13 weight loss motivation tips that actually work

From counting calories to working out, you likely have a pretty good idea of the types of things you need to do to lose weight. But one factor often goes overlooked: your motivation for weight loss. 

That’s right. Research shows that motivation can play a significant role in your ability to stick to a weight loss plan and affects the amount of weight you ultimately lose.

With that in mind, here’s how to stay motivated to lose weight. 

Like anything in life, goal-setting plays a role in weight loss motivation and success. These goals can be:

• Quantitative, such as a specific goal weight or percentage weight loss goal (e.g. for people with obesity, losing 5%–10% drives significant health benefits)

• Qualitative, such as an improvement in your fitness, physical health, or quality of life

When weight loss motivation comes from within (like a desire to feel better or stronger), you’re more likely to achieve your weight loss goals than when you’re motivated by external pressure (like social media or wanting to look good for others). 

Most people find they need a bigger purpose beyond the number on the scale, such as being able to keep up with their kids at Disneyland, travel the world, or lowering their cholesterol. 

Check for free

Research shows that people who track their weight loss and food intake are more successful at losing weight — and the more consistently you track, the more weight you tend to lose.

The best way to track your success? A weight loss journal. Consider this a dedicated place to track your:

• Meals and snacks

• Daily calories

• Exercise routine

• Body weight

These journals can be particularly helpful if you’re tracking calories you eat (or burn during exercise), since we’re almost comically bad at accurately calculating calories on our own. If you struggle with stress eating, jotting down your emotional state when you eat can help you identify your triggers — preventing demotivating setbacks.

Track regularly, and track often. More than one study has found that people with more entries into their food journals lose more weight. 

How you track is your choice. Research shows that plain ol’ pen and paper can be just as effective as weight loss apps. 

There’s a reason vision boards take over social media during the new year: They can be incredibly inspiring. Various research shows that when you focus on images of your goals,you’re more likely to achieve the related outcome. 

Visualization makes you more likely to:

• Engage in activities that help us reach our goal

• Expect those activities to be more rewarding

• Experience more pleasure from those activities

Specific research on the power of visualization for weight loss produced similar findings. People who visualized themselves losing weight actually lost more weight. 

Some research shows adding process visualization, (for example, visualizing yourself working out or making healthy choices) can be even more helpful than outcome visualization (imagining yourself fitting into smaller clothes) alone. 

Remember: Visualization isn’t as effective when you use images of other people, so no need to obsess over skinny celebs. 

Here’s how to use visualization to boost your weight loss motivation:

• Create a vision board with images of people achieving one of your qualitative goals, like healthy, normal-bodied people running a marathon or walking around a city on your travel wishlist. Tape a photo of your face over theirs to visualize yourself in the same position.

• Use AI tools to create an image of yourself at your goal weight, or doing some of your goal activities with a smiling face (studies show these kinds of images can lead to an additional pound of weight loss in just eight weeks).

• Dedicate a few minutes every day to visualize your future you, perhaps hiking without getting out of breath or walking up the stairs without joint pain.

• Visualize the process, not just the outcome. Picture yourself doing the small, boring, repeatable steps such as choosing nourishing meals, stopping when comfortably full, going for walks, etc. This builds confidence that the goal is achievable, not just desirable.

Increased exercise is often part of any successful weight loss journey, but did you know it can help you stay more motivated, too? 

That’s because exercise boosts your mood and can even lift depression. Just 10–30 minutes of exercise is enough to get these mood-boosting benefits. 

It’s also important to choose a workout you actually enjoy, rather than one you dread. If running feels groan-worthy, opt for a spin class instead. Here are some non-conventional workout ideas you may not find in the gym:

• Hula classes

• Dance video games

• Roller skating

• Rock climbing

• Pickleball

• Water aerobics

• Kayaking

• Kickboxing

• Paddle boarding

• Tai chi

• Pilates

Need help getting into the groove, literally? Listen to music while you work out. Studies show music can push you to exercise harder, while simultaneously making you feel less exhausted.

