Why do you want to lose weight? If you can’t immediately answer that question right here, right now (and honestly!) you are unplugged from your most natural and powerful motivation source—YOU.

Your WHY, or reason for wanting to achieve a goal, is your core motivation because it connects you to what fires you up most.  A WHY isn’t a one size fits all thing. What motivates someone else, may not get you off the couch. The key to determining your why is to just ask yourself: Why do I really want to lose weight? Why is it important to me? If your WHY motivates you, there’s no need to judge whether your WHY is noble, just go with it.

Maybe you want to stay healthy for your children, be around for grandchildren, or just look hot in a pair of jeans or on the beach. Perhaps you have always wanted to be a size 6 or you are simply tired of being overweight. If it motivates you, it’s a good thing. Everyone is motivated by different things. Just identify what motivates you. Once you do, you can use your WHY to propel you to your goal.

Stay Committed to Your Why. Remember that guy that gave up? Neither does anyone else.  Decide now to start a healthier journey and realize there will be days you don’t deem a success. That doesn’t mean you have to give up. It’s a journey so there will be ups and downs. It’s best to know that and not expect flawless progress. Remember WHY you started and just keep going. Don’t label each day a success or failure, just a journey toward a healthier lifestyle with some bumps and setbacks along the way. It’s all good if you don’t lose sight of your WHY. Letting yourself be human will help you succeed.

Journal Your Why.  Write down your WHY and keep it somewhere you can see it daily. Maybe your WHY is “Look good in photos at my friend’s wedding.” If you look at that simple sentence daily, it will reconnect you to your WHY.  You may also want to jot down why it’s important to you for added motivation. It may look like: “I want to feel fit so I enjoy myself more.”

“I want to enjoy looking at the photos for years to come.” Or, “I want to buy a new dress and celebrate my progress.”  Writing connects you to what you are truly thinking and feeling and it can be a real motivator.

Visualize Your Why. Now that you know your WHY, picture it. Maybe you have an image of you that you love and you want to look like that picture again. Pull out that picture and put it in a place where you can see it every day. If you want to become a runner or have flat abs, find an image that inspires you and post it up as motivation. Surround yourself with images that connect you emotionally to your WHY, reminding you of who you want to be and what you are working toward.

Renew your WHY … often!  This is BIG. I don’t expect you to wake up every day with the motivation to run your first marathon (even if that’s your WHY!). It’s just not realistic to expect you will leap out of bed daily—eager to exercise and totally synched up with your WHY. Life sometimes interferes with the best of intentions. On those days when you’d love to skip exercise or snack your way to bedtime, you will need to reflect and renew your WHY (your core motivation) mentally—to get back on track.

Capture what motivates you most so you can remind yourself of it regularly—especially on those days when you really need it. What’s your WHY?

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