More than 50% 0f people have repeatedly dieted over and over again¹² with not much success. Yet, a small number of successful-weight-losers DID manage to lose weight and keep it off. What differentiates these winners from the rest of us?

In many ways, these people are just the same as us.

But they do a few things differently.

They ‘start dieting’ differently.

The Critical Importance of Having Internal Motivation

Research³ found that successful-weight-losers usually have strong INTERNAL motivation. It is said that if the motivation to lose weight is coming from within ourselves, we are more likely to stick to a diet, lose more weight, and able to maintain it in the future.

Some examples of internal motivation are:

• “It’s important to me personally to succeed in losing weight”.
• “I believe it’s the best way to help myself”.

Whereas these following reasons are categorized as external motivation:

• “I want others to see that I am really trying to lose weight”.
• “I’ll feel like a failure if I don’t”.

How ‘Aha’ Moment Triggers Successful-Weight-Losers

Many of the successful-weight-losers have experienced an ‘aha’ moment that sort of ‘triggered’ them. “You just feel like you can’t go on like this”, they say. One woman saw herself in a video of someone’s wedding and got shocked. For other person, it’s the traumatic visit to the doctor’s office when he realized how much he actually weighed and how dangerous his health condition was because of that.

The ‘aha’ moment filled them with strong emotions such as sadness, anger, shock, or even trauma. And this feeling triggered a determination to change.

How Do You Know if YOU are Really Ready?

Most likely this isn’t the first time you are ‘attacked’ with the feeling of wanting to lose weight. The feeling has been there on and off. How would you know that THIS TIME you are really ready?

We have looked at two reasons why successful-weight-losers don’t just start dieting, but actually make it to the finish line. Having strong internal desire and an ‘aha’ moment as a trigger.

Is that all?

I’ll give you two bonus tips:

First, ask yourself whether or not you can picture yourself falling down somewhere in the journey and pick yourself up. Looking at your own and other people’s dieting experiences, you’ll see that there WILL always be occasional setbacks. There WILL be times when you feel that you are not progressing. There WILL be moments when you just want to give up. To get through all of these, you need a super strong reason and motivation.

Now, make a list of all the reasons why you want to lose weight and how losing weight will help you. Also, describe your feeling when you experienced that ‘aha’ moment. Keep these somewhere safe. Later when you DO experience some low moments in your weight loss journey, go get these and read them.

Secondly, think whether now you can focus on weight loss fully or not. Is weight loss the ONLY big thing that is on your agenda at the moment? Are there any other things that may ‘distract’ you? If you’re in the midst of a job change, for example, you will find it difficult to 100% focus on weight loss. If you have just given birth, you need to take some time adjusting to your new role as a mother. It is better to resolve those ‘issues’ first, and only afterwards focus on weight loss efforts.

What’s Next?

It’s your own weight loss journey, so it’s your call.

Should you think that you are NOT YET ready, no worries. If we start dieting when we are not ready, we may end up ‘yo-yo dieting’. It’s when you lost some weight, only to gain it back later, and continually repeating the process. It’s not just tiring and frustrating, but may also harm your health. Yo-yo diet has been associated with higher risk for heart disease⁴ . So go on with your life and come back here when you are ready. You may want to bookmark this page for future reference.

If you decide that you ARE ready, congratulations! Continue reading this series to learn about other tips and tricks that will help you start dieting smoothly!

This article is part of How to Start a Diet Article Series. Read the rest of them here:

1. How successful-weight-losers start dieting.
2. Why 67% of people fail to reach their target body weight.
3. 5 Smart strategies to start winning diet battles.
4. How to choose the best weight loss program for YOU.
5. The no. 1 reason why successful-weight-losers make it to the finish line.

1. Galaxy Omnibus, April 2008 [↩]
2. About Health/InsightExpress, September 2007 [↩]
3. Geoffrey C. Williams et al. Motivational Predictors of Weight Loss and Weight-Loss Maintenance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. [↩]
4. Journal of the American College of Cardiology Nov 2000 and a University of Michigan research led by cardiologist Dr. Claire Duvernoy [↩]