Good morning folks! Happy Friday! This morning I am working job #6 until 12:30, and then hopefully hitting the gym before coming back here to pack and get ready for a fun weekend in New Hampshire!
I have decided that we should all have Wednesday off every week. It really broke up the work week and made Tuesday and Thursday bearable. Who’s with me?!
***P.S Our wedding is officially 3 months away!!! October 6th is on the horizon. 🙂 ***
Yesterday I finally did it! I finally made it to the gym for the first time since June 28th according to SLF.
Once again it was totally dead, just as I left it. What did they do without me this past week?!
I was so proud of myself because I REALLY didn’t want to go. On Tuesday I actually talked myself into going and got myself siked for a good workout and I arrived only to find the lights all off and a sign saying they closed at 1 and won’t be open until July 5th…. FAIL.
For some reason I have been feeling very sluggish and unmotivated lately. Hmmmmmm. Could it be the overwhelming amount of grilled meats, sangria, and desserts I have been enjoying lately along with the absolute absence of exercise?
BINGO! I am ashamed to admit that I am up 6 pounds since being on summer vacation! SIX! Now I know most of this is going to fall off as soon as I get back into my routine, but still. SIX?! I’m in a bad cycle friends. A bad cycle. It’s so hard over the summer to eat right. How can I pass up a free meal or dessert when our budget is so tight right now?!
When I was talking myself into going to the gym today, I started thinking about motivation.
What motivates me:
- Food. I often trick myself into going to the gym by telling letting myself go to Trader Joe’s after. 🙂 Hey it works!
- Verbal praise-When people make positive comments to me about how I look it motivates me to keep going! However- the reverse is also true. When I am out of the workout routine and my jeans are too tight, no one compliments me and I have no motivation to change. Vicious cycle.
- Progress- When I first started working out on a regular basis 2 years ago, the consistently diminishing number on the scale was my driving force. I have noticed it is hard to be motivated now that I have maintained a healthy weight and the scale stays pretty much the same. That dreaded plateau.
- Confidence-I have not always been the most confident person, and I would probably list that as one of my biggest weaknesses. People don’t always give me the benefit of the doubt (I’m a 5’2 blonde girl who looks 18) and it can be hard on the ego and confidence levels and makes me second guess myself and my decisions.
One of my favorite quotes of all time is “Half the victories in life come from the confidence and belief that you are going to win.” Just think about that quote for a second.
This was a quote by my grandfather, who was the strongest and most confident person I have ever known (my mom and Chris are a close second and third) and he just always believed that things would work out if you had the right attitude.
If you think about it, the most competitive and successful people in the world live and die by this quote. Before every major sporting event, what do the coaches do? Give a pep talk or inspirational speech about how great the team is, and how they “got this!” He or she instills that confidence into the players in order to achieve a victory.
In the classroom, we pump our kids up right before MCAS by giving them foods high in protein. Does this actually help improve test scores? Who knows. However telling the kids that protein is going to make them “super smart and amazing test takers” is a confidence building placebo effect which is proven to change the game and better the odds.
I am in serious need of a pep talk and placebo effect ASAP! I have numerous dress fittings and functions coming up and no room for this extra weight and lack of motivation!
Question:
What motivates you?
savorlifesflavors.wordpress.com 
Please Katy. Not even kidding, people can’t stop telling me how they saw you out or saw a pic and how great you look. Wedding great. And it’s awful cause then I have to follow up with “yea she’s doing a great job but no I haven’t excercised in months”. Stop showing people up. Your too skinny already.
I love you Teresa! Spoken like a true and fabulous bridesmaid. 🙂
I know exactly what you mean about verbal praise, and I feel the same way! I think it goes well with your quote though – I have a feeling it’s all about confidence and how you carry yourself. When you’re feeling good, people notice and compliment you! Also, I find focusing on a few of my qualities I like about myself (inside and out) tend to quickly motivate me to want to feel better about the rest of me. And my favorite motivation comes from people — when I’m lacking it — I line up activity dates with my fiance or friends to make sure that at least 4 days that week I’m taking walks, running, or doing something healthy! Stay motivated, you’re doing great and you have so many wonderful things coming up 🙂
Thank you so much for the support! It can be so hard to pull yourself out of your own funk sometimes! I certainly need to work on carrying myself a bit differently. I can sound very strong and brave on paper, but in actuality, It’s much harder to face the demons. Good luck in your own journey. We got this!
1. You are absolutely gorgeous!
2. Not that we’ve met, yet (August 17th!!!! Yay!) sorry, I’m back, but you can tell that you are an amazing person and light up a room just from your smile and personality.
3. Here are two websites I find quotes from that really motivate me: http://www.vincelombardi.com/quotes.html
http://reasonstobefit.tumblr.com/ 🙂
Aw you are just the best! You always put a smile on my face and put a positive spin on my attitude. I love the motivational quotes. 🙂
Oh, and I love your grandfather’s quote! He’s a very smart man. Ok, I’m done now. 🙂
🙂 That he was. He certainly had many incredible one-liners.
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