6 tips on maintaining weight loss motivation

5. Get support.
Buddy up with friends, a spouse or family members who are trying to lose weight. They will give you a sense of camaraderie and encouragement as you strive for your goal, and you can turn to them for support when you need it.

6. The $10 cure
This is a motivator that people often stumble upon by accident. The siren song of a greasy lunch draws them into a fast-food chain, where they order a burger with the works, a large french fries and a shake. Mid-afternoon, they feel lousy and can barely keep their eyes open – they’ve found out the hard way where straying from healthy food choices gets you.

I call this the $10 cure because it’s the food version of what immigrants (like me) used to call the “$1,000 cure.” Whenever a new arrival, after a long, cold winter in Canada, started to pine for “the old country,” the cure was to get on a plane and go home for a week. All the reasons that originally persuaded the person to emigrate would come crashing back, and the thought of flying back to Canada would begin to look pretty good again.

With food, the cure costs less – say, $10. But this is a motivator of last resort only; I certainly don’t want to encourage people to abuse their bodies and feel awful! However, if you’ve been unceasingly pining for unhealthy foods, go out for lunch with some friends and order a high-G.I. meal – perhaps a couple of slices of double-cheese pizza, a Coke and a brownie. Your mouth may enjoy it, but I guarantee that a couple hours later you’ll be regretting the deviation!

Staying motivated is crucial to successful weight loss. It keeps you focused and on the right path, and it will get you through the pitfalls you’ll encounter. Be sure to use all six of the above strategies – and you probably have a couple of your own that work well.

Read more:
• The 6 worst pieces of weight loss advice
• 5 kitchen tools that will help you lose weight
• 9 ways to reach your weight loss goals
• 10 things you're wasting your money on

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Excerpted from The G.I. Diet Clinic by Rick Gallop. Copyright 2007 by Rick Gallop. Excerpted by permission of Random House Canada. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.