Here’s some radical advice: the best diet for you is not necessarily the most restrictive. 

Many experts recommend a calorie deficit of about 500 calories to reliably lose 1-2 pounds per week. But diets that are too restrictive can actually derail your weight loss efforts, leading to yo-yo dieting and weight gain. 

What’s more important, according to research, is finding a diet plan that you’re more likely to stick with. Seeing that you can follow your new diet, day in and day out, will fuel your motivation much more than a fad diet that sets you up to fail.

Point being: Choose a diet that works for you. Here are some common factors in successful (translation: not overly restrictive) diet plans:

• Fewer calories (along with increased exercise)

• Fewer processed foods (think: avoiding foods with lots of added sugar, fat, or salt)

• More fruits and veggies (aim for five servings a day)

• Smaller portion sizes (smaller plates can help with this)

Now here’s a weight loss motivation tip we can all get behind! Before you get carried away, the key here is not to eat more, but to eat more often. 

Having smaller meals or snacks more frequently can prevent hunger pangs — and inevitable bingeing — than bigger meals spread apart. When you feel like you’re starving, it becomes all too easy to reach for a less-than-ideal food choice or eat more than you planned. 

Try to keep your eating to a routine. People who follow a regular meal rhythm day-to-day tend to have more control over their eating. Feeling more in control, in turn, can boost your motivation to lose weight. 

Follow these tips:

• Keep timing in mind when snacking. Snacking during the morning is associated with better food choices, while snacking at night? Not so much. 

• Skipping meals isn’t a weight-loss shortcut. It doesn’t consistently lead to better results, and long-term success depends on sustainable routines. 

• Be selective about how often you eat at restaurants. People who eat out for lunch at least weekly tend to lose less weight.

Indulgences will happen. Accept and embrace them, instead of beating yourself up. Sometimes people spiral over one “mistake,” leading them to eat even more, or they decide they might as well throw in the towel altogether. Don’t let that be you. 

Instead of guilting yourself, choose to treat yo’ self (any Parks and Recreation fans?). In other words, celebrate and actually enjoy the “mistake” (heavy air quotes here), whether it’s dessert, an extra snack, or a day where you were just too dang tired to work out. Having more guilt doesn’t help you anyway — the research proves that.

Pro tip: When you can, plan for potential treats ahead of time, such as a company holiday party or a dinner out or at a friend’s house. People who give themselves wiggle room for occasional setbacks tend to keep with it, rather than abandoning their plan and losing all motivation to lose weight.

If you’re dealing with a lot of stress, it’s no wonder you’re feeling less motivated to lose weight. Managing your stress is hard enough. Throw in the fact that stress increases binge eating and food cravings — leading to unwanted weight gain — and it’s easy to feel unmotivated. 

But finding ways to manage your stress can kickstart your weight loss efforts and motivation again. A small study found that people who participated in a stress management program lost significantly more weight than those who didn’t. What’s more, people who have a good handle on their stress are more likely to maintain their weight loss.

Try these stress management techniques:

• Progressive muscle relaxation

• Guided visualization

• Meditation

• Deep breathing exercises

• Yoga

• Tai chi

• Aromatherapy

Speaking of celebrating, regularly giving yourself kudos can keep you feeling motivated during weight loss. There are a lot of wins on the path to your goal weight, such as:

• Meeting your calorie goals for a certain number of days (or weeks) in a row

• Feeling strong enough to add an extra workout to your weekly routine

• Drinking more water on a daily basis

• Foregoing an unhealthy snack for a more nutritious option

• Fitting into a new clothing size

• Reaching a new workout milestone (e.g. more reps, higher weights, faster times)

• Cooking a certain number of meals at home per week

• Liking how you look in a picture for the first time

All of these are worth celebrating! Taking time to recognize these moments can help you feel even more motivated. You might feel so motivated that you create new goals for yourself to work toward.

