Motivation comes and goes, it's like day and night. I'm not motivated every single minute of every single day. What helps me is setting goals. If you try to set too many goals at one time you won't succeed. Focus on one goal. When you get too many things going on in your mind or your life something has to take the back burner and I guarantee, you will set one or two maybe even three of those goals off to the side.
When I started this journey towards a healthier lifestyle, I started with baby steps. I started taking Skinny Fiber and truthfully, my goal at the time was to just take the Skinny Fiber as recommended and consistently for 30 days. Two capsules, two times a day for 30 days. That was a pretty easy goal to complete because I realized how much better I felt during that month.
During the first 10 months of my journey I didn't exercise at all. I set a new goal. I wanted to be able to run a 5k. I set a date to start. I pumped myself up by talking about it with other people. I got excited for the my start date to arrive. I bought myself some cute new clothes to wear during my training sessions. The day finally arrived and I woke up with a feeling that I can't even explain. I was nervous, scared, afraid I'd fail, but at the same time excited, happy and raring to go. I had to tell the negative feelings to go away and make room for the positive.
About 4 weeks into my 5k training, we took a vacation. It was only a 3 day weekend with the grandkids, but something happened. My motivation just wasn't there. I used to jump out of bed in the morning and hit the pavement and now that little voice (LV) in my head was telling me just stay in bed, your feet are going to hurt, maybe a headache is coming on, you stayed up too late, you're still sleepy, etc. There were a few days that I let LV win. But, I felt horrible and guilty. It made me feel like LV was wiping her dirty feet off in my head. All this ugly, negative junk was starting to expand into places other than getting out of bed to train. I could hear her saying other things like mmm...a diet dr. pepper sure would taste good. That's when I knew then that if I was going to succeed I would have to squash LV for good. (By the way, I didn't drink that diet dr. pepper.) The best way was to just tell her to SHUT UP! I had to quit listening and talk to myself out loud, eventually I was able to drown out the noises that LV put in my head. Now, I'm not saying LV is gone for good. She still shows up occasionally and I have to put her back in her place. I'm very happy to say that this morning I hit an all time high of 1.66 miles without stopping. YEAH ME! I know it's not a 5k yet, but I'm getting there.
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I realize that it's much easier for me to stay motivated because I've put myself out there in the world. I'm on facebook public to the world. I talk about what I'm doing. I've got a healthy weight loss support group. I'm supporting these people on their journey so I have to be there for them. That keeps me motivated. I write this blog even though there aren't many people reading it right now, it's available for anyone in the world to see. My family, my friends, they keep me going. You have to have a support group, you have to make a public announcement. It's too easy to quit, if no one knows what you're doing. Write it on the bathroom mirror, stick post-it notes on the fridge and your computer monitor. Make a big sign for your office. It might only say EXERCISE 5 MINUTES DAILY. But, it will be out there and you won't want everyone to see you fail. Anyone can exercise for 5 minutes a day. Walk in place for 5 minutes, do a couple of push ups and squats. You don't have to change into your "workout gear". Do it in your office. Once you've completed this goal for 1 week, add a few more minute. Change all the signs to EXERCISE 7 MINUTES DAILY. What's 2 more minutes? You can do it! Before you know it that sign will read EXERCISE 20 MINUTES DAILY and you'll have all your co-workers wanting to join you. That's what it takes.
Another thing is reading, reading magazine articles about your goals, reading blogs, read anything that relates to you. This will keep you excited, this will keep you motivated.
Just remember, don't let anyone, especially LV wipe their dirty feet on you. If it's not positive, get it out of your mind.
I'm always here for anyone who needs to talk, cry or scream. If you want to follow me on facebook, my link is www.facebook.com/teresa.copelandharmon
If you want to join my weight loss support group on facebook, the link is https://www.facebook.com/groups/healthy.choices.WLS/
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