How to Avoid Getting Disheartened in Your Weight Loss Journey

Getting disheartened in your weight loss journey is definitely possible. Many people go through it, either because they feel they’re doing everything right or they put more effort in one week. I see it at the scales every week. At least one person is always disappointed with the results, and start wondering whether it is really worthwhile continuing.

It really is. Just think about where you could go back to? Do you really want that to happen?

Avoiding getting disheartened is important. Here are my top three tips to help with this.

Celebrate Your Non-Scale Victories

The scales don’t lie but there are limitations. They tell you your overall weight, and this includes your water retention, the effect your hormones have had that week and anything else going on in your body.

This is why I always say to focus on non-scale victories as well. I remember gaining 3lb one week and not caring. Because I fit into a size 8 dress that I hadn’t fit into in 10 years.

That one non-scale victory led to me having a good week the week after, and I lost the 3lb gain and more. There are many reasons to see a 3lb gain one week. That week I’d changed some medication, which always causes a temporary shift in the wrong direction!

You can go by clothes sizes, inch measurements or your fitness levels. Just make sure you have non-scale victories to focus on, too.

Look How Far You’ve Come

Getting disheartened in your weight loss journey can happen at any time for any reason. I’ve seen people who have lost 100lb stop coming to classes because they’ve gotten disheartened after a three-week plateau.

All that leads to is gaining weight afterwards. Do you really want to put the weight back on?

It’s important to look at how far you’ve come when a few weeks don’t go your way. Think about just how much you’ve lost in total, whether you’ve lost 10lbs or 100lbs. You’re lighter than when you started, and that’s because you stuck with it.

Whether you’ve gained for a few weeks in a row or thought you had a really good week, just look at that total figure. Feel proud of yourself for your accomplishments.

Some complain that their weight loss is too slow. Remember a healthy weight loss is important. You want to look and feel great. Just half a pound a week is a large amount, and it soon adds up. Just look at how much your halves have added up.

Get Your Mojo Back

Sometimes, being disheartened comes from losing confidence or motivation. It’s time to get your mojo back.

I always like to revisit personal goals when someone is really struggling and considering leaving. Finding out why they’re struggling and whether it’s still important to them to lose weight helps me know how to help them.

For some people, it’s about getting complacent. People think they know their portion sizes, but end up over estimating. That leads to weight gains each week.

Go back to the start, as if you were a new member. Pull your books back out and start following it religiously again. You’ll soon see the losses pile up again.

Revisit your goals if you’re really struggling to get your mojo back. Remind yourself why you’re doing this, whether it’s to fit into a dress or get away from a fat photo on your wall.

Getting disheartened in your weight loss journey can happen to us all. Yes, even Weight Watchers leaders suffer from it. But you can overcome it. Following the above three tips are ones that I really found helped me when I was on my journey and help me maintain my weight.