For me, it's always been about opportunity costs, meaning that I had to figure out what I am gaining and what I am giving up. The problem is, sometimes what I'm giving up sounds a lot better than what I'm gaining so I had to find a way to change that.
1.) "I want to lose weight" sounds nice to me, but (subconsciously) I'm not willing to give up "Sitting on the couch and watching TV all day" to do it. Instead, I had to make it about something much more personal to me: "I don't want to die from heart disease before I'm 50" so I'm going to try to walk/job at least 10k steps each day.
2.) "I want good blood sugar numbers" sounds nice, but "I want to eat a whole pizza" sounds a whole lot better. Instead, "I don't want my family to find me in a diabetic coma one day" so maybe I'll only eat 1-2 slices of that pizza.
3.) Carbs/Calories
eliciousness Ratio- This is something my sister thought up when we were kids, but it still works for both us 10+ years later. Basically, if a certain food isn't delicious enough compared to its carb (or calorie) content I won't eat it. Pasta is something I don't find very delicious but it's very high in calories and carb. Therefore, it scores very low on my carb:deliciousness ratio. Low-carb ice cream has 4g of carbs per serving and it tastes amazing to me. Therefore, it scores very high on my ratio. That doesn't mean I eat as much of it as I want, but I'm more likely to occasionally reward myself with the ice cream rather than the pasta.
Obviously, some of these things are a bit silly while others are a bit morbid, but it's what works for me and it's how I avoid temptation in those situations where it's easy to give in. Of course, what works for me won't necessarily work for you, but I believe it's a matter of being aware of what you're most passionate about and finding a way to incorporate that into your health goals.
