motivated<\/a> with visualization is easier than you might think, and it doesn’t take a long time to do.<\/p>\nStart by getting very relaxed, and then think about what it feels like to be motivated. You’ve certainly experienced the feeling of being motivated at some time or another \u2014 that feeling of being very energized and excited, eager to get moving and take action now!<\/p>\n
Focus on that feeling, and imagine feeling that way about your weight loss activities. Imagine feeling so inspired and motivated that you can’t WAIT to start your workouts each day. Imagine feeling so great after each workout that you’re very glad you did it. Imagine looking forward to preparing healthy meals and snacks, and feeling great because you are fueling your body with wonderful nutrition.<\/p>\n
If you are able to tune into true feelings of motivation during your visualization session, those feelings will stay with you, especially if you do this daily. Before long you’re going to find that you are naturally more motivated about sticking with your healthy lifestyle.<\/p>\n
You’ll be programming your subconscious mind to think that these actions are enjoyable and easy \u2014 and your body will just lean in the direction of doing them naturally. You won’t have to push yourself to do them anymore.<\/p>\n
Visualization to Boost Your Workouts<\/strong><\/p>\nIf you ever feel like avoiding exercise because it seems like too much work, this visualization exercise is going to help you immensely.<\/p>\n
It’s been scientifically proven that visualizing yourself performing a physical activity can improve your performance. Athletes do it all the time! They go through their routine mentally over and over, and their performance improves as a result \u2014 just as if they had been physically practicing!<\/p>\n
You can use this same process to improve the effectiveness of your workouts, and even to motivate yourself to work out in the first place.<\/p>\n
Like we just covered above, you can visualize yourself feeling great about working out, which will motivate you to work out each day. But you can also go through a workout in your mind and imagine that you’re getting stronger, faster, and more efficient.<\/p>\n
Again, don’t just \u201csee\u201d this in your mind; try to FEEL it in your body as you visualize it. Feel your muscles working just as they would during a real workout.<\/p>\n
(Obviously it won”t feel exactly the same as a real workout, but you can definitely make it pretty realistic if you concentrate.)<\/p>\n
See yourself lifting weights easily, building lean muscle. See yourself improving your cardiovascular fitness easily and quickly, making your workouts feel easier and easier.<\/p>\n
Visualize these things every day, and before long you’ll notice that they seem to be actually happening \u2014 your workouts are feeling easier and you’re getting fitter faster than you would have by resisting exercise.<\/p>\n
Visualization to Build Confidence<\/strong><\/p>\nA common symptom of being overweight is low self-confidence. In fact, one of the strongest reasons why many people want to lose weight is so they’ll feel more confident. Being fit and slim would allow them to stop feeling like they have to hide or feel embarrassed about their bodies.<\/p>\n
Is that a strong goal for you too?<\/p>\n
If so, using visualization daily can start building your confidence even before you’ve reached your goal weight.<\/p>\n
The visualization exercise is simple; just picture yourself feeling really confident, strong, and empowered. Imagine what it would feel like to be really confident.<\/p>\n
Imagine attending parties and other social functions and not worrying about what others think of you. Imagine laughing, dancing, and having a good time.<\/p>\n
Imagine getting dressed in the morning and knowing you look great. Imagine how that would change your whole demeanor. Imagine how you would interact with people at work, in your family, and with strangers in public.<\/p>\n
In all of these possible scenarios, imagine yourself feeling completely self-assured. Tune into that feeling as keenly as you can, and stay with it for as long as you can (10 or 15 minutes is great).<\/p>\n
You can also apply this exercise when you are actually out in a public place.<\/p>\n
The next time you are out somewhere and you start to feel a little shy or embarrassed, call to mind the confident self you’ve been visualizing.<\/p>\n
Remember how it feels to be really confident, strong, and self-assured, and then bring a little bit of that essence into yourself wherever you happen to be at the time.<\/p>\n
You”ll notice that doing this mini-exercise really does make you feel stronger and more comfortable.<\/p>\n
Finally, keep in mind that confidence has NOTHING to do with the size of your body. You have a belief that you need to be thin to feel confident, but nothing could be further from the truth.<\/p>\n
The more you practice feeling confident, the easier it’s going to be for you to stay that way permanently. Then the confident boost you gain after reaching your goal weight will just be an additional bonus.<\/p>\n
Visualization for Self-Love\/Self-Esteem<\/strong><\/p>\nJust like confidence is often stunted in overweight people, so are self-love and self-esteem. Visualization is a great tool for improving low self-esteem and self-love \u2014 and it’s easy to do.<\/p>\n
Again, for best results you’ll want to spend 10-15 minutes a day on this. Get into a nice relaxed state, and then call to mind an image of yourself.<\/p>\n
You can see yourself as you are now, or you can imagine what you will look like when you’ve reached your weight loss goal.<\/p>\n
Then, imagine feeling love for this person you are looking at. See yourself feeling very loved, connected, and happy within. See yourself glowing with joy, knowing that you are proud of who you are, and proud of your accomplishments.<\/p>\n
More than \u201cseeing\u201d these things, try to really feel them as you do the visualization session. Imagine that you can feel love filling you up from within, and imagine knowing that you are truly loved and valued.<\/p>\n
