by Daniel Fox

Created on: November 20, 2008   Last Updated: January 21, 2009

Everyone who has ever started a weight loss programme has suffered problems with motivation at some point or another. Even the most elite athletes have suffered motivation issues that's how common it really is. Everybody starts off with the initial surge where they feel they could exercise all day but for one reason or another we all start to lose our motivation and working out becomes a chore rather than something you enjoy.

People lose motivation for many reasons. The main one is that they don't appear to be losing any weight according to the scales. As long as you have a good diet and do your workouts then you WILL lose weight. People lose weight at different rates depending on how old they are, levels of fitness and hereditary factors. So forget about what you have no control over and concentrate on what you have control of like your diet. Constantly checking the scales will not help either so ditch them.

Another major reason is that weight loss seems to have stopped. This happens when you reach a plateau, to combat this simply up the intensity of your workout by adding more time for example. Or you could try something a bit different, if you usually do swimming why not try running or cycling. You could also add an extra workout to your routine and before you know it you will be losing weight again.

The final reason people lose motivation, and the most frustrating in my opinion, is that you actually put on weight while your exercising. This seems absurd however, while your doing exercise you will also be building muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat does so you may actually put some weight on just from muscle while still losing body fat. To accurately work out your body fat you should see your doctor or head down to the gym and they can give you an accurate measurement. This is by far a better way of discovering whether your exercise is paying off as opposed to just the weight lost.

All of these things can be very off putting when you are trying to lose weight. Whenever I lost my motivation I used to listen to some music that I personally found motivating before I went to workout, this gave me a boost and helped me through workouts that I didn't really want to do. Ultimately though exercise is going to provide you with more benefits than just physical ones. Increased self esteem, less stress, better health and studies have shown that exercising can actually help increase your intelligence. Just remember these things next time you can't be bothered to workout and I'm sure you will be ready to go!

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