving up. A health coach also keeps you accountable to what you commit to. Most people are more successful when someone else holds them accountable! 

Want to learn more about willpower & why it isn't the answer?

I'm offering two FREE webinars on How To Get A Body You Love Without Dieting!

The webinar gives you 3 essential steps for getting the body you love & explains why willpower is not effective for reaching goals.