The New Year- New Me Resolutions are fading; Daily life is creeping in and smothering out our good intentions for a happy
and healthy new year. We ask ourselves, "what can we do to help keep
our motivation going?" Here are a some helpful tips:
·
Make Goals
·
Gain Support
·
Keep a Journal
·
Find a Fitness Friend
·
Keep your Routine Fresh
Goals
In
order for us to be successful in health, fitness and life, we must have goals.
We need a vision in our mind of where we want to be, how we want to feel, and
how we want to look in the future. The only way we get to our desired
destination is by making goals. Writing down goals will help keep track of our
expectations and they motivate us to keep pushing when things get tough. We
need short term and long-term goals. We have to be specific on what it is we want, what we have to do to get it, and when we want to have it by. We have to
be very clear on these things, but we also have to be flexible and have a backup
plan when things do not go as planned because, as we all know, life happens to the best of us.
Support
When
making a drastic change in our lifestyle it is very important to have support.
Family members, friends and co-workers help make a great support team. However, in some cases, support may not come that easy and we may have to go out of our social
comfort zone to find it. We should not be scared to use social media to find
virtual support. Countless websites are out there. It
is a great way to find other people with similar fitness goals. It is fun to
share exercises, healthy recipes, motivational quotes, and our over-all
experience with others. So let's begin searching to find a great support team
today!
Fitness
Journal
Another
fun way to help stay motivated is by keeping a fitness journal. The list is endless of what all we can keep in there. We
can use them to plan our goals, keep track of measurements, paste progress photos in it, keep track of personal records in weight
lifting or running, track our foods,
and it is a great place to keep our
favorite healthy recipes. In addition to the ideas above, we may want to write how we feel, mentally and physically, before
and after we exercise.
Fitness
Friends
Find fitness friend that is committed to this way of life. Having a
fitness friend can make this experience more enjoyable and
motivating. However, you should be prepared to be flexible when looking for a workout partner, because even though you have at least one "go to" friend for most
anything this friend may not like the fitness lifestyle. You can always ask
them if they would like to join you, but be prepared to go out of your inner
circle to find a great fitness friend. Once you find your 'match made in fitness'
friend, you both can challenge one another by making up weekly or monthly
challenges and do your best to complete them. In addition, fitness friends are
there for us when we are not there for ourselves. They are there to remind us why
we started in the first place and they should be able to give us honest
feedback about our progress. No one needs a fitness friend that will just sit
back and watch you not give your all. A great friend will let you know when
they think your slacking and will put a fire under your booty to keep it
moving.
Routine
I
like changing things up when it comes to exercises and healthy eating on one
hand, but on the other hand, my internal mechanism for comfort and convenience tries
to kick in and keeps me from changing my routine sometimes. I eventually get bored and tired of doing the same
thing on the same day of the week at the same
time each week and eating the same foods. That is when it is time
to mix things up a bit. We need to keep the things that are empowering about our
current routine, and change the things that are exhausting our positive energy.
With a little research, we can find new and interesting exercises and recipes
to keep that routine fresh. Perhaps, change the routine monthly so boredom will
not set in.
Now it is time to put all of these ideas in
place.
Are
you still sitting there?!?!
Why?!?!
Get
up and get to it!!!
