There’s one single thing that’s more important than anything else when it comes to losing a lot of fat.  It’s not your diet.  It’s not your exercise.  It’s certainly not some green or blue pill that you take every day.

No, it’s not one of the usual suspects that you’d think of right away.  It’s something else – something psychological: desire.  You have to want to lose fat in order to do so continuously.

At this point, you may be saying, “come on Shanif, everyone knows that.”  But, how obvious is it, really?

Losing fat is hard.  Let me say that again – cutting down your body fat percentage is extremely hard work. Just ask anyone that has lost a lot of weight.  Chances are, they worked at it for a long time.  They pushed their bodies past their comfort zones.  They killed themselves at the gym and at the dinner table.  Do you think they could have sustained that kind of an effort if they didn’t really want it?  NO!

It’s easy to start a new fat loss program.  You can easily go to the gym and run for a few days.  You can start eating more asparagus and broccoli for a couple of weeks.  You can start lifting weights, drinking more water, sleeping earlier, making your meals the night before, and tracking your calories without any problem.

But see if you’re still doing the same thing after 4 weeks.  What about after 8, or 12?  Are you still working at it.  If not, why?  Chances are, you got tired of it.  You stopped working for it because living a comfortable life was easier than pushing yourself to do more.  Your desire to be comfortable eventually outweighed your desire to lose fat.  When it really comes down to it, you stopped because you couldn’t push yourself to do more, and you couldn’t push yourself to do more because you lost your motivation – your desire.

Emotional reasons for wanting to lose fat

There must be some reason that you want to lose fat.  That reason has to come from your emotions.  You need to be able to feel and internalize why you want to lose fat.  That internalization is really what keeps you going.  The emotions are where your desire come from.  If you look in the mirror and see your belly hanging over your belt, you may feel ashamed, embarrassed.  That embarrassment will get you into the gym day after day.  It will make you want to lose fat.

Motivation that comes from emotion is the best kind.

The next time you take up a fat loss program, see if you can find the emotional reason behind wanting to get leaner.  In the end, it has to come from you.  You have to want it.  Without wanting it, really wanting it, it won’t happen.