As many of you have realized (or not, depending on the craziness of your life), I have not been posting much--okay, ANYTHING in awhile.
This got me to thinking about motivation. What is it that motivates you? Lately, it seems nothing motivates me. But of course, that's not entirely true. A paycheck and an amazing cup of coffee motivates me to get up, get dressed, and go to work 5--and sometimes 6--days a week. Big brown sad puppy eyes motivates me to take the darling princess out for a walk at least once a day--even if it's just down the block.
I don't think there's anything wrong with a little motivation for practicing healthy behaviors--in fact, I think anything that will help give you the proverbial kick in the ass is a good thing. Everyone has different motivators. Now's the time to explore what truly motivates you and figure out how you can channel that energy into becoming healthier. There are a lot of things that can serve as motivator, but there is one thing that cannot: food. If you want to splurge and have a piece of cheesecake, go ahead--but it should be a splurge not a reward for good behavior! You are not a dog and don't "deserve" cookies for behaving or performing a trick--so save the cookies for the pupcicles!
Find a couple of non-food treats to help entice you into regularly performing your hellthy habits. Your rewards shouldn't just be about how much weight you've lost--focus on what will get you healthy--and you can reward yourself with a new SMALLER wardrobe for the weight loss!
For example, I love getting mani/pedi's--so rather than just getting one, I've decided to start earning them. How? NOT by deciding to get one every time I've lost 10 pounds, but by walking Addy! I now have to log at least 15 hours of Addy walking time before I can get a mani/pedi. This way we both get exercise & I get cute toes & fingers to boot!! Movies, clothes, facials, books, traveling...anything that you enjoy doing or buying can easily be converted into a motivating factor. By the way, myfitnesspal is a great--and FREE!--place online to keep track of your food & exercise (and you can log in with your Facebook or Twitter account).
The best part? Down the road, you'll realize how good you're starting to feel and you'll want to walk the dog, drink your water, eat your veggies, etc. simply because either you like how it makes you feel when you do it or you don't like how it makes you feel when you don't do it (and I'm not talking about GUILT either!). Shocking, right?!?!? But just you wait & see...
Oh, and the next time you want to buy cookies, just make sure they are for pupcicles!
~a little salt for your foot scrub while you get your pedicure as a reward for walking the pupcicle!
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