Even if you've gained and lost weight over and over for years... even if you've gotten off track over and over ... this secret — defining your "why" — can change everything.

Losing weight and keeping it off isn't easy, so you need something to sustain you through the journey.

Remember this: Most of your struggles happen in your head. It's more of a mindset issue than a "willpower" issue.

If you have ever given up on a goal (any goal), you may have thought it was because you didn't have the drive to stick to it. Not so!

Today, psychologists tell us that willpower isn't the main problem — the secret is to understand what motivates you intrinsically. You have to understand the deep-seated reasons behind what you say you want. Michelle Segar, Ph.D., scientist and author of No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness says "We often think that motivation is what we need to get us going, but motivation is not the beginning of the process, it's the result of something else—the 'why'."

Your 'why' becomes a source of motivation that is self-sustaining, and gives you energy and willpower instead of requiring it. You'll need this ever-present energy source to drive you not just this week or this month...but forever (because that's what a healthy lifestyle is).

When you become convinced that losing weight is more important than what you are giving up, then you are ready for action and you have set yourself up for success.

You'll start tapping into the power of your deeper, subconscious mind. This deeper mind is an automatic goal-seeking machine. And it responds most strongly to emotional imagery.

So ... WHY do you want to lose weight?

To start, answer the following and write it down:

1) What do you dislike about your current state of weight or health? Describe in detail. What will happen to you, your life, your family, and your future if you don't make any changes? If you've tried and failed to lose or regained weight, why do you think that happened?

2) Write another paragraph that describes how different your life will be when you make positive changes and have reached your goal weight or have reached your fitness goals?

Here are some additional trigger questions:

What gets you excited about being thinner and/or more healthy and fit?
Do you have weight-related health problems that you want gone?
Are you doing it for your family?
To show your "ex" what a big mistake they made? :-)
To gain respect? To love what you see in the mirror?
To live longer?

Anything is valid. It's 100% personal to you.

Note: This may not as simple as you expect. Your quickest answer may only be the surface level answer.

You really need dig DEEP (and maybe do some soul searching) to find your why. To dig deeper, keep ask "Why do I want that?" again... and again.

Then start creating specific, detailed scenes in your mind: - What would your life be like after having achieved your goals?

When you find it, it will make you feel emotional in some way. It should bring forth strong feelings inside you.

Because the truth is we all really chase after *feelings*... the feeling we will have when a goal is met, not the goal itself.

The End Result Should Be Empowering

If all that deep searching seems like too hard or complicated, then you're not thinking about this in the right way. This exercise should be positive and motivational. True, it might make you uncomfortable to admit certain motivations or to dig deeply into your emotions ... but in the end it should feel emotionally liberating and empowering.

It's about your future! It's about what you want to achieve! Thinking about what you really want to have happen should feel pretty good.

Just one, powerful simple emotional reason why could be good enough to power you all the way to the end.

Every Day: Imagine It, Feel It, Believe It

When you regularly imagine an end result and when you recall strong personal reasons for doing something — really feel it — you'll be astounded at how easily (even magically) things fall into place.

Here's a great quote from Arnold Schwarzenegger: "I can zero in on a vision of where I want to be in the future. I can see it so clearly in front of me, when I daydream, it's almost a reality. Then I get this easy feeling, and I don't have to be uptight to get there because I already feel like I'm there, that it's just a matter of time... I set a goal, visualized it very clearly, then created the drive, the hunger for turning it into a reality. There's a kind of joy in that kind of ambition, in having a vision in front of you. With that kind of joy, discipline isn't difficult or negative or grim. You love doing what you have to do...even when pain is part of reaching your goal, and it usually is, you can accept that too."

Action Step: Keep this vision fresh in your mind by reading your answers every day. Maybe multiple times a day. Reading your own words can be a powerful tool for change.

Imagine your desired result in detail as if it were true *right now* (that's another big secret to getting your subconscious mind in line with your goals).

Also, you might have a keyword or a phrase that summarizes a motivating idea that you can print out and keep posted in visible places

Some people even create "picture books" or a "vision collage" of the things they want to make their desires more real. Not just for weight loss, but for any area of your life. You cut pictures out of magazines and make a book. The results are almost miraculous — it really works.

Our minds think in pictures, so pictures don't grow "stale"... they tend to be inspirational every time you look at it

For weight loss goals, just be careful to avoid those unrealistic digitally manipulated images of skinny models on magazine covers. They're not only digitally retouched images but typically just make us all feel bad about our bodies.

Instead, consider finding a story from someone who has succeeded that is truly inspiring to you, and pick a representative photo or image. Think "realistic yet inspirational".

Remember, this is YOUR life. No one else can or should decide what is important to you, and why.

Additional Resources

Here are a couple of very effective, classic "mindset" books you have probably NEVER heard of.

First is "Psycho-Cybernetics" by Maxwell Maltz. That's the expanded edition. You can also get the original book.

It was written in 1960 and is a work of genius. The techniques and principles in that book have become the foundation of every self-improvement book written since then. Read it multiple times. The concept of our "self image" is especially relevant to weight loss, but it will help you in every area of life.

Do you want to go deeper into the belief/manifestation side? Here's another gem: "The Magic of Believing" by Claude M Bristol.

This book was written even earlier — in 1948! We really believe in the magic of believing. The true stories and principles explained in that book should convince you, too. Too many people ignore this fundamental topic. ('Belief' is really the foundation of modern popular publications like The Secret.)