Why do you want to lose weight?
You are more than a body that desires to lose weight. You are not just a bundle of desires. Nor is losing weight about ego, looking younger, pride, or fitting into nicer clothes. It is not about how you grace a mirror, or compare to others. All of those and a lot more may be PART of the mix of why you want to lose weight. Whatever is real amongst them, they are the barest of beginning points. Your “why” is more than those put together.
Your highest potential is beyond the fears and resistance you experience when you try mightily to lose weight. The difficulty in knowing your “why” is seeing beyond the barriers of today, slowing down long enough to think it through — feel it through.
When you get the quiet time to meditate on your “why” you want to lose weight, you discover it is inextricably bound to the BIG WHY of your life (why am I here? what is my purpose in life?). When you get that far you realize you may not be able to change your BIG WHY. The facts of your life are locked in, unchangeable. That can be a wonderful thing. Or quietly depressing, depending on where you are in life right now.
Separating the BIG WHY…parsing out the “why do I really want to lose weight” from that BIG question can seem impossible, unproductive, or irrelevant. But…and this is a BIG BUT…you WILL bump into the intersection of WHY’s…why you want to lose weight, and why you exist here in this life.
The key point is to get very clear very early about why you really want to lose weight. Whatever other questions, big or small, that have a bearing on that, you at least need to get to the bottom of your “WHY DO I WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT?” Why?
Motivation is an elusive thing. It is slippery. Motivation is not always there when you need it. In fact, it can disappear at the most inopportune times, when you need it the most. That is when you need to reach down deeper, move past the surface reasons and the motivational phrases, and pull out the core “WHY AM I TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT?” and use it to keep you on your path, or get you back on it if you’re off it.
When you haven’t been doing what you know you should to lose weight…when you have been doing distinct “no-no’s”, it can be a daunting task to pull yourself up and start making it happen again. Everyone gets there. Everyone. And multiple times. Success lies on the other side of what you do when you get to that point.
“Non-success” days (or weeks) are beyond discouraging. Being clear about your “why” is your way out. It is the source of your strength to get you back on track.
Start there. Start with your WHY. Don’t let it wear out, fade or become irrelevant. It is not only your lifeline, it is the cradled hands that scoop you up and deliver you to your success. If you have more than a few pounds to lose, nothing else will do it.
The UnDiet Project © Boyd Jentzsch. All Rights Reserved.
18 thoughts on “Be Clear About Your “Why””
YES! That WHY is the whole livelihood and why your weight loss will be successful. Many focus on the superficial aspect, “to fit into clothing” or something similar. But the deep why is most important.
I know my whys, i just have to get motivated to do it which is the hard part.
I need to stop letting my why fade and start keeping it front and center. I’ve put on 5 lbs in the area of my back injuries and it’s got to go.
Very important question! I want to lose weight so I can be healthy and fresh.
As someone who constantly struggles with her weight, I consider this great advice. It is easy to mix up the why of it all. In the end we all just want to be healthy.
My why is that I want to watch my kids grow up. Being healthy for them and teaching them how to be healthy so they don’t make the same mistakes I did is important to me.
Loved the perspective. I totally agree with you, as long as the reason for doing anything is not crystal clear, the motivation will never be right. This is so true of weight loss as with everything else in life.
Having a why about anything we do in life is so important. Without the why we really never move forward. And you are right, we cannot let our why fade out.
I love the title of this post. Not that the article itself isn’t good but the title drew me in. You see WHY can be about more than just dieting. This reminds me to be present in WHY I am doing anything in my life! I have always been a WHY person. WHY do I want to blog, WHY do I want to travel. I love the reminder to remember WHY because the WHY can change!
Focusing on a “Why” is critical. I cannot say I am always good about doing this but lately I have been trying to keep some items by me to remind me of what my “Why” is and so I continue moving toward my goals!
Focusing on a “Why” is so important. As a nutrition coach I always ask people to write it down and refer to it everyday. In fact .. keep it on a notecard in their purse to pull out when they’re feeling weak. No .. I’m not going to eat the cookie because ..
For me it is not as much a focus on weight loss but rather getting more physically fit in general with losing weight being part of that. I’ve been stagnant for awhile and now need to get back on track. Being lazy is starting to have negative impact on my health so there is no other choice but to get back on track with a healthy diet and exercise. Good luck on the journey everyone!
I’ve read a book about this. It was written by Simon Sinek. Knowing our whys gives us motivation and strength.
My “why” is because I find photos of myself disgusting. I cannot believe what I look like and that is why I’m starting.
The most important question one needs to ask themselves when they decide to embark on their fitness journey. I’m restarting my journey. Life got in the way, and I gained back a lot of weight. I remind myself daily I’m not happy with myself, but I have gotten back into the gym and am trying to make gains in losing weight. Thank you for posting this!
Weight loss is definitely a personal/touchy subject for most people and I agree that it’s important to know why you really want to lose weight. I think wanting to be ‘healthy” is more important than wanting to “lose weight.”
Weight loss is personal. Should be about you and not about anyone else. If your not losing the weight because you want to I think it is a waste of time.
Very interesting take on weight loss. I definitely need to focus on my why and use it when I fall off track. Thanks for the tips!