Looking for a fast and effective way to lose weight?…
Well, you can’t lose weight without getting your mind right first.
If you decide to buy a fitness program or start a diet, but don’t fully know why you’re doing it… you’re more likely to give up if you don’t have a strong enough WHY.
Imagine a 50 foot plank, about 6 inches wide, on the ground, and there’s $1 million on the other side of this plank. All you have to do to get the $1 million is to walk across the plank. Pretty simple, right?
But now imagine the same plank but 100 stories in the air, across two buildings. Same plank, same rules… but now it’s up in the air. Would you still walk across the plank for $1 million?
There’s no safety net and you’re not tied to anything… You just need to walk 50 feet on a plank that’s about 6 inches across… Chances are that most people would start thinking twice about getting that $1 million.
What if the building was on fire and the only way to ensure your survival is to get across that plank?
What if your family needs your help and the only way to help them is to get to the other side of this 50 foot plank?
Depending on your situation, you may or may not walk that plank… But I can almost guarantee that if you had a strong enough reason WHY you need to walk across that plank, you would do it.
May be not for $1 million but for a love one or may be to even to save your life.
If you truly want to lose weight, we need to find your WHY…. Simply wanting to lose weight is not a strong enough reason WHY.
In this article we will dig deep into your life to help you achieve your weight loss goals.
I have always been a huge fan of writing goals down and making concrete goals to achieve. However, after writing goals down I would normally forget them and they wouldn’t always be easy to place around the house.
Since then I have been looking for new ways for people to really engage with their goals and to determine their WHY.
What I found is that people enjoy seeing images over text alone. As a result, Vision Boards, also known as Dream Boards, have become very popular in getting people results.
A Weight Loss Vision Board is now one of my favorite things to suggest to people before starting any exercise program.
What is a Vision Board?…
A Vision Board or Dream Board is a collage of photos, words, and/or symbols that represent how you would want your life to look like. By creating a weight loss vision board you’ll be more focused and move towards the direction of your goals.
Vision boards work on the idea that your imagination (subconscious) has the power to guide you in your everyday life towards what you desire.
By having a weight loss vision board, you will be inspired and motivated to stick to your personal commitment of losing weight.
How to create your Weight Loss Vision Board…
Your Vision Board is going to be more than a few random pictures that you find in a few minutes. Before you even look for images, words, and/or symbols… you’re going to need to think things over to discover your WHY.
1. Discover Your WHY
This is the most important step and it will take the most time. It may not be the most fun part but this is the “hard work” of the whole Weight Loss Vision Board Process.
Set aside at least 10 minutes with a pen and paper, where you can be alone and can completely focus on asking yourself: “Why do I want to lose weight?”
Your first response may be that you want to look good… Dig deeper and ask yourself “Why you want to look good?” “What will make you feel good about losing weight?”
Another response may be for your health… What health problems do you have? What will improving your health allow you to do?
Another common thought may be that you want to be physically active… What would you like to do? What can you not do now that you would love to be able to do?
A lot of this you may have already thought to yourself before but now it’s time to actually write it down on paper!
Write whatever comes to your mind… If it’s important to you, write it down!
This may take more than 10 minutes… You take as long as you want during this step… But remember to dig deep into your WHY.
It will be best if you come up with one BIG WHY but a few WHYs can help as well when making your Vision Board. Try to limit yourself to only 5 or 3 reasons that you REALLY want to lose weight.
2. Find the Images, Words & Symbols that Speak To You
You’ll want get images from magazines or even online.
Magazine- Collect an assortment of magazines that cover a range of topics. You’ll never know which ones will really speak to you. You may only want to use fitness magazines. That will work well but an assortment will give you more options.
Online- You can use something as simple as Google images or Google “weight loss vision boards”. You can also go to Pinterest and look for what people have shared as far as weight loss is concerned. You can also look for “weight loss motivation”. Make sure to save the images that speak to you so that you can print out the best later.
Also, have your WHY that you determined earlier with you as you look for images, words, and symbols.
The goal here is to find images that remind you of your WHY, something that truly motivates you.
Try to limit the number of images with words because images are normally more powerful.
At the end, print out and cut the top images you would like to use on your Weight Loss Vision Board.
3. Get Your Poster Board Out & Glue
You can use a Poster Board paper or anything else you can paste your images onto. It doesn’t have to be huge but bigger than a 11.5×8 paper will be great. You have big dreams after all, don’t limit yourself but also don’t make it so huge that you have no space for it.
Lay the images you found earlier on your board but do not glue it yet. Play around with the images and determine the best ones for you.
Just because you have the images, doesn’t mean you need to make use of all of them.
An option you have is to leave some space in the middle to place a favorite picture of yourself. For example, you may have a picture of yourself when you were thinner and would like to get back to that size. Use that image to help motivate you… Or may-be your WHY deals with your family, place a picture of your family in the center.
Have fun with this… this is going to be what you look at EVERY day!
4. Hang Your Weight Loss Vision Board
You’ll want to place your Vision Board somewhere that allows you to see it every day. You should be looking at your board for a few minutes, a few times a day. At least twice a day.
By looking at your Weight Loss Vision Board EVERY day, you will be keeping yourself motivated and your mind working towards your weight loss goal.
5. Understand You Will Not Reach Your Goal Overnight
Something you need to understand is that success is a process. Nothing ever happens overnight.
Just like you didn’t gain your weight overnight, you will not lose your weight overnight.
You may not even notice a weight difference in your first week of working out or dieting. DO NOT worry because you will be taking steps every day to reach your goal.
Weigh loss is a series of several days of doing the right thing. DO NOT lose Hope!
Tips on Making Your Weight Loss Vision Board:
Think of WHY You Want to Lose Weight: I mentioned some questions earlier to help you determine your WHY, but here are a few more:
How do you want to look like?
What will your life be like without the health risks associated with your weight?
What activities will you enjoy better if you lost weight?
Find Images that Resonate with You: Find pictures and quotes that move you, not “ideals” placed by society. For example, if an image of a curvy woman with a happy smile speaks to you more than the image of a skinny supermodel, then go for the curvy woman.
Be Creative: There is no wrong or right Vision Board. Your Vision Board is yours and yours alone, it will not look like others. As mentioned before, find images that go with your WHY and resonate with you.
Take time to Look at Your Vision Board Every Day: Make sure to place your Weight Loss Vision Board somewhere that you’ll get to see every day. One thing you can also do is take pictures of your vision and save it to your phone or use the picture as your PC’s wallpaper. Looking at your weight loss vision board regularly will keep you inspired to take action towards your goal.
I hope this was helpful and that you take action towards reaching your goals.
Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have and feel free to look around my site for anything else that may help you reach your weight loss goals.
P.S. If you are looking for a way to increase your fitness, nutrition, social, and even occupational wellness, be sure to start with a FREE Team Beachbody Account and you will get support, motivation, and gain access to free tools to keep you on track with your wellness goals.
