Being an Online Fitness Coach, you may expect that each day I bounce out of bed feeling motivated for a "gruelling workout", a day of "clean eating" and smashing my goals.
To be totally honest with you, just like you, I also struggle to find motivation. It can often feel like an effort for me to get up and get moving.
If I rewind right to the beginning of my journey, exercising and an improved diet was somewhat sporadic. There would be one or two weeks where I would feel so motivated, smash out a few workouts, eat well, and feel on top of the world.
Then for some unknown reason, my motivation would dip and I would experience three or four weeks of complete lack of desire to move my body or eat healthily.
My internal dialogue would be something like:
"I will never be fit and lean"
"I will end up failing at it anyway"
"I am not cut out for exercise"
On low motivation days, I would say things like "I feel so fat/frumpy/lazy".
By convincing myself that these statements were true, I would avoid exercise at all costs by being "too busy" or "too tired" to exercise.
I would then resume low-effort activities and comfort eating to soothe my shattered self-confidence and low mood.
The thing was, I knew deep down that I wanted to live a healthier life, I desperately wanted to feel good about myself. Eventually, the time came when enough was enough...
...so I started to do something about it!
On the days I didn't feel like exercising, I set myself a challenge to just get to the gym or step outside.
If I could achieve that, then my next challenge was to exercise for as long as I could manage - even if this was only for five or ten minutes.
By just doing what I could manage at the time, I built up confidence for the next workout.
I developed a sense of self-belief in myself that even on the days I didn't feel like it, I still could do a little bit of something and enjoy it.
Through doing a little bit of something regularly, I slowly got physically fitter, and more confident.
The rest is pretty much history.
By not having the expectation that every workout needs to be a sweat-inducing, stomach-churning workout to be worth the effort, I have been able to build on the main key ingredient for real progress...
...Consistency!
The only difference between your motivation and my motivation is that I have had lots of practice at being consistent.
I have learned that, no matter the duration, every bit of movement is worth the effort when you remain consistent. I also know that if I miss a workout or two, it won't matter because I can just get straight back to it.
After all, what're a few missed workouts within a year of consistent effort?
Don't expect that you can remain consistent at everything though...there are things in my life that I am not so consistent at, such as reading or meditating.
Likewise, there will be things you are great at committing to that are important to you, maybe you're consistent with cleaning your home, or visiting family. It's all relative to each individual's current priorities.
You are the decider of which of your priorities are more suited to your longer-term aspirations and goals.
If you want to make a change to your health and fitness, avoid waiting for motivation to come to you. Start taking action today. Keep it consistent and as simple as you can and build on it from there.
Here are my top 3 tips to increase motivation:
Make it as easy as possible - If you want to move more but currently doing little to no exercise, you don't need to go from 0 to 60 minutes of exercise four times per week. Why not just commit to 10 minutes of exercise 2 or 3 times per week. Once you are able to manage that, you can increase your time spent exercising.
Focus on becoming consistent over reaching the end goal - If your goal is to lose one stone but you believe that you are not seeing results after a few weeks of effort, you may feel disheartened. It can then be easy to give up if your goal seems out of reach and too much effort. If you focus on doing something each day, no matter how small, then in time you will notice great results!
Observe your self-talk - You may feel tired, but you can probably manage a 5-minute workout without falling asleep. Likewise, feeling fat or lazy does not mean that is a fact. If you catch yourself speaking negatively, you could try to reframe the sentence. Such as; "I feel tired but I can manage a 5-minute workout". Being kinder to yourself is going to help lift you up and motivate you to move your body. Think about how you would speak to a loved one and treat yourself with the same kindness.
Starting on a fitness journey can be daunting and overwhelming. A fitness coach can help you navigate these challenges and keep you right on track. If you need help improving your consistency with exercise and healthy eating I can offer help in many ways. If you would like to learn more about the services I offer, feel free to email me at natalie@thewellnessmentor.co.uk.
Get your FREE trial of Online Workouts with The Wellness Mentor and start taking action today.
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