Some people stay motivated to work out by the way it makes them look but for some of us that just doesn’t work because we lose the motivation to keep it going. If getting the motivation to work out is so hard then why should we do it? We want to work out because we only have one body in this life and we want to live strong healthy lives. We want to live a long time free of disease with an abundance of energy. We want to watch our grandkids grow up or travel the world or just be able to continue doing what gives us happiness and joy. When it is our time to move on from this life, we want to know that we actually lived and that our life was healthy, happy, and fulfilling. Working out in addition to a healthy lifestyle can help you to live a life with less stress and you can be healthier and happier!
How To Stay Motivated To Workout:
1) Don’t Lose Weight – Get Rid Of It
Have you ever thought, once I lose weight I will be happy or once I get in shape life will be better? Often times when we start working out it can be frustrating if we just focus on the scale or the way our body looks because we want fast results, a quick fix. Sometimes it takes time to see results and the frustration of waiting for the scale to drop or our pant size to decrease can lead us to give up. Switch your mindset so that you stop worrying about losing weight and instead focus on creating a healthy body and lifestyle. When all we think about is our weight, we get discouraged because being healthy takes time. Many times when we are just trying to change our body, we do unhealthy things to get faster results or try to take a magic weight loss pill. This is extremely damaging to our bodies and it just doesn’t work for the long term. We want to permanently get rid of the extra pounds so they stay off and the best way to do that is by slowly getting rid of the weight and inches the healthy way. It is all about making healthier lifestyle changes for the long term. We don’t want to lose the weight just to put it all back on again. We should stop trying to lose weight because when we lose something then we can find it. Instead slowly get rid of the weight with a healthier lifestyle because we don’t want to find it again!
2) Try New And Different Workout Types
You may have heard of the term yo-yo dieting, well some of us are yo-yo exercisers. We start we stop then start and stop again. Maybe we try something new then stop for a while then try something else then give up and this cycle just continues. We just can’t seem to stick to a routine. It is great to try new and different types of working out because our bodies are all different and we all enjoy different things.
When exploring new things, there is nothing wrong with stopping if you don’t enjoy one type of working out but try something new right away. The whole point is to enjoy yourself so you don’t just stop completely. It is quite simple really: Continue to do what you enjoy and stop doing what you don’t enjoy. If you haven’t found an enjoyable way to work out then just keep trying new things until you find something that makes you inspired to keep going!
3) Find Your Motivation
Many of us want our bodies to look like models, actors, body builders, or athletes and some of us even hang up a picture of what we want to look like so we see it everyday but we continue to lose motivation. Have you tried to be motivated just by how you want your body to look but end up giving up? We shouldn’t work out just because of how society says we should look. Pretty much everything we see is photoshopped anyway. If other people motivate you then you should keep doing what works. If aspiring to look like someone else isn’t working for you then don’t beat yourself up. You aren’t going to look exactly like someone else because we are all unique individuals. Wouldn’t it be easier to work out to achieve your best body?
Speaking of how we look and feel in our own skin, some of us are motivated by wanting to look good in our bathing suits but depending on where you live, bathing suit season may only be a few months of the year. Some people may stay motivated to keep working out once the sweaters and scarfs come out. But if the main goal of working out involves a bathing suit then the colder months make it easy to procrastinate and fall out of the routine.
It’s the same idea with New Years resolutions. How many of us make a resolution to eat better or work out more then lose the motivation a few weeks or months later? We aren’t working out for the right reasons and therefore most of the time it isn’t sustainable.
What motivates you? We should work out because of how it makes us feel! Working out should make us feel good. It should give our bodies energy and it should make our minds feel more positive. We should feel happier and more alive! When your focus is on being healthy, the pounds and inches will follow just from working out and eating more whole foods. If you feel stuck and unable to move forward like many of us do, work out for optimal health not for body image results. Strive to feel amazing and the looks you want will happen naturally! If we shift our intentions and goals of working out to creating our body, our temple, to be as healthy as it can be, then the focus is on health and not weight. Work out to be healthy and to feel good! Getting rid of those extra pounds is an added bonus!
4) Stop Waiting Until Tomorrow
How many times have you been psyching yourself up to start working out just to end up saying you will start tomorrow, or start on Monday, or start next week, or start after x-y-z happens? Procrastination is going to get you if you keep waiting. If you had a plan to start today the only way to break free from procrastination and rationalization is to start today – start now. Tomorrow will always come but it is pretty likely there will be another reason to wait again tomorrow. Many of us have a hard time with change and starting a new routine can be really difficult but it doesn’t make it easier by just waiting. Avoidance isn’t going to get you someplace different than where you are. If you were where you wanted to be then you probably wouldn’t be reading this post so it is time to start now because deep down you really want to!
If you find yourself falling into this procrastination trap just start your workout right now. That’s right – start now! Put the phone, computer, or tablet down and go do something right now. I give you permission to come back to this later..I promise it will still be here! If you are still reading because you don’t know what to do then here are a few Quick Start ideas:
- Get up and go for a quick walk
- Do 10 jumping jacks
- Run in place
- Jump up and down
- Walk up and down the stairs a few times
5) The “Start And Then Stop” Trick
Another way to get over the procrastination hump is to tell yourself you are just going to start working out and see how you feel. Once you start if you aren’t feeling it then stop. We put so much pressure on ourselves to start because we already have a workout mindset of how we think the workout needs to go in order to be successful and then we rationalize why we shouldn’t start now because of whatever reason.
Next time you find yourself having a hard time starting a workout try this: Start the workout by telling yourself that you just need to do one thing then see how you feel. More times than not you will keep going because the actual working out isn’t the hard part. The hard part is getting yourself to just do it. Once you start you will most likely keep going and feel awesome after! If you need ideas to start something just start off stretching, turn on your favorite music and just dance, refer to my Quick Start ideas in the previous tip, or do what makes you feel good!
When we work out for our health and well being instead of for the way we look or the weight on the scale, then we don’t have an end goal that can cause us to stop because we can always be healthier. Working out adds many benefits into our lives like reducing stress and increasing our mood. It makes us feel full of life and we want to continue because we want to feel good. We love that feel good feeling we get from working out because we produce dopamine. When we feel good, we can see a difference in our self. It is easy for people to notice how you look when you are working out but make the goal to be for people to notice how you feel. We all want to be healthy and happy. Working out gives us energy, helps us deal with stress better, and makes us feel happier. Work out to feel good because happiness looks good on you!
