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A woman who lost 159 pounds shared the biggest lesson she learned about losing weight and keeping it off

Maria Kirkeland at the start of her weight loss journey, and this summer.

‘Motivation is overrated’

Kirkeland said she never once felt hungry in the two years when she lost weight, but her motivation still fluctuated.

“Motivation is overrated. You will not be motivated every day. It’s impossible,” she said.

Aiming for a long-term lifestyle change, Kirkeland realized she’d be better off aiming for consistency in the long-term.

Personal trainer and fat loss coach Jordan Syatt previously told BI that it’s a mistake to wait for motivation to strike to start working out or eating healthily.

Instead, he tells people to push themselves to start, and then once they take that action and start seeing results, they’ll likely feel motivated to continue.

The more you push yourself to keep going even when you don’t feel motivated, the more likely it is that routines like going to the gym will become as much a habit as brushing your teeth, Syatt said.

Enjoy the process

For Kirkeland, not rushing her weight loss journey and ensuring she enjoyed the process was also important and helped her keep going when she didn’t feel motivated.

“If you’re miserable, you’re not going to stick to it. It’s not going to work. You have to enjoy the process in some way,” she said. “Some days are harder than others, but that’s why you’re consistent. You just keep doing it, even though you’re not going to be motivated.”

Many nutrition experts recommend adopting an 80/20 approach to healthy eating to help with consistency — instead of trying to cut out all your favorite foods, aim to eat them only 20% of the time, and nutrient-dense foods the rest.

Read the original article on Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-fat-loss-lesson-learned-woman-159-pounds-motivation-overrated-2024-9