Anyone who's talked to me recently knows that I've been on a journey to clean up my life and stop making excuses....its a journey that started the day after Christmas and has included gym memberships, change in grocery purchases, loads of education...and a constant search for motivation. Though its been only 3 months so far, I've learned a lot about myself, the food I eat, and the world around me. But I havent done it on my own...The purpose of this blog is to pay it forward...to give you updates, recipes and random tidbits of information that I gather along the way...and if it helps motivate you? Fabulous...and if it doesnt? Well, I hope its at least a good read.
Here's a list of things that have helped motivate me thus far:
1. The Biggest Loser! (and other tv shows): seriously. When I started, I thought to myself: "what would I be doing at home? what would make me choose to be there, instead of at the gym?" The answer was TV. I made a decision to download episodes of my favorite TV shows, and I gave myself access to them at the gym only. Using my behavior analyst tools...I paired a highly preferred reinforcer with an aversive activity, in order to change my behavior. and it worked!! Only now...Im worried that Im going to run out of episodes!!
2. A journal: Whenever I feel like Im losing track of the bigger picture or my goals start to feel really far away, I write it down. Often, when Im writing, Im able to think through the problem and remind myself why I started doing this in the first place. I've found that exercise and losing weight has brought up a lot of issues that I cant hold together in my head...writing them down has helped me organize :)
3. my WHY: I learned this from Jillian Michaels (LOVE her)...I think about WHY im doing this...and not some bullshit, "I want to be healthy" type answer. I have to do this ALL the time. I'll give you an example: Im spending my 30th birthday at Disneyland with my family...and Ive already started planning what I want to wear, how I want to look, and what I want the pictures to look like. When I run on the treadmill, and the 1 minute sprint seems like a miniscule and unimportant step towards that goal, I imagine that Im running towards that person at Disneyland...towards who I want to be. Ive found that this picture doesnt do it for me all the time, so I try to come up with different scenarios...my outfit on the airplane home, New Years Eve, my WWW 10 yr reunion....you name it.
4. Gadgets and Gifts: The portion of my budget that I allot for retail therapy typically goes towards items that I can use at the gym. This includes socks, workout clothes, headphones, water bottles, electronic devices...and recently, a wallet. (ya, i know...its a stretch...but I have to keep my gym pass somewhere and the other gym patrons were surely judging my cheap velcro three-fold with neon "Australia"'s written all over it). I actually havent spent much on these things...but Ive told myself that if I need them, its a nonissue.
What it boils down to, is that there isnt anything I wouldnt do to keep myself motivated. I look for motivational statements on Pinterest...I talk to people about their journey(s)...I listen to podcasts...I read books...I made a vision board...I go shopping online for clothes I'll be able to wear...ANYTHING...
As my brother recently posted on facebook: "Motivation: wanting something more than you want to breathe." Extreme and intense? maybe. guess thats just how we roll ;)
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