Let's Get MOTIVATED!

Hey guys! This morning I woke up and remembered that I have to work out. My thoughts went a little like this: Well. I have to work out today. What should I do? Running? It's too hot. Workout DVD? It's only 20 minutes. Maybe. Meh.

As you can see, I wasn't exactly thinking about how thrilled I was to have a healthy day.

So, I decided to come up with a list of ways to get motivated to exercise, eat well, and stay on track with a healthy lifestyle! Hope this is helpful :)

5 Ways to Motivate/Re-motivate Yourself!

1. Do the MATH! 

The other day, I got home from work and flopped onto my bed. In my mind, I was done for the day. Exercise? No way, Jose. Then, after a few minutes of playing around on my iPhone, I came across an app designed to calculate body fat percentage, BMI, BMR, and Waist-to-Hip Ratio. Just for fun, I plugged in my measurements. I found that my BMI is slightly too high and my body fat percentage is a little higher than I'd like, as well. Physically seeing those numbers and the risks they held for me motivated me to get up and get active! Here's an online calculator that can help you do the math!

2. Do some fashion pinning!

Of course we all know that the Health&Fitness section of Pinterest can offer us invaluable health advice, inspirational quotes, and a myriad of other helpful tools. But, for me, the Women's Fashion section is far more motivational. See a cute dress, bikini, or sweater? Yeah, it looks great on that model, but if you keep sitting on the couch, it's not gunna look so great on you. I know the promise of looking better in cute clothes is a great motivator for me! So, if you want to get motivated, do some pinning!

3. Do some Instagram creepin.

Okay, well, let's not call it "creepin." How about "searching"? Search for the hashtags #beforeandafter #beforeandafterweightloss #weightloss and I guarantee you will find something that inspires you. If you put down the donut and pick up the whole grain toast, maybe one day you can have a picture as inspiring as, say, this:

 4. Create a Motivation Board/Wall!

Seeing is believing, right? If you have to walk past a motivation board every morning, chances are you will feel more inclined to stay on track. I haven't had a chance to do this yet, but it sounds like such a great idea! Pick some inspirational quotes, print off your workout schedule, highlight your goal weight, and add anything to this board that you know will get you off your butt and into the gym. I love how this example has a bikini physically on the board. I know seeing that would make me wanna do a few extra crunches!

 5. Promise yourself a reward for after you finish.

I love rewarding myself for weight loss. Even though the ultimate goal weight is far out of my reach, rewarding myself for little victories makes the task seem much less daunting, and makes the goal seem closer and more concrete. But rewards don't just have to be for lower numbers on the scale. I have a much less formal rewards system for when I work out that I like to call eating more food. Some days, I'm tempted to skip my workout and just eat less food. The problem is, I usually skip my workout and then eat the same amount of food. To motivate myself to exercise, I've started thinking about one specific food I'm allowed to eat if I go through with my workout. So today, since I'm going to work out, I get to eat a Weight Watchers ice cream bar! Yay! 

Also, if you feel like food isn't the best motivator for you, give yourself a different mini-reward when you finish. Have your chipped nails been driving you crazy? Tell yourself you have to do 100 jumping jacks before you're allowed to re-paint them.

And in the end, you know what's more rewarding than a manicure or an ice cream bar?

LOOKING AWESOME AND BEING FIT!

That's what I wanna feel like stepping onto the scale!

Hope this helps! Now I gotta go work out :) Guess writing blog posts is a bit motivational, too :)

-Ellen