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What do you use to motivate yourself to stay fit?

I'm fixing to start exercising again (ugh) and as badly as I want to get back in the shape I was in last year, I really dread giving up my Dr. Peppers and waking up at six to run. I know what I've got to do- change the way I eat & the amount of exercise I do. What do you use to motivate yourself? Make a daily list? Weigh daily? I would like to know some techniques that work and how you do them specifically. the reason I'm giving up sodas completely, or attempting to anyway, is because I eat out a lot, and that's something I can't stop doing. Between work, gateway, and the fact that my mother doesn't hardly keep anything in the house, It's not something I can compromise. I figured if I was a little more careful in all other areas that maybe it would help compensate. The only reason I gained all this weight in the first place is because I got on birth control. I had never had problems before then! :(

Public Comments

1. When the number ron the scale goes down, and keeps going down, there is no better motivation.
2. Whatever you do, don't weigh yourself daily, that will simply drive you insane. Exercising regularly is just something that you have to get used to, once it's part of your daily life it's not a big deal. Why are you giving up soda entirely? I understand it contains a lot of excess calories, but I think it's harder to stick to exercise/diet plan when you're super strict with yourself. I just found exercises that I enjoy and set a schedule for myself. I found that it was a lot easier to stick to after I'd done it for about a month or so and I started to see some results. Good luck!
3. Do NOT weight yourself daily. If you end up going up, then you'll feel discouraged and quit your diet. Instead of dr. peppers get some crystal light, or other flavoring mix. Maybe some gatorade or propel? Make your intake is mainly water though. Maybe give yourself rewards. For example: 10 days without breaking the diet- New purse 20 days without breaking the diet- New shoes drinking 8 cups of water every day for 1 week- new necklace or something you'd like to do.
4. here is what i do whenever i want to eat something that's not on my diet, or i don't want to do something on my workout routine, i go online and print out a picture that of a person that has a body that's not as good as mine or someone who has a better body, and if im going of track and look at it and that helps me stick to it
5. Motivational techniques that work for somebody else might not work for you and vice-versa. People can tell you what they do so you can find inspiration and ideas that suit you but nobody can tell you that should do this or not do that, just because it did or did not work with their personality. For example, I weigh myself every day before breakfast because I like knowing that a spike up or down is just that and therefore becomes irrelevant. Of course, you should not do that if you freak out each time you gain a few pounds on the scale in a couple of days. I could weigh myself every week or every month but then when I would have a difference of several pounds, how would I know that it’s just a spike up or down, unless I weigh myself every day? I don’t care if I gain a couple of pounds one day because I ate salty food the day before or if I lost 2 pounds because my body got rid of some water retention or because I ate or drank something diuretic. I don’t bother about water/waste fluctuations. I really look at my daily weight on a monthly basis, so the water retention and getting rid of it, becomes irrelevant and then I can really get an idea if I gained, maintained or lost weight. My weight is always the confirmation of my diet and exercising (or the lack of it, sometimes). What really matters is the weight I always come back to, between down spikes and up spikes. This is the one caused by fat reserves and muscle mass gains or losses. Usually, what you want is lose fat reserves and gain muscle mass. Some people like simplicity, go for a jog, make it a habit and don’t think about it too much while making fun of people like me who treat their exercise program like a science project. I go for a jog, I’ll know my time, my distance, my speed, my physical condition, weather condition, etc…For me, realizing that I’m going faster for the same physical effort, as I get in better shape, is a great motivational tool. Some people like shopping and they use that as a reward system, I don’t do that because I don’t particularly like buying stuff. Just looking in the mirror is a reward for me. And there are rewards all day long, like those stairs that are easy to climb, that bag of grocery that is light and not heavy, sudden realizations like “gosh…I have nice legs!” Also, when I’m thin, I wear clothes better because I don’t make fat reserves evenly. I like numbers. Calorie intake, calorie expenditure, weight, tape measurements… I’m gathering data like I’m doing a scientific experiment and I’m glad when my physical results align perfectly with all my numbers. I only count my calorie intake when I want to lose weight so I don’t eat too much and can use exercising to lose fat reserves. I never have more than a few pounds to lose because I know how hard it is to lose 10 pounds of fat reserves so I never want to have to lose more than that. Note: Hardly = almost not. Your mother hardly keeps anything in the house. (not: doesn’t hardly keep…) I wish I would be like your mother. I have too much food in my house, and too much space to store it all.