Weight Loss Motivation and Dropping Belly Fat
By: John D. Moore, PhD
If you are looking for motivation to lose weight and how to lose belly fat, you have come to the right place. Most people seeking counseling and coaching services have a personal goal of creating a more sculptured physique that visually demonstrates shape and tone. While there are many articles on the Internet on diet and exercise, few websites speak to the psychology behind weight loss motivation.
Motivation to Lose Weight vs. Desire
It is important to bear in mind that there is a big difference between having motivation to lose weight vs. having a desire to slim down. Motivation is the engine of change. Desire, on the other hand, is simply a want. In other words, just because you desire to lose belly fat does not mean you are motivated to do the things necessary to create positive change.
My hope here is to help you move past desire and transform your wants into actions. The motivation to lose weight must be organic in nature, meaning nobody can implant this “chip” into you. And to keep it real, the ability to mindfully lose belly fat requires that you change your lifestyle. This is easier said than done!
According to research published on the website of the Centers for Disease Control and prevention, nearly 35% (78.6 million people) are considered to be obese in the United States. I bring this statistic up because the number demonstrates just how many people are challenged with weight management issues.
You can bet a good number of the folks making up that statistic have a desire to lose belly fat. But how many are motivated to actually lose the weight?
What follows are 5 tips on how to gain motivation to lose weight. The information is psychological in nature and based on the tenants of mindfulness based cognitive behavior therapy, coupled with elements of positive psychology.
Are you ready? Let’s jump right in!
Motivation to Lose Weight: 5 Tips
1. Create realistic goals
One of the reasons so many people remain unmotivated to lose weight is because the task of shedding belly fat can seem overwhelming. For 
example, you may have a goal of losing 40-50 pounds before summer but visualizing yourself doing the physical activity necessary to eliminate the weight can seem monumental.
It is for this reason you will want to adjust your expectations. What if you changed that goal to a more realistic number – like 5 pounds over 3 weeks?
2. Start your day off positive
The psychology of motivation to lose weight starts the moment you wake up. This means starting your day off in a great way. The 
essential ingredient to your motivation is simply this: You are making the choice, through positive affirmation, that you are worthy of good things, including elimination of belly fat. The spirit of change will never visit your doorstep unless you truly believe you are worthy. Love of self is not always a bad thing.
3.Reprogram your thoughts
In mindfulness based cognitive behavior therapy, a core teaching is that all of us, meaning you and me, are the product of the thoughts we
are having right now. If you have grown accustomed to thinking unhealthy things about yourself, it makes sense that you lack motivation to lose weight.
A powerful way to change the dynamic is to focus on reprogramming your thoughts. I am not talking about positive thinking. Instead, I am saying you want to radically change the words you use as part of your mental dialogue. This means switching out why questions and replacing them with what.
4. Increase self-esteem
Another mindfulness based way to gain motivation to lose weight is to focus on increasing your self-esteem. This means taking a hard look at
how you view yourself and by extension, what you believe about yourself. Increasing self-esteem to lose belly fat also means having a strong mind body connection.
Many people lack motivation to lose weight because of a mood related issue, such as depression or profound sadness. Depression is usually best friends with low self-esteem and one generally can be found hanging out with the other. If this is the case for you, consider talking to a helping professional who is trained with assisting people through emotional rough spots.
5. Look for realistic inspiration
The final tip on how to gain motivation to lose weight relates to inspiration. The trick in finding inspiration to drop belly fat is by using 
visual cues that you can relate to! For example, if you are 50 years old and wanting to look like a 20-something year old model who appears on Pinterest, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Realistic inspiration means identifying role models that you can relate to and then mirroring their healthy behaviors.
Motivation also comes from inspiring others. How might your personal transformation realistically impact someone you know? How might your knowledge of being an inspiration to others affect your own weight loss goals?
Motivation to Lose Weight Summary
This may come to a shock to you but even famous people engage in mindfulness based approaches to wellness. Chris Evans, for example, is a major self-help consumer and has shared in several interviews that he focuses on the here and now to maintain his wellness.
Evans has acknowledged that in the days leading up to his appearance as Captain America, he initially struggled believing he could transform himself. More importantly, he questioned what change would truly mean. Can you relate?
Your desire to lose weight is commendable. Now it is time to move out of the want territory to action. That can only happen once motivation kicks in. To help expand on the concepts explored here, I am recommending a book entitled, Maintaining Your Weight Loss: A Mindfulness-Based Guide to the Adventure of a Lifetime by Dr. David Levenson.
Hopefully, you will find this resource helpful to you on your journey of losing belly fat.
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