Motivation –

Motivation – from step 5 in the SparkPeople’s Mind Over Body series – http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/mind_over_body_fat.asp  – I love this whole series, but the part on motivation is especially good – here is my short hand version of it – enjoy!

“To be your best motivator you must CONSISTENTLY do two things – Consciously choose to eat well and exercise, and when you screw up – realize it was your choice.” What a great statement – in a nutshell – to be successful stay present and take ownership of your life! I like it!

So what is this thing called motivation anyway? According to this article, it’s not something you find or lose and it’s not something you have or don’t have, it is basically how you see yourself in the world –  if you want to be motivated begin seeing yourself as active, effective and powerful. The main enemy of motivation is the tendency to see yourself as a victim, or having no control over your urges. Your motivation will be as strong as the amount of effort you put into making your own decisions, with conscious awareness. Hmmm…. so motivation comes from the power within us – makes sense. When we feel like we can accomplish anything, we are likely to be motivated to do so –right… So why do we seem to lose our motivation so quickly? Say we start a new program, ready to kick some tail – and then we don’t see the results we want in the first week- what happens – a lot of us get de-motivated and quit… why? – My guess, unrealistic expectations… yup –

Motivation Killer number 1 – Having Unrealistic Expectations – how many of us start a new diet or workout regiment and then find we quit after the first week? I bet it’s because you set your sites too high, your body got too sore, you felt too hungry, had to work too hard – or you may have thought you could drop weight like they do on the  Biggest Loser – not! Here are a few things we SHOULD expect ….

• Weight loss is NOT predictable – every body will respond differently. Some people lose weight easy, some may have to wait weeks to lose the first couple of pounds, and for others it happens in waves – this is all normal.
• Weight loss is NOT a simple calculation – What! I thought it was…. Our bodies are complex, living organisms with many needs and priorities to juggle. A classic example is how stress actually increases fat storage. There is a definite connection between your mind and body, which is why it is good to include some kind of self nurturing into your program – like yoga, massage, meditation or a hot bath to sooth those aching muscles –  try to keep your mind from getting in the way of your progress – take time to breath, relax and enjoy life.
• Focus on what you can actually control – which is what you eat and how much you exercise. You can not control others and you can not always control situations like traffic, late night meetings, and of course, things that come up unexpectedly. You will lose weight if you do your part, which includes planning your food and exercise,  and – planning for the unexpected. With that said we need to focus on all positive changes big and small and not let the fact that we didn’t reach our goal, when expected, derail us.

Motivation killer number 2 – Perfectionism … If you feel like you get flooded with negative feelings when things don’t go your way, you probably struggle with an all or nothing pattern and an overdose of perfectionism. Perfectionism is a huge motivation killer. Why would anyone think that he or she would be the first person in history to pull this off, or that they are a failure if they can’t? The emotional upset of this can make it impossible to stay motivated. We need to accept that our appetites and/or feelings are sometimes going to win over our good intentions, and that it’s really NOT that big a deal. We need to allow ourselves to learn from our mistakes. Why did this happen? What was my part in it? Could this have been prevented if I had planned better? However, this will not happen if we spend all of our time and energy beating ourselves up or obsessing over our slip-ups. The best thing to do is to get right back on track with your very next meal or your very next workout.

If your motivation seems to depend on what the scale says, you probably rely too much on external forms of motivation and need to work on internal motivation. Weight is not the real problem, and losing weight is not the real solution. Wow – what a statement…think about it – the real problem is how you feel and the real solution is what you can do to change those feelings….. This one is so me – If the scale is up I immediately get sad and discouraged, if it’s down, I immediately feel excited and motivated to continue. I personally believe that the scale should be used as a tool – a point of reference, not to measure success or failure – as long as those pants are fitting well who cares what the scale says – and trust me – it took me a while to get my head there….. Honestly we all  know when our weight is up even before we step on the scale just by how our cloths are fitting – the scale just confirms that it’s time to hit the reset button, refocus on food and exercise, and get ourselves comfortable in the skin we’re in – again.

If you feel like you are in a constant battle with yourself and want to eat whatever you want – the good news is you’re not crazy. Many people seem to think that being motivated means not having to struggle, but it is in our nature to pursue both the gratification of eating what we want, and being healthy, fit and attractive. Ah yes… good vs. evil. Thinking one of these is more important than the other is like denying half of who we are. Your motivation will be much stronger and more consistent if you focus on making conscious choices, choices that are about what you can do to meet your needs and desires without going overboard or sabotaging yourself. 

“I” love this one … say you want to eat healthy and exercise most of the time, but just can’t seem to resist temptation, or feel there are so many demands put on you personally that you just can’t fit exercise or healthy meals in – sound familiar… well maybe it is time to put the “I” back in your vocabulary and start taking responsibility for your own actions. You may think that your family, your job, or the fact that your gym is too far away is the issue, but what you’re really saying is that “I” have made working and my family a priority and that “I” have not put myself high on my own list. Since you have now defined the problem more accurately, you can do something about it if you want to – like put yourself higher on your list.

Wow – I know it’s a lot to absorb – but like I said way back in the first paragraph – to be successful, stay present and take ownership of your life! I know you can do it!