Although the period of self-isolation has been trying and difficult for all of us, the worst thing you can do is abandon all of your goals.
After the coronavirus epidemic had spread around the globe, most of us were forced to stay quarantined inside our homes, in an effort to protect others, as well as ourselves. And even if we planned to utilize this time in self-isolation efficiently, focusing on our health and constructing a workout routine, it turned out to be quite difficult to achieve, especially for those who were forced to work from home with a hectic schedule.
Thankfully, all hope is not lost. With a couple of intentional and constructive steps, you can still find the motivation to lose weight and improve your health, even after a period of social isolation.
Find your main motivators
It can be nearly impossible to focus on achieving goals when we don’t fully realize what the advantages of those targets actually are. While your current goal is to lose weight, you need to think about the reasons behind that desire. What drove you to make this decision? The answer to this question could be anything from improving your health to wanting to feel more comfortable and confident in your body, or even something as simple as wishing to fit into last year’s clothes.
Regardless of your reasons for wanting to lose weight, it would be a good idea to think long and hard about the things that motivated you to make this decision, and then write down all your goals and motivators. Not only will this give you an inspiration to begin your weight loss journey, but it could also be a great motivator to revisit when you start losing your ambition and enthusiasm.
Set attainable goals
When we set unrealistic goals, it can often cause feelings of frustration and disappointment when we don’t attain them, which tends to be the reason why people give up on their weight loss journey so quickly. What’s more, when we have so much free time as we do during quarantine, it’s only natural we want to create a more rigorous workout routine or an overly strict diet that we think we’ll be able to maintain. However, this could be detrimental to your progress.
Instead, it would be incomparably more efficient to set realistic and attainable goals, such as losing one to two pounds a week through moderate exercise that energizes instead of exhausting you, as well as a healthy and balanced diet that nourishes your body and supports your weight loss journey, rather than starving yourself. This slower and steadier pace might take longer, but it will undoubtedly yield more permanent results.
Boost your performance
The thing that motivates you to lose weight doesn’t always have to be of a mental nature; it could also be more physical. For instance, if you need an additional “boost” before an exercise routine, you can decide to buy preworkout supplements that will provide you with enough stimulation to get you through a strenuous physical activity, or even to push your body beyond its current limit.
Supplements like these are made to provide the necessary focus, energy and motivation for a successful workout routine, while making your exercises incomparably more effective. Depending on your goals, you can prolong your endurance, increase your stamina, or simply give yourself a boost of energy in the morning, by opting for supplements of varying strengths and intensities.
Document your progress
When it comes to stories of successful weight loss, most of us love to see those before and after pictures on social media. They give us an idea of what the person looked like before they embarked on their weight loss journey, and what they look like now, once they’ve reached their goals.
You can implement this practice into your routine as well, and start taking weekly or even monthly pictures of your body. This will give you a much clearer idea of the progress you made than looking in the mirror every day, while also providing you with enough motivation to continue with your journey, once you see how efficient your efforts were. It might also be a good idea to weigh yourself once a week, and write down your results, to see how far you’ve come.
Be kind to yourself
After all, weight loss is a journey, just like any other. It will come with unexpected difficulties, hardships, and loss of motivation, and at times you might feel as if you’re going backwards, instead of making progress.
In those moments when you skip a day of exercise due to lack of motivation or treat yourself to an occasional piece of cake, don’t give up on your weight loss journey completely because of one small setback. Rather than treating it as a failure, think of it as a challenge that will motivate you to change your habits, and be better tomorrow. Learn how to forgive yourself, and continue with your journey.
Although the period of self-isolation has been trying and difficult for all of us, the worst thing you can do is abandon all of your goals. Instead, you should take steps to regain necessary motivation and achieve your desired weight loss results, in order to live a healthier and happier life.
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