Quick tip: Rewards are most effective when you enjoy them immediately after achieving a milestone. So, you might plan ahead for ways to celebrate, giving you something to look forward to. For example:

• Saving a smaller clothing item in your cart at your favorite brand so all you have to do is click the checkout button

• Streaming a new movie you’re excited about after reaching your water goals for five days in a row

• Booking a hotel at a dream destination after you’ve stuck to your new workout plan for a whole month

This can be easier said than done, but learning to love yourself can do some powerful things for your self-esteem, quality of life, and motivation to lose weight. 

Women who feel worse about themselves are more likely to engage in unhealthy eating behaviors — such as restricting themselves to make up for overeating. Worse, negative emotions tend to push us toward unhealthy foods to cope.

On the flip side, positive emotions make it easier to work out and stay motivated during weight loss. If you have a negative body image, therapy can help. 

Here are some other research-backed techniques for boosting self-love:

• Follow body-positive influencers on social media. Body-positive content can help some people fight back against the idealized, unrealistic images we often see by showing you what real people look like so you can appreciate your own amazing body. 

• Focus on what your body can do, not what it looks like. Think about how strong you’re getting, or how flexible you’ve become. Marvel at your body’s ability to change.

Along the same lines, speaking more positively about yourself — both in your mind and out loud — can help foster the sort of self-love that increases motivation. It can make it easier to have self-compassion when you experience a setback, so you stay on your path instead of quitting your weight loss journey.

For example:

• Instead of “I ate too much today so I’ve failed my diet,” 

• Try “I had a temporary setback. That’s normal, and I’m proud of the other healthy choices I made today.”

Using positive language around your weight loss in general can also help you be more successful. 

For example, it’s easy to think of dieting as a negative thing, or that you’re depriving yourself. But research shows that reframing weight loss to instead be about healthy eating and creating a new way of life helps people feel more motivated about their weight loss. Moreover, they felt more in control, and that it took less effort to manage their eating.

If you want help staying motivated to lose weight, find a buddy. Making yourself accountable to others significantly improves your weight loss results. People who find accountability partners tend to:

• Lose more weight

• Exercise more often

• Eat healthier

• Feel more emotional support and positive emotions

Accountability partners can be friends, family members, romantic partners, and even coworkers. To make yourself accountable, you could:

• Connect with someone who is also losing weight so you can share advice and celebrate each other’s wins

• Ask your accountability buddy to join you once a week (or more often) for a workout class

• Text photos of your meals with another friend who is also changing their eating habits

To boost the effect, ask your accountability partner to cheer you on — and challenge you to go farther. Research shows this kind of encouragement leads to even better results.

Dietitians, personal trainers, therapists, and healthcare providers can all motivate you to keep losing weight and guide you along the way with expert advice. Multiple studies show that getting professional help boosts weight loss motivation.

Beyond sharing knowledge and specific recommendations, healthcare providers, such as those through Ro, can also prescribe weight loss medications, if appropriate. This may include GLP-1s such as:

• Wegovy (semaglutide) 

• Zepbound (tirzepatide)

• Saxenda (liraglutide) 

In clinical studies, weight loss medications have produced an average weight loss of about 5%–18% over one year, with GLP-1 medications tending to fall at the higher end of this range.

Fastest-working GLP-1 for faster weight loss

See if you qualify

Weight loss motivation can make or break your weight loss success. Follow these tips to build sustainable habits that keep you feeling good as you’re losing weight:

• Set clear, personally meaningful goals that go beyond the scale.

• Track your progress consistently to build awareness, accountability, and momentum.

• Exercise regularly and choose activities you enjoy to boost mood and reinforce healthy habits.

• Follow a flexible, sustainable eating pattern rather than an overly restrictive diet.

• Manage stress, practice self-compassion, and celebrate small wins to prevent burnout and regain motivation after setbacks.