A weight loss vision board might be your secret formula for losing excess weight. At times losing weight may seem like a never ending battle. It requires a lot of changes, self-control, and stepping out of your comfort zone. With all the changes you’re making it’s easy to get discouraged and just give up if you don’t see the progress quick enough. You start thinking there’s something wrong with you and you’re never going to make it. But the truth is you can stick to all the new healthy habits and enjoy it, even when “bad days” come, by staying focused.
It’s true, to lose weight you must be prepared to ditch unhealthy habits and replace them with new healthy ones. But that’s always easier said than done. Changing habits is always uncomfortable and sometimes even painful. So how does the vision board fit into all this?
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How can a vision board help you lose weight?
Sticking to healthy habits that will help you on your weight loss journey requires focus. When you’re focused on your goal it’s much easier to stay on the right track. Because it takes away the decision fatigue. Dedication to your goal comes much easier when you have a clear vision in front of your eyes every day. Looking every day at a vision board that is filled with aesthetically pleasing pictures that depict your goal will make you unconsciously choose actions that will lead you closer to that goal.
Having pictures that make you feel happy, optimistic, and energetic in front of you while you’re getting ready for a workout or planning your meals for the week will have a positive impact on your psychology. You’ll be motivated to take action and make healthier choices. When you feel down and tempted to fall back into old habits, one look at your weight loss vision board will pick you up and give you a boost to continue.
What should you put on your vision board for weight loss?
A vision board is a collage of images and words that represent the goal you want to achieve, and depict what your life will look like once you achieve the goal. A good, detailed vision board will also feature action steps you could take to reach the goal and motivation to keep you going when you hit an obstacle.
- Your big goal in a form of a picture or words or both
- Milestones and steps you’ll take to reach the goal
- Checklists of actions you’ll need to take to reach your goal
- Words and affirmations that build your confidence
- Quotes that motivate you
- Images that inspire you and make you feel optimistic and hopeful
Supplies you’ll need to create a vision board
Basic supplies to make a vision board are a large piece of cardboard (or thick paper), glue, magazine cutouts, and a marker. Of course, you can make a more elaborate vision board with lots of extras. It all depends on your needs and preferences. Here are some supplies you could use to create a beautiful and truly personal board.
- White paper board
- Framed corkboard
- Decorative magnetic board
- Colored masking tape
- Glue
- Decorative push pins
- Decorative magnets
- Colored construction paper
- Markers
- Scissors
- Printed pictures or magazine cutouts
Where to find pictures for the vision board?
There are two main sources you can go to, to find suitable pictures for your weight loss vision board. Lifestyle magazines usually have a wide range of pictures. Or you can look for fitness and health themed magazines. If you don’t have access to a bunch of magazines then searching through the web is a better option. Use google images, Pinterest, or Instagram to find pictures, since that is for personal use you’ll not be violating any copyrights. When you have all the pictures you like just print them out and use them to make your vision board.
How to make a weight loss vision board
The process of creating a vision board is divided into three steps:
1. Plan out your weight loss journey
The first step in creating a weight loss vision board is to plan out your weight loss journey. Start by defining your goal. How much weight exactly do you want to lose? Do you want to be skinny, lean, or muscular? What’s your ideal body type? Think about your natural body type and figure out what’s the best look for your body type, so you have a realistic and achievable goal. Have that in mind while looking for images, and find images of fit people with similar body type as yours.
Next, decide which habits you’ll need to adopt to reach your goal. Think about what you’ll eat every day, which physical activities will you do? Imagine what your days will be like?
Try to imagine how you’ll feel when you achieve your fitness goal, and give each feeling an appropriate word. Then use those words to create “I am …” and “I feel …” statements. These simple affirmations will create positive thoughts and moods to help you feel accomplished every step of the way.
2. Gather supplies
Once you have your weight loss journey all planned out, the next step is to gather all the supplies. That means finding images that represent your goal, steps you’ll take, the vision of your life while you’re working on your goal, and any other visual that makes you feel motivated and positive. Remember your vision board must make you feel good. Don’t put anything on it that makes you feel anxious or bad about yourself. Only good vibes! To find pictures you can search online and print out images that resonate with you, or you can clip pictures from magazines.
Next, choose the board type and bonding agent. It can be a corkboard with push pins, a magnetic board with magnets, or a paper board with glue. The paper board is permanent, once you make it there is no way of changing it. While corkboard and the magnetic board can both be updated, rearranged, and changed as many times as you want.
Create add-ons like power words, quotes, and lists. To make add-ons take a piece of paper, construction paper and markers work best here, and write words, affirmations, and quotes you find empowering and motivating. Make lists of meals and exercises and anything else you find appropriate for your goal. Another really nice addition to the weight loss vision board is a progress tracker, where you track your measurements. It’s motivating to see how far you’ve come and how much more you need to get to your goal.
3. Create a vision board
Now that you know what you want and what you need to get it, and you have all the necessary supplies it’s time for the fun part. Putting it all together and creating a visually appealing collage of your desired future. There are many templates you can choose for your vision board. Like dividing the board into columns one for your goal, another for habits, then one for lists, and one for trackers. Or you can make it in concentric circles, in the inner circle would be your main goal, then a ring around it would contain habits, and so on. Another way is to divide the board into squares. Or you can skip the template and just randomly arrange everything on the board.
Can a vision board be digital?
Absolutely, you can make a digital version of the vision board and keep it as your desktop picture. You can use a free online program like Canva. Canva offers plenty of free stock pictures, templates, fonts, and other elements that are useful to create a beautiful vision board.
Weight loss vision board inspiration
How to use your vision board to reach your goal
Creating a vision board is only one part of the story, the next one is using it. Here are a few tips on how to use your board to make it work for you.
- INCREASE EXPOSURE Place your weight loss vision board somewhere where you’ll see it often. Take a picture of it and keep it on your phone and on your laptop, tablet whatever you have. Keep it accessible and look at it often.
- FEEL IT Vision boards are supposed to induce strong positive feelings of hope and optimism. Let your vision board affect you and wake up those feelings in you by looking closely at it and imagining that is your life.
- READ Slowly and mindfully read all the words, quotes, and affirmations from your vision board. Do this every morning when you wake up and every evening before going to sleep.
- ACKNOWLEDGE If you’re keeping track of your progress on the vision board, then once a day take time to appreciate and be proud of your achievements.
