3 Ways To Keep Yourself Motivated To Workout
Working out certainly takes motivation, particularly if you’re just starting and haven’t seen results yet. There are a number of motivation techniques that I’ve used on my journey to fitness, but I thought I’d share my favorite 3 ways to keep yourself motivated to workout. These are simple and don’t require a lot of time but are extremely effective in keeping you going, particularly when you’re first hitting the gym, which is often the most critical time. When you add a program of regular exercise to your life, you’re making a lifestyle change and trying to develop a new habit, which is hard.
Work out with friends.
Friendship and fun is more rewarding than cash, according to scientific studies. In fact, in one study, one group of gyms provided a reward of a gift card for up to $60 for working out, while another group provided a more social atmosphere, like our Fitbody boot camp. People stuck with the program at the fitness centers that had the more social atmosphere and had a high dropout rate at the one giving the gift card. Having fun, getting support from others and sharing your time with a group of friendly people who are supportive is far more important.
Give yourself a special reward.
If there’s something you love to do, make sure you follow up every workout with it. Maybe it’s stopping for lunch. (Don’t make that a burger and fries please!) Maybe it’s spending an hour shopping or window shopping. Whatever it is, do it right after you successfully completed your workout. You’ll build the connection in your brain that will transfer the pleasure of your other favorite thing to the workout. Before you know it, you’ll look forward to the workout.
Change your mind.
Picture yourself accomplishing your workout goal and how great it feels. Visualize the results until you can almost see each muscle rippling in your body and feeling how big your jeans are on you. That’s the happy picture you want to see, but you need to go further. You need to take one step to find out what’s stopping you. If you’re too harried to workout before work, try it at noon or on your way home. Once you find out what’s stopping you, you can make adjustments.
Make an appointment with yourself to workout. Treat it as though you have an appointment at the doctor. That’s one reason working with a personal trainer gets results. It’s an appointment you feel you need to keep.
Use an enemy as a friend. This one was one of the most creative I’d heard. One woman disliked a fellow worker and he didn’t like her. She approached him with the deal that she’d buy him lunch every time she missed a workout. She never missed once, but through the time, that discussion led to a friendship and she bought him lunch for helping her reach her goals.
Workout at the same time each day. Sticking with a schedule turns it into an important part of your day.
Make it a date. I you’re married or involved with someone, start working out together. Do something fun later.
You won’t change your whole life overnight. Many of the habits you have today were developed years ago, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying. Start by finding something you can control, such as consciously increasing your activity or switching one food for another. Just by switching out a candy bar for a mid afternoon break to an apple or orange, you can save over 100 calories a day. If you do that consistently, without changing any other habit, you’d lose a pound in just 35 days. You can improve your overall health while lowering your caloric intake when you realize small changes equal big results.
If you’ve become the victim of negative self-talk because of the weight you’ve gained or failure to get fit, you need to change your thinking. You need to fall in love with taking care of yourself. Negative thoughts don’t help you achieve your goals, they just make it worse. Instead of punishing yourself daily for gaining the weight, start thinking of yourself as someone that needs your support and love to help conquer the problem. Treat yourself as good as you’d treat a family member or a stranger and have the same compassion.
You may be so out of shape that you can’t believe anything will help. Don’t despair. You can be better than you were yesterday and even better the next and the next day. Getting fit isn’t an all or nothing proposition. You don’t wake up and suddenly find yourself buff and slender. It happens one day at a time, little by little. If you set a huge goal, such as losing 100 pounds or running a marathon, you could get discouraged early in your program. That’s one reason that creating smaller goals to reach the ultimate goal is important.
The mind, body and soul are all interconnected. When you’re out of sorts, with your mind facing stresses, it taxes your soul and can often make your body ill. If you’re ill, it’s adds stress to the soul and mind. When you live a full life, the connection of all three makes you unstoppable, but when one is vulnerable or not fit, the whole system is vulnerable. You are as strong as your weakest link. In some cases, that link is physical, which lowers the energy level and can make things look hopeless.
I had a client that spent ten years helping to take care of her elderly mother who lost her vision. While it was time consuming and sad, she noted that it was also a wonderful time. “My mother and I became friends. We talked a lot during the time I spent with her and she was more than just my mom, she was a good friend. We wouldn’t have had that time together had she been healthy, since we both would have gone our separate ways, meeting occasionally to talk.” That attitude switched what might have been a burdensome experience to a pleasant one, which is what staying positive is all about.
Everything in life has to do with our mindset. How we think about something makes us look forward to it or drag our feet when we have to do it. Think about going to the dentist. You wouldn’t dread the dentist if you only went in for a few minutes, got a good report and maybe got your teeth polished. If you had painful dental work before, you’d dread every visit and put it off as long as possible. If you’re having trouble losing weight, check your mindset first.
Fit Body’s Improvements
Vitamins and Minerals – A well-balanced diet can often be the key to losing weight. The easiest way to think of meal planning is to think colorfully. Vegetables, especially deeply colored ones, are usually the ones most rich in nutrients your body needs. Spinach and kale are great examples of this; they’re both much darker green than lettuce and carry a lot more necessary nutrients. However, a colorful plate won’t help you if it’s entirely junk food. Fresh fruit, vegetables, protein, and whole grains will give you a colorful plate and plenty of nutrients.
Eat More Often – Yes, you read that right; if you’re trying to lose weight, eating more frequently can actually help you. The idea is that eating every 2-3 hours instead of 4-5 will keep your metabolism working and burn more calories. However, be sure to scale down your meals appropriately. Eating more frequently won’t help if you’re still eating larger quantities.