Staying Motivated to Lose Weight

The last week has been pretty wild.

On Tuesday of last week I appeared on WLTX (CBS news affiliate in Columbia, SC) to talk about losing weight in 2010.  I’ll be on WLTX again tomorrow and every following Tuesday for the rest of January.

That was exciting.  And then dawned a new day:  Wednesday.

Late Wednesday morning the article Steve Almasy wrote about me hit the homepage on CNN.com’s health section and the new readers (and their accompanying e-mails) started appearing.  The volume was pretty intense for a couple of days, then on Friday night I was featured on the actual homepage of CNN which created yet another surge of e-mails and readers.

I’m humbled, honored, and extremely excited about all the new readers and e-mails I keep receiving (and I’ll eventually respond to every single one), but it’s time to get back to business.  I’m not a celebrity.  I need to lose another 25 pounds and, I’ll say it again: build some big, strong muscles.

I’ve never been more motivated to change my body.

I’ve talked about motivation before.  It’s easy to stay motivated, especially once I’ve already lost 100+ pounds, by simply looking at my before and after weight loss pictures.  I look at where I was and where I am and I’m instantly motivated to keep doing what I’m doing — but what if you haven’t already tasted success?  How did I stay motivated when I was two weeks into my weight loss journey, 330+ pounds, and had little to celebrate?

I could give you a bullet point list of things for you to do to stay motivated.  Write you goals on a piece of paper and put them on your dresser mirror to remind you every day.  Reward yourself every time you reach a new goal.

Etc, etc, etc.

But I respect you more than that — you already know why you want to lose weight.  You know what’s at stake if you don’t lose weight and you know you’ll be reward with a happy, healthy life that you’ve always wanted.

Motivation is so overrated.

You just need to decide to earn your new life.  Nobody is going to give it to you.  Motivation is so overrated — it’s not a requisite for losing weight or obtaining your goals.  I’ll say that again:  you don’t need motivation to lose weight.  You don’t feel like going to the gym tonight?  Tired, have a headache?  Tough.  I slept about 6 hours last night and will end up working 10 hours today, getting off around 5 and coming home to cook dinner for the wife.  After an hour or two of quality time (cooking, cleaning), I’ll leave my warm, cozy house and family behind to go to the gym and leave my heart on the floor.  Around 9, I’ll come back home to find my daughter already asleep and my wife soon thereafter.

Once back home, I’ll stay up until close to midnight replying to e-mails and preparing tomorrow’s lunch, typically a turkey sandwich with chips or maybe something like a tuna sandwich or PB&J. It depends on the mood.

Nothing exciting.  Nothing that keeps me motivated.  But I’ll leave it all on the floor of my gym every single night because that’s how I’ll reach my goals.

And I will reach my goals.

For now, don’t worry about motivation.  It’s not necessary.  All that’s required of you is to leave it all on the gym floor every single time.

Show me what you can do.  Show your friends.  Family.  Yourself.