How your phone can help you lose weight

July 9, 2017 Ashley 0 Comments

So, it’s here. The time’s arrived.

It’s… 5 A.M.

That means that right now’s the only time you’ll have to work out today. It’s the time you promised yourself a date with the treadmill, last night when you were tucking into a second helping of supper. And, it’s also the time you’d like to hit snooze and stand up your sneakers, waiting patiently by the door for your feet to fill them. Even though you’ve got half an operating noggin, you know you need to. You know other people manage to do it. So, what decides your fitness fate? What motivates some humans to get moving, while others zonk out for another hour or two? Well, for some of us, we know that hitting snooze will often just make us more groggy anyway (when we finally hafta wake up). For others, we’ve gotten over the hump of “forcing ourselves” to GTFO of our sleep ships and hit the gym – until it’s just a habit. And, for others yet?

Well, for others yet, a bit of visual motivation can kickstart our daily inspiration engines.

(“Search… Hashtag…fitspo-… Ah c’mon that’s *so* photoshopped”)

The trick is to find something that truly motivates you.

For example, I just read this article about a girl who lost a whopping 126 pounds by doing nothing other than – looking at a former photo of her fat self every morning. Sounds almost too simple, right? Right – but this story’s got toned, muscular legs to it – because she was really smart (and sneaky) about getting those sneakers on every sunup. Obviously, looking at a picture of yourself that induces sentiments of disgust would light a fire under your chunky bum. But who’s gonna make the effort to do that when half conscious? Who’s gonna intentionally suffer first thing in the morning by breaking out the photo album? (Especially when we can hardly break out from under the covers?) That’s why homegirl saved her old, unflattering snaps as the screen saver on her phone. (Ya know, the same thing your alarm clock’s built into.) By doing this, she had to look at herself every morning. And then, suddenly, toggling off the alarm became an entirely different matter. Suddenly, her brain had to acknowledge the fact that she wasn’t choosing to get more sleep. She was choosing to move back in the direction of everything she didn’t want to be anymore. She was choosing the opposite of her weight loss goals.

The fun yes-and to this? I saw something similar, not long after. Except, this time, it wasn’t about working out – but the other part of staying fit: diet. Knowing she was just as addicted to her phone as she was to ordering up extra cheesy pizza, another woman tried the same hack. She plastered a portly photo of herself onto her screensaver. That way, whenever she’d pick up her phone to dial delivery double stuffed crust, she had to consciously consider what she’d be working toward with that choice.

(From Dominoes to dime piece…)

Now, does this mean you hafta perma-post your fat snaps up on your phone? No. Not necessarily. See, motivation’s different for each of us. What motivates me is seeing what I do want in my future. For some (like the chick in the article), utter disgust might be the right push off the pillow. For others, pictures of when they’ve looked their healthiest or best might do it, in lieu – a goal to get back to. And, for others yet, it might be something entirely different – like a medal, trophy, or title belt. Maybe it’s even simply pictures of the children they’ll be able to chase after and play with once they lose weight.

So, what motivates you?

Try planting a pic of exactly that on your pocket robot’s screen saver.

And save yourself from snoozing or snacking away from your weight loss goals ever again.