How To Stay Motivated – Fitness Update

 

It’s been three months since I started working out 5-6 days a week, and overall I’ve been doing really well. It took me awhile to get on board with the healthy eating aspect, but I’m doing it. I haven’t been doing well in that department during the first three months. My new mantra is “Keep going, don’t stop!” Pinterest has also been a great help with keeping me motivated. You can find new workouts that will keep you from getting bored with the gym. I get bored easily, so I have to change up my strength training and cardio each week.

Nutrition

It wasn’t until the past three weeks that I realized that if I’m going to shape up before my best friends wedding and hit some personal goals, that I needed to focus on food prep, drinking more water and making better food choices. I made a lot of excuses on why I couldn’t do food prep, especially with making chicken. Chicken takes awhile to cook and I have a hard time digesting chicken, so I’m focusing on eating tilapia and shrimp. I’ve allowed myself to have pizza and go to IHOP on Sunday’s but I always hit the gym as soon as I’m done eating. Since exercising on a regular basis, my acid reflux has been much better (except when I eat pizza). This has been a huge deal for me because over the last few years I’ve struggled with stomach pain and acid reflux issues.

Additionally, I started taking No2. Ripcuts and drinking it on an empty stomach. I’ve only been using it for about a week now but it’s supposed to help me lose fat and lean out, so I’m really hoping that it works.

A New Addiction

The gym has become my sanctuary when I’m stressed, lonely or feeling depressed. A strange side effect to working out 5-6 days a week is craving exercise. I feel weird if I don’t go the gym now, which is a positive side effect. It’s so strange but true what they say about creating a habit. You have to be consistent so you train your mind to crave working out. It’s so easy to make excuses for not having time or energy, but you have to make your health a priority. About eight years ago, I decided to make God and church a priority in my life. That means that going to church on Sunday and Holy Days of Obligations were non-negotiable. That meant making time to go to church every day to pray before the Blessed Sacrament and pray the rosary was absolutely necessary. Now fitness is in the daily musts do category.

My schedule now consists of work, church, workout, and repeat. Sometimes having the same schedule helps because you feel obligated to workout because it’s part of your schedule. This has helped me be more consistent with my workout routine.

Staying Focused

My friends wedding is about a week away and I’ve been working hard to get in shape. I’m not where I would like to be and wished I was a little thinner, but I keep reminding myself that it will take at least a year to change my body composition. So it’s important to not give up on your goals even when the main event is near and develop new goals. My next goal is to continue to reduce body fat (especially around my midsection) and gain more muscle.

Trusting In The Process

Believing that change is possible is the hardest part. After being a certain shape for so many years, it’s hard to imagine being different. Changing my eating habits has been really difficult because I don’t see my midsection shrinking down as much as I would like. Staying motivated is difficult, but I’ve been following other women who have changed their body and way of life. Some of my favorite fitness gals on Instagram are Nikki Blackketter, Sami Rose, and Tay Chayy just to name a few. It helps to know that these girls didn’t always have the perfect body, but they worked hard and changed the way that they ate and over time they’re bodies changed. The great thing is is that they all have strong, healthy bodies and Nikki and Sami are around my height (5-2).

As a teen I was self-conscious about my legs because they had more muscle mass than the other girls. I thought my legs looked too masculine, well I’ve come to find out that have toned legs and backside is a great thing! I don’t have to train my legs as hard as other girls do because I naturally have muscle mass, so I’m eternally grateful to my parents for such good genetics.

Remember Why Your Doing This

In the end, all that matters is that your healthy, strong and happy. Always workout for yourself and no one else, and make it priority no matter how busy you are.