The first few times you do this exercise you might feel a bit uncomfortable, but if you push through the discomfort, you’ll start to feel a shift taking place within you.<\/p>\n
If you want to intensify the effectiveness of this exercise, try doing it in front of a mirror. Stand before a mirror and imagine directing feelings of genuine love and acceptance toward yourself.<\/p>\n
You can even speak out loud to yourself and say things like, \u201cI love you. You deserve to be loved and respected. You’re a good person and I’m proud of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Again, at first you might feel uncomfortable doing this, but within a short period of time you’ll notice that positive changes are taking place within you. You’ll feel happier, calmer, more balanced, and more peaceful.<\/p>\n
You may also notice some interesting side effects from this exercise \u2014 like reduced food cravings, and less resistance to healthy lifestyle changes. You’ll start taking self-loving actions instead of self-destructive actions.<\/p>\n
Visualization for Healthy Eating<\/strong><\/p>\nVisualization can also be used to help improve your eating habits \u2014 and it works much better than you might think!<\/p>\n
First, consider your goals relating to food. Do you wish you could eat less sugar but you can’t handle the constant cravings? Do you embark on weekend-long eating binges with friends and family? Do you keep eating large portions even though you know you don’t need to eat that much?<\/p>\n
Whatever your goals are related to your eating habits, start visualizing yourself accomplishing them easily.<\/p>\n
See yourself eating smaller portions and feeling completely satisfied with them. See yourself happily reaching for a piece of fruit rather than a sugary treat. See yourself enjoying salads and vegetables with every meal.<\/p>\n
See yourself shopping in the produce section of stores, happily buying lots of delicious fruit and vegetables, and enjoying every one of them.<\/p>\n
This type of visualization can work quickly unless you have a lot of resistance built up against healthy eating. In that case you may need to work on it for a couple of weeks before you”ll notice a difference in your actions.<\/p>\n
Visualization for Overcoming Bad Habits<\/strong><\/p>\nYou can use visualization to overcome ANY<\/a> bad habit, whether it’s related to weight loss or not. Take a moment right now to make a list of the bad habits you would love to change.<\/p>\nDo you procrastinate a lot? Do you spend too much time watching television? Do you put yourself down all of the time? Write it down.<\/p>\n
Once you’ve got your list compiled, choose the top three habits you’d like to change starting immediately. Then spend a few minutes each day visualizing those situations being better.<\/p>\n
See yourself feeling more motivated, watching less television, being kind and loving to yourself, eating right, exercising, feeling energetic, and so on.<\/p>\n
Remember, a habit forms because your subconscious mind is trying to help you by shifting into autopilot. But you can change any bad habit by re-training your subconscious mind to help you with positive, beneficial actions too!<\/p>\n
It just takes a little time and effort, and before long you’ll see and feel a difference.<\/p>\n
Feeling the Reality of It<\/strong><\/p>\nRemember earlier I said that some people can’t really see mental images that easily? Well, here’s a fantastic way around that. Rather than trying to see something visually, imagine what it FEELS like.<\/p>\n
For example, if you want to visualize yourself having achieved your weight loss goal, try to imagine what it would feel like to accomplish it \u2014 both physically and emotionally.<\/p>\n
On the emotional side, you’d feel pleased, excited, proud of yourself, happy, and satisfied.<\/p>\n
On the physical side, you’d feel strong, empowered, slender, fit, and healthy.<\/p>\n
Focus on each of these for a few minutes, really tuning into the FEELINGS that they bring up within you.<\/p>\n
What would it feel like to be really fit and slim? What would it feel like to wear smaller size clothing and know you look great? What would it feel like to be so proud of yourself that you’re ready to burst?<\/p>\n
Have you ever watched a movie and been so drawn into it that you lost touch with your actual surroundings? Make your visualization sessions that real and intense!<\/p>\n
FEEL it as if you are truly right there, living it now. It’s the best way to make your visualization sessions very powerful and effective.<\/p>\n
It doesn’t matter if you actually see any images or not, as long as you are tuning into the feelings that you want to experience when you’ve achieved your goal.<\/p>\n
Creating a Vision Board<\/strong><\/p>\nAnother great way to enhance your visualizations is by creating a \u201cvision board\u201d. This is simply a cork board that has photos and sketches of things you want to create in your life.<\/p>\n
For weight loss goals, you could put up some nice pictures of yourself when you were thin; or even magazine photos of models who represent the way you’d like to look. You can even personalize the model photos by pasting a cut-out of your own face over theirs.<\/p>\n
You can also add favorite inspirational quotations, affirmations, notes of encouragement to yourself, or anything else that would motivate you.<\/p>\n
Then, rather than visualizing in the traditional sense, you would spend a few minutes each day looking at the images on your vision board, and imagine that your physical reality is aligned with those images.<\/p>\n
A vision board is a great alternative to traditional visualization, but it’s equally as effective.<\/p>\n
How Often to Visualize<\/strong><\/p>\nTo be effective, visualization really should be done at least once a day. Again, for a minimum of 10-15 minutes is best.<\/p>\n
You will probably be more committed if you set aside the same time to visualize each day. First thing in the morning is great because you’ll get it out of the way early, plus set a positive tone for the entire day.<\/p>\n