According to magazines, everyone stays with a workout program for the first month or so. It’s fun and the gym is full of stimulating energy. You can’t help but come and be a part of it. Slowly though, the momentum begins to slow and we see the inside of the gym or the track at the high school less often.
What can you do? We all have our off days. Work drives us crazy, the kids are screaming, and on top of that we burned dinner. Okay, so all of these things don’t happen at the same time, but they could. The last thing on your mind will be driving to the gym or throwing a tape in the VCR.
The problem with exercise is that when we miss one day it is easier to miss the second and the third day. Even when we enjoy it, other factors come into play. Family, work, stress, and things outside our control all can derail us at some time.
On the other side of the coin, we workout each day and watch what we eat. When we step on the scale after all that hard work and it hasn’t budged, that is not encouraging. It is a blow to the stomach and can send some people for the ice cream in the fridge to alleviate their heartbreak.
Stay motivated by remembering why you decided it was time to lose weight in the first place. Losing weight can be the difference between living a healthy life and being on medication for conditions that are a result of obesity. Knowing that you may not be alive to see your kids grow up or grow old with your spouse is a major motivation.
It is not the one cupcake or the one time you eat too much pizza. We all have times when we want to eat what we want as a way to kick back. It is falling back into bad habits that are the problem.
Another way to stay motivated is by changing your thinking. When you are stressed, exercise relieves stress. You don’t have to go to the gym. You can work in the garden. Ripping out weeds is a good workout and a way to beat the stress in your life. Imagine each weed is a problem you are gaining control over and pull baby pull.
I actually banned myself from using the scale. I stood on it to find out my starting weight, but then used my clothes as a guide for gauging how well I was doing with my program. This made a huge difference to my self-esteem and will to keep going.
Whatever matters most to you, remind yourself of that fact when you feel like giving up. Post it on the wall in big neon letters if you have to, just don’t throw away the progress you’ve made and remember Rome wasn’t built in a day and you’re weight won’t all come off that fast either.
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