6 Tips on Staying Motivated
You know exercise and nutrition are good for you. It controls your weight, reduces risks of diseases, and improves your mental health and mood.
Doing it though, is another thing. In particular, overcoming the inertia to get started can be a huge first step.
But sticking to a workout and nutrition program is even harder. It takes deep, lasting, dedication, consistency and motivation. That’s why more than a third of the world’s population is overweight.
Furthermore, many think that exercise and nutrition have to be torturous, time-consuming and/or exhausting, therefore avoiding it.
Not having the right motivation coupled with the negative views of exercise and nutrition have caused millions of people to start a program only to quit halfway. In this article, I’ll be sharing on some tips that can help you to stay motivated.
It’s normal to feel exhausted at times.
1. Debunk Demotivating Myths
On Exercise
Many people see exercise as something that must be intense in order to be effective. However, numerous studies have shown that the benefits of exercise can be reaped with 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity, such as brisk walking. Think about it - 150 minutes a week of exercise is less than 2% of your time!
If you are still unable to commit so much time to exercise, remember that any physical activity is better than no physical activity. You don’t have to sweat, you don’t have to hate the exercise you’re doing, and you don’t have to do it for more than 30 minutes if you just do not have the time to.
Instead of thinking of exercise as something time-consuming, try to include it as part of your lifestyle, or as a relaxing activity, like hiking with a friend or fitness classes. That is a good starting point.
On Nutrition
Sticking to a nutrition plan does not mean you have to restrict yourself from the food you love. In my previous article, I’ve explained the importance of flexibility in a nutrition plan. It is important that we do not see nutrition as a binary approach, where a slight deviation will result in failure. You can eat pizza, ice cream and cakes yet achieving your fitness goals, as long as you know what to do.
2. Set Goals and Track your Progress
Setting goals give you long-term vision and short-term motivation. It helps you to organize your time and your resources so that you can make the most of your life.
Apart from being clearly defined, goals should also be realistic and enjoyable (see my previous article under “Adherence”). It is easy to give up if your goals are too ambitious, time-consuming, or exhausting.
Furthermore, goals should also be flexible. For example, setting goals like “I have to clock 5 km of running today” or “I must do my High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) at home for an hour, thrice a week” can create unnecessary stress on yourself. On bad days when you just can’t seem to complete 5 km of running, clocking 3 km is still commendable. Or if work was overwhelming that day, 20 minutes of HIIT is great too!
On the other hand, goals should not be all about how you look. When exercise and nutrition are all about the physical appearance, and you fall short of your expectations a few times, you might just end up giving up. Instead, try to set intrinsic goals like becoming better at the exercise, or being aware of what nutrition can do to your health. This can help in long-term sustainability.
Another approach on goal setting is to set micro goals that can help you celebrate smaller victories, like nailing your first push-up, or running 3 km without stopping. From there, set bigger goals and then gradually increase the duration or intensity of your workouts to hit them. Remember to document these achievements, so that when you look back you’ll see how far you’ve come.
And if you do hit your goals (short term or long term), don’t forget to reward yourself, no matter how small! Soaking in a hot tub, watching your favorite show or bigger rewards like a massage or a night out can help you stay committed.
3. Expect Obstacles
Having the right expectations allow you to better manage stresses, which is important in the long run. In the fat loss or muscle building journey, many expect progress to be linear. You might be expecting your scale weight to go down every week, having motivation all day and hitting personal records every time you attempt one.
Truth is, nothing about this journey is linear.
Your scale will go up and down. You will lose motivation at times. You will have bad days. You will plateau. You won’t lose weight every week. You won’t get stronger every week. You will mess up at times. You will want to quit.
But, these are part of the journey. And it’s totally normal. Don't freak out. Instead, embrace them. Most importantly, pick yourself up and try again!
Bad workout days are totally normal. Embrace them!
4. Find the Fun
Adding a friendly competition with your friends or even with yourself has shown to have major boosting power on achieving your fitness goals. It is not only fun, but can also help you stretch your limits.
Also find a sport or activity that you enjoy, and exercise no longer have to be mundane anymore! You can also vary the routine to keep it interesting.
On nutrition, learning how to cook, or trying out new nutritious dishes is not only a fun way to be active, it can also help you be more aware of the food you eat!
5. Get Support
Studies have shown that finding support for your weight loss efforts can make the difference between success and failure. Be it friends, family, or even hiring a personal trainer, having someone to cheer you on is important for long term weight loss success.
It is normal to lose motivation at times. Thus it would be good to have that extra motivation from external parties to keep yourself going. Having someone that can hold you accountable and not let you off the hook may work well for some as well.
Another way is to either schedule a workout with a buddy or group, or just get a family member or a friend to check in on you. Sometimes you may get too busy and miss your workout for the day. A friendly reminder will definitely help!
Having a workout buddy can increase motivation and adherence.
Do also share your goals with your loved ones so they can also understand if you’re blocking out time for exercise or choosing not to eat fattening food at times.
If these are not enough, consider having a personal trainer can further fuel you because you’re actually spending money to achieve your goals. In this way, the idea of not putting in the effort is a lot less tempting. On the flip side, if you do meet your goals, the money you’ve invested in is all worth it.
6. Make Exercise Part of your Life
Ultimately, you want to achieve something that is sustainable. You wouldn’t want to shred off 5 kg of fats, only to put them on a year later, would you?
As you start to develop habits, motivation is less needed. Think about it - do you need motivation to brush your teeth? No, right? That’s because you have been doing it your whole life, and have made it a habit that you need not actively think about.
Translate that for exercise and nutrition!
Take the stairs instead of the lift. Walk back from the train station instead of taking the bus. Drink a glass of water before every meal. Take a walk during your break. These changes may seem small by itself, but accumulated over days and weeks can significantly improve your health. Over time, these changes will become a habit, and you have actually successfully made exercise and nutrition a part of your life!
Walk your way to good health.
From there, you may want to step up a notch - head to the gym 3 evenings a week, or filling your plate with protein before every meal.
Conclusion
There are a long list of things that may stand in the way of exercise and nutrition, like fear, confusion, suffering or boredom. But it does not have to be that way. Exercise and nutrition can be enjoyable and extremely rewarding, you just have to find the motivation to do so.
Motivation does not happen out of the blue. It has to come from you. And in order to optimize motivation, you’ll have to set up an environment that can help you.
With my 6 tips above, I hope it’ll put you in the right environment where you can find the motivation to achieve your fitness goals!
Do share with someone who needs to see this!
P.S. - still struggling with motivation? Drop me a message!
