The Infonian

Are you having trouble finding the motivation for losing weight? Then keep reading! I know that it can be difficult to persevere with a weight loss plan once the initial enthusiasm begins to wane, but it can be done. This article gives ten weight loss motivation tips that will help you to keep going and reach your goal.

1. Reward Yourself

Take small steps towards your goal, and make sure that you give yourself some reward (not food!) at each stage along the way. Losing weight can seem like an endless task, especially if you’ve got a lot to lose, so it’s important that you enjoy a sense of achievement even before you reach your goal weight.

2. Dress well.

When your larger sized clothes become too loose, get rid of them. Many people have a wardrobe full of clothes of different sizes, but if you hang onto your ‘fat clothes’, you’re sending your subconscious mind the message that you are expecting to gain the weight back. Also, don’t wait until you’re at your goal weight before you purchase some really nice new clothes – try to get at least one new piece of clothing that you really like with every dress size that you drop. You don’t have to spend a lot if money is an issue, but just a few new (or new to you) well-fitting, flattering pieces of clothing can really boost your confidence and inspire you to continue.

3. Focus on how you feel.

Stay focused on how good your body feels as you start to lose weight. Many overweight people generally feel a bit tired and uncomfortable in their bodies, and as you lose the pounds, you’ll feel better and better (that’s assuming that you’re using a healthy diet and exercise plan). If you focus on these improvements in your day to day quality of life, you’ll feel motivated to stay the course and enjoy even more energy and a greater sense of well-being as time goes on. Remember that there’s more to weight loss than just numbers on the scale or smaller dress sizes; it’s also about increasing your sense of physical and mental vitality.

4. Exercise. Make an effort to take a bit of exercise on most days. This might involve dredging up some willpower in the beginning, but after you’ve made it a habit, you’ll find that the great boost to your mood that exercise provides will give you a strong motivation to continue. Exercise doesn’t have to be a chore, and you don’t have to wear yourself out – choose an activity that you enjoy, and just do 10 or 15 minutes each time to start with.

5. Use personally meaningful incentives. For example, if looking good is important to you, you might find it helpful to hang one or more items of clothing in your ideal size, somewhere where you’ll see it often (although for others, this could be a depressing reminder of where they currently are). But if you like clothes, this can be a good incentive to continue.

6. Focus on your health. A lot of people are motivated to lose weight primarily because they want to look thinner, but it’s also worth considering the long and short-term health implications of being overweight, and the benefits (such as reduced risk of diseases such as heart problems, joint problems, some types of cancer, etc.,) that you’ll gain if you slim down. You’ll also have lots more energy, and may feel better mentally too.

7. Boost your confidence. In some cases, losing weight can help a person to feel more confident. If your confidence is being negatively affected by your weight, you may find it motivating to think about how much more at ease you’ll be in social situations once the excess is lost, and think about enjoying all the positive attention you’ll receive. You can also feel better about yourself right now by focusing on those aspects of your body, your life and yourself that you love just as they are. This is important, as many people overeat to mask feeling bad about themselves, so some positive self-talk can make it less likely that they’ll turn to food to feel better.

8. Try keeping a food diary. This is a very effective way to become aware of your eating habits, and it’s a great tool for motivation, as you’re less likely to overeat or eat mindlessly – and the more often you eat well, the easier it’ll be to continue.

9. Get some support. There are so many people who are in the same boat, and it can really help a lot to have somebody to talk to at those times when you just feel like giving up on the whole thing. There are several options here – you could join a formal support group, get together in an informal group with some friends, or join some of the many online weight loss forums and other communities.

10. Enjoy your food. Forget about ‘going on a diet’, and instead find a way of eating that you actually enjoy, and can stick with over the long term. Also, make sure you allow yourself some of your favorite foods as treats. Any weight loss plan that’s overly strict is very de-motivating. It’s certainly important to establish healthy eating habits, but you shouldn’t charge headlong into some extreme regime that no normal person could stick with for more than a few days at a time. You’ll be much less likely to over-indulge or binge if you’re enjoying what you’re eating on a day to day basis.

So, if you feel discouraged with your weight loss journey at times, don’t beat yourself up – this is normal, and happens to most people. Just be nice to yourself, and keep the above points in mind, and you’ll find it easier to maintain your motivation for losing weight, making the whole process much more straightforward.

Author: Lea Jones

But can the same response be triggered without actually putting ourselves in mortal danger? Is it possible to “flip a switch” and move our bodies into that heightened response, “ready for battle” state at will? Lots of people say that it can be done, using nothing more than the power of our own minds. According to them, all it takes is plenty of discipline and lots of practice.

Epinephrine is temporarily elevated when we exercise at very high intensity levels, which is one of the reasons an intense lifting session can feel so good. At these levels though and with normal training, it’s usually enough to make us feel good but not enough to have a significant impact on strength. But if you could control that “adrenalin rush” and bring on an intense burst of epinephrine at will-making the body’s energy reserves instantly available-it could really give you an incredible burst of strength for a maximum lift attempt.

There are a number of ways to create an adrenalin (epinephrine) rush in the body without putting yourself in mortal danger. One method is train yourself under conditions that cause your body to release epinephrine. This can mean intense training sessions that push you out of your comfort zone. The keys here are to focus on short bursts of intense training that are outside of your normal comfort zone-this is important. When we’re lifting a weight that we know our bodies can handle, the body doesn’t need to release that extra burst of epinephrine-fueled energy. It’s when we’re training in “uncharted” territory that our bodies will have the incentive to give us the boost we need.

