The other morning my pregnant coworker asked me,
"After I have this baby can you MAKE me go to the gym?" My
answer was, "I can't MAKE you do anything. But, I will definitely
help motivate you."
So often something motivates us to start something
healthy. It might be a new year's resolution, bathing suit season around the
corner, your doctor saying you need to improve your health, or friends getting
fit. How long do these resolutions last? How do you avoid gaining extra weight
in the first place? If you see your doctor once a year, how do you continue to
remind yourself that you have to improve your health? Your friends may lose
motivation. Does that mean that you should stop, too?
We've had a few warm days here in NYC. Year after year I see the same thing. Women, girls in last year's spring clothing that are too tight. Winter weight... The cold weather kicks off with a holiday filled with candy for the younger ones and booze for the older ones; Halloween. We allow ourselves the cheat convincing ourselves that we are being festive. Then follows Thanksgiving. Not to mention Thanksgiving Eve is one of, if not THE biggest party night of the year. Booze followed by giving yourself a cheat DAY when it should just be a cheat meal. By the time Christmas and New Year's roll around you've probably given up on trying to be "good". During the winter we also wear thicker, looser clothes. We eat more foods that comfort us in the cold weather. Then, we lose sight of our weight and our physique. We give up on what we were working on.
Have you cheated and it wasn't worth it? We need to understand that just because we fall off one day here or two days there it doesn't mean we failed. Don't crucify yourself! What's important is forgiving yourself and getting back on. It is going to happen! Getting healthy is a lifestyle change in our real world. Things are going to get in the way; long hours at work, chores at home, dedicated time to your spouse, dedicated time to the kids, making time for friends. But, it's not a fad diet and it's not temporary. What starts as motivation should eventually become habit. These
changes need to be made at your own pace. The idea is to be better than
yourself NOT someone else. Create goals for yourself; short term and long
term. One of my long term goals is to run a marathon. To achieve
this goal, I have set short term goals for myself. Before the end of this
year I will run a 10k race. Some time next year, I should be ready to run
a half marathon. You get the idea. If getting fit is something new
for you, your short term goal might be to walk for 20 minutes on a
daily basis. Your long term goal might be to able to run a mile without
stopping. Then you would build on that.
What happens when you lose motivation? You
don't see results fast enough. You don't think you are reaping the
benefits. Surround yourself with people that have similar goals as you. Keep each other up to date on your progress. That is motivation by itself. This is also one of the reasons that keeping a food and activity
journal is so important, including your daily weight. There was a week that I felt exhausted. At
first I couldn't figure out why I was feeling that way, especially since it
wasn't that time of my cycle. I looked through my journal and it was
becase I wasn't eating right. After a couple of days of being back on
track my energy level returned. My food and activity journal has also been able to tell me what foods make me bloated, make me put on extra weight very quickly and what helps me get back on track quickly.
I hear people talk about working on their summer body. That's not what I'm working on. I'm working on my every-season body, my healthy body, my fit-and-strong body, my I'm-a-mom-that-can-keep-up-with-my-two-year-old body, my I'm-a-wife-that-can-lift-with-my-husband body, my I-can-do-a-whole-insanity-workout-without-stopping body, my 5k body, my 10k body, my body that I only get one of and I'm taking care of it as best as I can. What body are you working on? What's your motivation?
In good health,
Alana
