Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Owing You An Update...

Sorry for no posts recently...it's just SO hard to fit everything I want to do in. I guess that's a really good thing as compared to a year ago when I would go home to sit on the couch to watch TV and eat. I think that I just have SO much more energy and like Jenna said in her comment on my last post...it happened so slowly that I didn't even realize it. What a great thing!

Normally when I don't blog for a while it's a sign that I'm not doing super well, I have nothing great to report, and there isn't much good going on in my head so no great revelations happening. So... I don't blog. But lately it's a little different. I'm doing ok. I'm steady. Not moving mountains, but steady.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about "wanting" in a couple of different ways. Why do I want to be thin and healthy and why do I NOT want to work out. Yep, I'm confessing it. I do NOT want to do the work to get what I want. So I've been trying to figure that one out. I DO workout and I DO eat healthy, but if I'm being really honest I don't WANT to. Lot's of my workouts these days are complete drudgery. The only one's I really enjoy are the times I am with my trainer Tahna. SHE is amazing and her energy is SO contagious. I really feel like she could tell me to climb a mountain and if she says I can do it, I'll be at the top in no time. I'm having a hard time however finding that in myself.

What do you do to stay motivated? And is motivation really important? How do you stick with it when it's really NOT something you enjoy all the time. Do you think my enjoyment of working out will come back? (I used to enjoy it a LOT more...) Thoughts?

4 comments:

  1. eh, motivation. This sure is tricky. I don't think anyone has really figured out the answer, otherwise they would have become a millionaire!

    My only motivation was relying on the blog to vent and whine & complain on days when I really needed to and hearing all the feedback from people saying "go go go go go!" And, now here I am 100lbs later and my motivation is different. You wanna know what it is now? Not wanting to go back to having to turn sideways to get into a public bathroom. Or not wanting to have difficulties when I get on an airplane trying to walk down the only.for.size.zero.people isle. Or not wanting to be out of breath every time I walk up my own stairs to go to the bathroom. That's my motivation - the memories of what it was like and not wanting to go back.

    You and Chris are doign so well Cheryl! Lets face it, the devel made doritos and ho-hos and brownies and mexican food (Acopolco?!!). The food will never go away, it will never get easier to say now. Okay, I'll stop rambling in your comments and leave you alone.

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  2. The trick is NOT sticking with it if you don't enjoy it - forcing yourself to do anything is the quickest way to get discouraged and give up. If you just dread doing something, don't do it. If you like it OK, maybe only do it once in awhile, or try doing it differently (listening to music, maybe?). Try to find a few different things you like and at least one thing you LOVE, and rotating them around. Try anything at least once, knowing you never have to do it again if you don't want to.

    Also, don't forget what I think of as "inadvertent exercise". I *love* gardening, for example, and an hour of that will kick your tush as much as an hour at the gym. Or you could volunteer at an animal shelter, cleaning and playing with the animals. In Oregon, we have an organization called SOLV (I don't know if they're national), and they organize clean-ups of beaches and parks in the area - you could get involved in something like that. Finding ways to "exercise" without thinking of it as exercise is the best way I've found to keep myself motivated. It's not "crud, I have to workout tonight", it's "cool, tonight's the night I get to get rid of those hydrangea bushes that have been bugging me for months." I do still go to the gym when I'm able, but I don't HAVE to go to the gym; it's not a chore in my day.

    The worst thing about inadvertently eating: your hips don't care if you meant to eat that second (or third) piece of chocolate cake, the fat will grow there whether you meant it to or not. But that's the BEST thing about inadvertent exercise: your muscles don't care whether you meant to work out by wrestling with the puppy for 20 minutes, they get more toned whether you meant them to or not! :)

    Keep up the great work, you'll always go through periods of loving what you're doing and periods of just doing it because you have to, but the results, like both you and Jen said, are worth it in the end!

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  3. Your questions were so good that I've been mulling them over for a couple days.
    Motivation is very important b/c in this journey it's the foundation. Its the answer to "why don't I just stop at 24 minutes today instead of 45 on the Elliptical." I'm not stopping because I want to be healthy and strong and the only way to get there is by doing the work and today the work is 45 minutes.
    I think our feelings about motivation can fluctuate too. I'm more excited now than I was in the beginning. Reason being I can see progress (wow my hard work is paying off). In the beginnins I was apprehensive about achieving success b/c of my past experiences with weight loss. I was convinced something was wrong with me and therefore unable to get where I wanted to be.
    Tahna workouts r always more "fun" b/c you've got the power of accountability working in your favor. There's something about accomplishing a task (can you give me five more reps) when its asked by someone else, especially when that someone is a person you respect/admire and u know they believe in you and what u r doing.
    When I feel the mojo waivering I fall back on the commitment I made to myself. I dont feel like doing the work today but I made a commitment & I'm not giving up. Its usually not one of my better workouts or meals but I showed up and did the work and that's what keeps me on track.
    Something else that is important is taking time out to think about what I've done. Take stock of the pounds and inches lost, and muscle gained. Look at photos of the old you and the new you.

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  4. Maybe you wouldn't dread working out so much if you and Chris could do it together more often, but that's just an idea.

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