Fitness Friday - Motivation: Where does it come from and how do you keep it?

Where do you get your motivation? How do you stay motivated? Do you find it hard to get motivated or stay motivated? I've never had a problem finding motivation. I cannot count how many times I felt super motivated/focused to lose weight. I started eating well, exercising lots and I was so determined to lose the weight, get to 140lbs. And then I would start snacking, exercise less often, and I would never lose more than 10lbs and even at that 10lbs was the most I've ever lost!

After baby#1 I was motivated to become a runner and to lose my baby weight. I joined WW online, I ran 3-4 times a week, ran 2 10k races BUT I only lost about 10lbs in 10 months. I didn't hold on to that motivation. I went off WW, I lost focus on running, I didn't run the half marathon I signed up for and then I became pregnant with #2. I don't know why I lost my motivation. I did well with the exercise but couldn't get my eating under control. I really feel that deep down inside I didn't believe in myself. I had about 70lbs to lose and in the back of my mind I felt I couldn't do it.

Of course everyone has different reasons for finding motivation and staying motivated until you reach your goals. Not everyone is motivated by health issues, being physically fit or being alive to see your kids grow up. Some people just don't want to be fat and that's me. Getting my motivation this time around was easy, during my last pregnancy I only gained 28lbs and I was only 4lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight after giving birth, but I was already overweight from my 1st pregnancy and even before that. After giving birth, I ate and ate and ate, and I climbed up to 212lbs. I decided enough is enough, I wanted to get out of the 200's and FAST!

How have I stayed motivated? Before I would always just focus on my big goal, 140lbs, the magic number. And no matter how many pounds I had to lose, 10, 20,40, I thought it was too much, I'll never be able to do that, so I just sabotaged myself and gave up. Can you tell I'm lacking self-confidence? This time has been different, so far I've lost 30lbs. What's different this time? I'll tell you! I've celebrated all the small goals like they were my big goal. I felt genuine joy every time I hit a goal, no matter how small. And after hitting and passing so many goals it made me realize that getting to my final goal IS possible and that I WILL do it because I AM doing it! I was gaining something I've never had, self-confidence. I honestly believe in myself now and I think that is what is different for me this time. Seeing the scale continually going down, even though overall it has been slow going, has helped me to stay motivated. Even weeks where I lost less than a pound I was happy because I still lost. I didn't beat myself up, I just kept going.

I'm also very competitive and if I'm honest I love getting recognition. And people have started to notice my weight loss and that is keeping me motivated. And blogging has been a huge motivation! I've been writing about my weigh-ins and my running and people have commented using the word "inspiration"! This amazes me. I cannot believe that people are telling ME, that I'M an inspiration. This has really been pushing me to keep on top of my exercise. I even had some friends asking me to send them motivation and inspiration!! I'm honestly baffled by this. And of course, doing the 6 week challenge on More Workouts is keeping me motivated, being able to tweet with everyone about our progress is great. I don't want to be left behind so I do my workouts even when I'm super tired from my day with the kids.

As I mentioned, some people's motivation comes from simply just not wanting to be fat. I don't want to be fat because I was feeling so weak, I was lazy and I was incredibly insecure. I want to be a good example to my boys, I want to teach them to respect their bodies, that eating well and exercise are important. I also want to lower my risk for Diabetes, which my mom has and by losing 10% of my body weight I have lowered my risk by 58%! After losing 30lbs, I can see changes and I love it and that is definitely keeping me motivated. I'm slowly gaining some self-confidence, I have way more energy and exercise has become part of my everyday life. I want the scale to keep going down, I don't want to stay big any longer. I was looking through all of our photos from the last two years and I couldn't believe how big I had become. I honestly didn't think I was THAT big. And I don't want people to see me that way. (But I'll share with you a couple of photos)

October 2008 - Wow that is a lot of junk in my trunk!

Now - Can you see a difference? I see a bit of a change, but I'm motivated to keep changing!

Whatever reasons got you motivated and whatever is keeping you motivated, just go with it. If you feel like you're losing motivation than try focus on something new, set new goals, look at old fat photos, change your exercise routine, rejoice in what you have accomplished already, whether big or small. And someway, somehow have confidence in yourself, believe in yourself. You WILL reach your goals, you ARE doing it now.