How to Overcome "The Fall & Down" Period

Remember the motivation model? No matter how long you are at the peak of your motivational phase, there will be a time when the honeymoon is over, and you may experience some slips and surges in your motivation.

You may start your journey with excitement and impressive goals, but after a few weeks of lifestyle changes and a workout routine, you find yourself slipping back into a normal routine; why's that?

According to us, there is a high chance that you took your new experiences so seriously that you made it priority to everything. You are putting all of your effort into this one goal without thinking of other parts of your life—your job, friends, family, hobbies…

Have you ever thought about why you are feeling exhausted, discouraged, unmotivated, stressed, and defeated? Maybe that's because you are doing too much. Too much focus, too much energy, and too much stress.

Just remember, "you are a limited resource," and there is no need for you to exhaust yourself to reach that one goal fast. That way you will end up losing all of your motivation and excitement in no time.

So, what can you do?

Exchange Your Negotiables With Non-Negotiables

Don't worry if you are not feeling as motivated as before, We are here to help you.

To start with this, the first thing you need to do is to identify your negotiables and non-negotiables.

Negotiables are the things that you do but don't add much to your daily life; they are the things you just do on autopilot without any main purpose. For example, sleeping late just to scroll social media on phone, watching too much TV, going out with people you don't like much just to kill some time.

The Non-negotiables are the things that are so important that you have to make space for them in your daily routine: Your responsibilities, hobbies, healthy behaviors, and things you like to do are non-negotiables. For example, going to your favorite job, attending a party with a friend every weekend, cooking at home with family, going to the gym with your partner…

Now that you have identified your negotiables and non-negotiables, the next step for you is to choose one negotiable that you can drop to create some space for the non-negotiable tasks. You can easily do that with just a little effort. Let us show you how:

Example#1

Your negotiable is to watch TV every night before sleeping.

Your non-negotiable is to have a proper breakfast and get to your job on time.

Now, make a plan: Take some time from negotiable (watch the TV for just thirty minutes rather than two hours), and add it into non-negotiables (sleep more, wake up early to have a healthy breakfast, and be in the office on time).

Example#2

Your negotiable is to go out with friends every evening

You non-negotiable is to have some proper physical activity

Now, make a plan: You don't need to drop the negotiable here; you can simply add your negotiable with the non-negotiable. Take your friends for a walk, play your favorite sports with them, or take a gym membership together.

Now that you know how to put your plan into action, commit to it. Free yourself from the pressure to do everything in a day. Just remember that you are a limited resource, and there is only so much you can do in a day.

Pause & Re-evaluate:

When you have come a long way in your weight loss journey, and your motivation starts to go down, there is a chance that you have picked up some temporary solutions to overcome your setbacks. Those solutions work like magic at the start and then fade away slowly after some time, leaving you exhausted and unmotivated at the end.

Now, what you have to do is to pause and re-evaluate the things that work well for you, which are not, which things you want to hold, which you don't. seems difficult?

We are here to help you. Let's start from the beginning;

Think about the old things like your old habits, old eating patterns, old workout plans, your previous setbacks, and obstacles you have gone through.

Now, think about all the changes that you have made to come forward in your journey, from new habits that you have developed to solutions to overcome setbacks, from your changed mindset to establishing positive triggers.

The next step is to think about the Big Picture. Now imagine that you have achieved your goal, and your life will look different. Think about how you want to feel. Identify three of those feelings that you want to feel in your new life, whether it's happiness, satisfaction, pleasure, health, or balance.

Now that you know what your future will be like and what you will feel, it's time to adopt that behavior, which will help you get there. Choose three behaviors to achieve your desired three feelings of a new reality. For example:

I want to feel fresh in the morning

I will sleep early instead of spending half of the night on the phone

I want to feel happy and satisfied

I will do what I like instead of forcing and exhausting myself to reach my goals

I want to feel healthy and fit

I will adopt a healthy lifestyle, including healthy diet plans and physical activity.

Final Words

Most of us feel our motivation level fluctuating at some point during our weight loss journey. If you are also going through that phase, don't worry—we have your back. All of the methods and techniques we have described above will help you raise your motivational level. All you need to do is give yourself a little time to recover and get back into that journey with new excitement and energy.