Heather Allen

 

 

I’ve been going to the gym consistently for two weeks. This is great because it fills two goals, 1) Use my gym membership, or else cancel it, and 2) get fit. Wonder why now, and not a year ago when I first got the membership? I feel a sense of urgency, especially when it comes to #2, getting fit. I finally have a motivator!!

I decided that since I was going on vacation in 6 weeks (at the time) I’d better get my butt moving if I wanted to like any of the photos I was in while we are abroad. Simple enough, right? Well, actually, it takes a lot more than just this goal to get me out the door. These are a few of the things I’ve been doing to motivate myself to exercise. (And to clarify, by exercise, I mean 30 mins jogging on the treadmill.)

1. Tracking my eating and exercise through My Fitness Pal.
2. Literally psyching myself up and talking to myself (both before and during the exercise itself).
3. Keeping a physical calendar that I “star” on each day that I have a run.
4. Creating a sense of “I have to do this” rather than thinking it’s optional.
5. Posting pics of my run time on Insta-stories.
6. Make gym time a part of my routine.

So my main motivators are tracking things and having something to update daily. This shouldn’t surprise me, since I like tracking things not related to exercise (like my books) so this is just an extension of that. I do worry, however, that I might burn out of keeping up to date on all of this. The last time I was using My Fitness Pal I stopped after a month, so I at least want to get over the major hurdle of this upcoming vacation to really see if I can keep up with it.

Another factor that I have to anticipate causing issues with tracking is my mental health. I go through rotations of feeling great and highly motivated, to more depressive states of feeling like I don’t want to do anything. So I don’t want to curse myself or think less of myself if I get on a downward kick, I just have to remember that the fogginess will pass and I can get back on the horse, as they say.

I’d love to hear more ways that you keep yourself motivated! Let me know in the comments!

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