Some say that proper breathing techniques can be taught that induce an adrenalin rush. One of these strategies says that learning to control your breathing and matching it to the intensity of your workout can facilitate an adrenalin rush in the body. The theory here is that when we “breathe normally” during an intense training session, our breathing lags behind and the cells wind up with an oxygen deficiency, putting the body somewhat behind the power curve.

Practitioners of this technique say that by matching our breathing-that means breathing hard and deep-to the intensity of our workout from the onset, we can trigger an adrenalin rush. Learning to do this properly will of course require lots of discipline and plenty of practice. You can start by ensuring that you are breathing properly in everything you do. The normal human tendency is to hold our breath when exerting ourselves-for example, doing something as simple as getting up from a chair. When walking, match your inhaling and exhaling to your step. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. The point is to learn to coordinate your breathing with your body’s motions.

Visualization is another strategy that some experts say can be used to induce an adrenalin rush. There is an entire school of thought related to visualization techniques, with much of it coming from the martial arts world. Though in any situation, the methodology is essentially the same. It’s more complex than it sounds but it boils down to visualizing a previous scenario that triggered an adrenalin rush. It’s not just thinking about it though-it entails actually reliving every aspect of the situation in your mind in an effort to induce your body to release bursts of epinephrine into the bloodstream to boost performance.

While the thought of an adrenalin rush for a max lift attempt is appealing, it’s not something that everyone can do. Like I said early on, developing the ability to bring one on requires a lot of discipline and even more practice. And though not easy, it can be done. It’s important to note though that excessive, long-term releases of epinephrine into the bloodstream will diminish its effectiveness (your body gets used to it) and could lead to health problems. Remember the saying “all things in moderation.” But if you think you’ve got what it takes, it certainly is something that you can learn to do.

Author: Mike Westerdal

You might not recognize the name, but you may be familiar with the effects of Central Nervous System (CNS) Fatigue. The symptoms of CNS Fatigue can include lack of motivation, poor mood, impaired cognitive ability and abnormally high perceptions in regards to the force of exertion-that is, we think we’re working out a lot harder than we actually are. These are the most obvious symptoms, but there are other less evident ones too. You already know that the central nervous system is what controls our body’s functions, which includes muscle contractions. The theory behind CNS Fatigue is that there are not one, but two points from which our muscles can become fatigued: 1) in the muscle itself; and 2) at the point of origin of the muscular contraction (the central nervous system). Fatigue in the muscle itself is referred to as peripheral fatigue while fatigue at the point of origin is known as central fatigue.

We’re all familiar with peripheral fatigue and what to do about it-proper nutrition, supplementation and allowing sufficient time for recovery between training sessions. But how do you manage fatigue that starts deep down in the brain and hits before it even gets to the muscle? That’s a mystery that researchers have been working to unravel over the past several years and fortunately, they’ve made a lot of headway.

Just like everything else in our bodies, the central nervous system needs fuel to keep it going. If that system is running low on fuel, then performance-including muscle function-is hampered. Specifically, the function of the neurotransmitters-which are responsible for sending signals from the brain to the muscles-are impaired. This would also result in the onset of the psychological symptoms (poor mood, lack of motivation, etc.) mentioned above. Just like the muscle systems, the central nervous system can run out of fuel due to overexertion or lack of nutrition. Some powerlifters and strongmen competitors are particularly susceptible to CNS Fatigue due to the fact that they often do so many single repetition lifts. This can overly stress the nervous system, cause it to “run out of fuel” and can result in the onset of CNS Fatigue.

Much of the research into CNS Fatigue has focused on Serotonin (5-HT) and Dopamine due to their roles in regulating things like sensory perception, mood and more. Research suggests that an imbalance in these neurotransmitters-specifically, a spike in Serotonin and a drop in Dopamine levels-is associated with the onset of CNS Fatigue. The theory is the high 5-HT/low Dopamine brings on CNS Fatigue with low 5-HT/high Dopamine resulting in enhanced performance. That is really good news because proper training, nutrition and supplementation can help manage Serotonin/Dopamine levels in our brains.

Proper training means making sure that your body has plenty of time to rest and recover between workout sessions. It’s not only the muscle systems that need to recover, but the central nervous system as well. That’s only logical given that the symptoms of overtraining are not just physical, but mental too-and exactly like the psychological effects associated with CNS Fatigue. In terms of overtraining, researchers have looked at both insufficient recovery time between training sessions as well as prolonged periods of physical activity, with the presumption being that both result in the onset of CNS Fatigue.

It’s actually very complex, but in layman’s terms, on the nutrition side research has mostly focused on carbs and Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) and their impact on the 5-HT/Dopamine balance in the brain. Carbs are thought to play an important role in combating the onset of CNS Fatigue due to their impact on fatty acid (FA), tryptophan (TRP) and free tryptophan (f-TRP) levels in the body, all of which are related to 5-HT/Dopamine levels in the brain. Increases in BCAA intake are thought to suppress 5-HT metabolism in the brain during exercise. So in theory, the combination of the two (carbs/BCAAs) should help to maintain the proper balance of 5-HT/Dopamine levels, helping to prevent the onset on CNS Fatigue.

Our nervous systems are incredibly complex and research into CNS Fatigue is still in the early stages so there are no definitive answers. We do know though that for regular bodybuilders, proper training (with plenty of recovery time between sessions) and nutrition can help avoid CNS Fatigue. Powerlifters and strongman competitors should be particularly careful to not overtrain and they may also have to deload or work in some down weeks too if symptoms of CNS Fatigue appear.

Author: Mike Westerdal