Feeling Unmotivated? Here's how to change your mindset
Meal planning and mindful eating
Most diets are often unsustainable as they rely too heavily on calorie or macronutrient restriction rather than emphasizing the importance of making small yet consistent changes to overall food quality and meal timing. Functional nutrition focuses on incorporating quality, nutrient-dense food and a mindful eating pattern rather than a calorie-restrictive diet. Following a weekly meal plan simplifies healthy eating and makes it easy to translate healthy changes into everyday life by bringing greater awareness and accountability to our daily food choices.
Start small with daily goals
Stepping away from a comfort zone to make new, healthier changes on a consistent basis is never easy. In fact, when it comes to cleaning up our diet, breaking away from our favorite comfort foods can be extremely challenging, especially during times of stress and uncertainty. Sugary, salty, highly processed snacks or sweets may provide temporary feelings of comfort but they don’t provide us with any nutritional benefit and are more or less ‘empty calories.’ One of the most effective ways to break away from comfort food cravings is to set a goal for each day that will benefit your long-term goal. For example, if your goal is fat loss, rather than cutting out all of your favorite comfort foods at once, set a daily goal to cut out late-night snacking and stay accountable to this everyday. Setting small daily goals or ‘personal challenges’ can be a great way to boost intrinsic motivation and willpower for sustainable progression towards a long-term goal.
Daily positive affirmation
Reflecting on daily or weekly personal accomplishments is a form of positive affirmation and a great way to build confidence, boost motivation, and break away from comfort zones. It allows you to become more mindful of the current changes you're making to avoid falling back into unhealthy habits. We all have days when we struggle more than others, however, consistency is rooted in our ability to stay focused on a long-term goal. Positive reflection and support through either journaling and nutrition consulting is a great way to support accountability and motivation. Especially when it comes to adopting a healthier eating routine, it’s easy to get caught up with the daily hassle and challenge of adopting a healthier eating pattern rather than reflecting on the positive progress that you've already achieved throughout the week. Practice a weekly meditation where you reflect on small achievements through the week.