Motion to Motivate

This time last year, things were going smoothly.  I was exercising many times a week, and had lost over 20 pounds.  I was well on my way to the finish line.  Well, that line turned out not to indicate the end of my weight struggles, but the beginning of new ones.  Namely, it was the line on a pregnancy test that sealed my weight fate.  In the perfect world of "fit pregnancies", beautiful women with beautiful baby bumps, a fifteen pound gain, nothing more.  Well,  I come from a long line of baby makers. I'm proud to be the mother of five, be a sister of 4 siblings and be the granddaughter of a remarkable woman who bore 13.  And we carry "big ".   So with that said,  family history and my own history foretold that I was again foreseeing a 9 month long, 50 pound setback.  

But I had high hopes for this pregnancy,  since I had been on such a good run with exercise and weight loss.  The pregnancy progressed quickly,  and something bizarre happened.  I gained the most during this pregnancy, and the why is still haunting me.  Now here I exist, gorgeous, sweet baby girl in arm (who, by the way, weighed 8lbs 8 oz,  not at all justifying a 60 pound gain) still holding 50 pounds of baby weight and 30 pounds of pre-baby weight.  Excuse me but what the hell happened?  And to wrap my head around getting on a weight loss regimen again was daunting at best.  It was just too huge to comprehend.  So, how did I get back on the wagon?  It didn't happen automatically, or easily.  There was a method, and here it is.

Now for the nuts and bolts of having the motivation to start and finish a weight loss program.  First, the important thing to know is that you do not get motivation, you have to build it! What does that mean? Building motivation means you must let the excitement of doing something great for yourself grow inside you.  And you can get this excitement by doing some specific things.  Let it get super exciting by going through the steps to growing motivation.

-Step 1: Remember what worked in the past.  Was it a particular weight loss program or a particular aspect of it?  Get out the little details of what worked for you and remember them in any way that is most natural and second nature.  Every program has nice little elements, why not take those elements for your own use.  For me, using loseit (www.loseit.com) worked really well.  I never liked tracking my food, but loseit is free and an excellent program.

-Step 2: Add something new that will work with where you are now in your life.  You might have a new job that affords you the ability to walk during lunch, a new salad bar in the cafeteria, or a great health food restaurant in the area.  Or if you're at home with the kids, revamping your shopping trip to include organic foods for the whole family in exchange for the pop tarts.  Be specific, ensure that it's easy to do, and make it reality!

-Step 3: Put 1 & 2 together.  Personalize your program to what works specifically for you and your situation.  You are the expert of exactly what you need to lose weight.  Write it down, make it pretty (or manly) make it YOURS!  

-Step 4: Remove any triggers for old behaviors.  **This I found to be very effective!**  Control your environment. OK, what does that mean?  We hear those words all over the place but what is it really talking about? 

•  It means removing food network from your TV watching. 
•  It means inundating yourself with TV that will motivate you, in my case, it just happened to be the start of the Olympics.  So, of course, those hardbodies are going to motivate anybody into getting into shape and getting into a program.  The timing was good, but the key is to build the motivation with inspiration.  The fact that I like watching the Olympics was a definite bonus.
• It means reading Shape magazine instead of Gourmet. 
• It means listening to inspiring podcasts, like Jillian Michaels, or reading success stories of others who have conquered the weight.  Weight Watchers has a facebook page that posts success stories. 
• It means joining or starting something to be near people on the same road, like this blog, a walking club, or simply a buddy for awesome support.  
• Then the obvious, it means surrounding yourself with great food.

-Step 5: Start using "I do" and "I don't" statements, even if they're not wholly true yet.   Start thinking and making statements that are saying how you want to be as if you're already there.  These are the ones I use, "I don't eat fast food", " I love exercise, it feels really good", "I don't eat between meals" " I drink mainly water" "I don't eat after 7:00"  Tackle those challenges by just saying to yourself and out loud how you want to think, and eventully those statements will become real.  My big one it "I don't eat by myself".  I'm a closet eater, I eat mostly when I'm alone, because I have a feeling of shame associated with how I eat.  These statements are not supposed to sound like things you're trying to convince yourself of, they sound like things you're already decided about.  Equate your statements to the other statements you make in life, like "I don't smoke", with that much decisiveness.  They are very empowering statements.  Start making these statements today!  Today, I will say "I don't eat full fat ice cream", when I'm picking it out at the store later.  Internally, I'm proud to be part of the group of people that don't eat full fat ice cream. I actually want to try making my own, so I have control over ingredients. "Automatic Ice Cream Maker (Blueberry)" (Google Affiliate Ad)    But I digress.

Some of these steps won't last for a long time, but some will.  The key for right now is to build your motivation to grab your health in both hands and take back control.  When is right now, though?  This important, too.  Right now is when you know you're ready, not when someone tells you it's time.  Build the motivation to carry you through the first leg of the journey.