Welcome back to the second installment of 30 lessons from 30 pounds of weight loss! If you are just tuning in, please check out part one, where I cover the why behind wanting to lose weight, and the first 10 lessons.

With the second set of 10 lessons, I wanted to get a little bit more specific and talk about the concept of motivation.

The cliche statement of ‘long term weight loss is best’ and/or the cliche of ‘it will take time to reach your goal’ is 100% true, and in my first 10 lessons, one of the success points was that I gave myself over 5 months to achieve my goal.

But I wanted to go a few layers deeper, HOW do stay motivated over 3,4,5 months of training? Or if you’re reading this and you are someone who needs to lose 70,80, or even 100+ pounds, how do you stay consistent for that length of time?

Well, keep reading, because this article is for you.

1) You aren’t going to be motivated (just keep reading on this one…)

Rather than expect motivation, you need to create something I call the 50% rule. The premise is this. Think of a table with 4 legs. If you cut off 1 leg, the table could balance on the remaining 3 legs, but it wouldn’t be ideal. If you cut off two legs, the table would either fall over OR if it was the diagonal leg, then maybe, just maybe, it could balance and not fall over.

This is the concept of the 50% rule. Create a list of 4 KEY items you can adhere to daily and aim to do at least 2 of them to stay balanced - in this case, by doing at least 2 of the 4 things you are going to stay on course- not necessarily motivated- but on course.

The 4 that I used, and recommend to my personal training clients who are trying to lose weight, are these…

Leg 1- Workout // Leg 2- Daily Movement // Leg 3- Daily Calorie Goals // Leg 4- Sleep Goals.

If you can hit any combination of two of these, you’ll keep the needle moving forward more times than not. Often times, these ‘legs’ overlap. Want to improve sleep? Workout. Hit your daily calories and walk 7500 steps, that will aid in weight loss.

2) I spent most, if not all, of my motivation trying to stick to my daily calorie goals.

Did you know working out does not lead to weight loss?

That statement is indeed true, and it pisses off a lot of people when I say that to them.

To lose weight, specifically fat loss, you need to be in a ‘calorie deficit’, or consuming less calories than your body needs on a daily basis.

Knowing this principle to be true, I was able to remove a lot of pressure that I was feeling that I HAD to workout or HAD to do cardio. Some times I wouldn’t even workout for 7-10 days at a time, but you can bet your bottom that I was very focused on my calorie goes and also hitting another leg of my proverbial table from bullet point number 1 on this list.

3) I gave my self ‘fuck it’ workouts.

Like I mentioned in the first installment of this series, I followed the workouts in my monthly home gym heroes workout program. However on the ‘fuck it’ days, the days where I needed a mental break from structured workouts, I had a couple go-to workouts that were short, hit some of the muscle groups I enjoy training, and gave a much needed mindset shift. These days weren’t too often, but helped me through 3-4 days a month where the thought of working out seemed gross.

If you downloaded my 14-free workout program, then you’re familiar with the ‘fuck it’ workouts, as that program had 2 of them as options!

4) I allowed myself to be okay with not being motivated.

This might be a little hippy-dippy, but it’s important. Rather than be unmotivated, skip a workout, eat a shit ton of coffee cake (I fucking love coffee cake) and then feel guilty I didn’t workout, I changed the thought process.

By telling myself that it’s okay to be unmotivated, I presented myself with options that catered to my goal, but also made me feel fulfilled towards my goal. Those options are everything presented in this list so far, the fuck it workouts, the other legs of my ‘table’, and being more invested in to other elements that directly supported my goal.

A lot of times we want to achieve our goals in an instant. The desire to be at the finish line can be agonizing. Giving yourself permission and presenting yourself with options can really help in keeping your headspace in the positive, which will keep you truckin’ towards that goal.

No one said achieving goals is glamorous. The really good strategies just keep the finish line within reach.

5) I gave myself mini-goals along the way.

My initial weight loss goal is what we In the fitness biz call an ‘outcome goal’. It’s what I want to have happen.

However, because that goal takes time, I set a series of ‘secondary goals’ or ‘performance goals’ to check off along the way.

This started with goals like “workout 8 times this month” then it turned in to more specific goals like “workout two times a week for 6 weeks in a row”, then I sprinkled in some performance goals like “do 100 push ups in 10 minutes” and “Goblet squat the biggest weight in the gym for three sets of 20 reps”.

These secondary/performance goals have a positive impact on my outcome goal, and kept me engaged (not necessarily motivated…) towards my desired outcome goal.

See how those work?

What are your thoughts on being motivated in the gym? I’m hoping the 5 points listed in this article help you get a good grasp on the concept of motivation and how it can apply to you and YOUR goals!

For part three I am going to cover some of the nutritional-specific strategies I used along the way to losing 30 pounds. Stay tuned!