Motivation

So much of the weight loss journey is motivating oneself to actually commit to it. I can easily say, “Man, I wanna lose 40 lbs.” But saying it and not doing anything about it, won’t make it happen. So throughout my journey I have kept goals in sight: first 5 lbs then 10 lbs then 15 lbs, etc. But goals can only get you so far. A person needs something to push them to get up at 5:30 in the morning and go to the gym or to say no to the McDonald’s when it is right across the street. For me, I have been lucky enough to have a ton of people and avenues to motivate me.

Family and Friends

It all starts with the people around you. If you don’t have a good support system, there is no way you can succeed. Thankfully my wife is one of my biggest supporters. She makes sure to check in on me, making sure I get my activity time in each day. She will nudge me in the morning and say, oh so gently, “Get up and go to the gym!” :) I mean, I need it. There are definite times I would much rather hit the snooze button, but I know that once she does that, I gotta get up and get moving.

We have also changed our date nights. It used to involve going to a movie, going out to dinner or going to a bar. Now we take the dogs on a walk or walk somewhere to have a glass of wine outside. It is great being in this together.

Online

I have found an ENORMOUS group of motivators in the twitterverse. I never knew I could have so many people - many I don’t know in person – pulling for me to succeed.

There are two people in particular that I would like to highlight here:

1) Healthy Loser Gal Jan is AMAZING. Not much more can be said. She is an inspiration to everyone, and it doesn’t hurt that she is a Boston lady as well ;) But every month she posts a new challenge on her blog.

For May, she had #hlgMayDay and she pushed you to work out at least 24 times in the 31 days of May. Let me tell you, there were many mornings that this got me out of bed and in to the gym. I thrived on the challenge and wanted to succeed. Once I commit to something, I hate failing.

This particular challenge came at a perfect time for me as the doctor had finally approved me to go back to working out so it was the EXTRA motivation I needed.

For June, she is hosting #hlgJuneJAZZ. She is having you Journal (your food), Activity (at least 24 days of the month) and Zzzzz (get your sleep, at least 6-7 hours a night). So far, I am 2 for 2 and loving it. I told her yesterday that I started my blog at the perfect time for this one. ;)

2) #7daychip Brad Gansberg started a great program called #7daychip. In a nutshell, you set a goal for yourself and you need to complete it for 7-consecutive days. So for me, I wanted to hit my Weight Watchers Points dead on (no weekly/activity pts could be used) and to hit all 6 Weight Watchers healthy checks every day.

I attempted it a few weeks back and made it 6 ¾ days before I went out to eat and used weekly points (In my defense, it was our 6 month wedding anniversary and I had already planned to use weekly points on that night.) So last week when I got back from the road trip, I said I needed to do it. So I buckled down. It was HARD. There were a lot of temptations, especially at work. But I bore down and made it through the 7 days (I actually completed 8 days :)).

So for me recently, these have been my biggest motivators. It has really helped me hold myself accountable and stay active. What do you use to keep your eye on the prize?