How to keep up that motivation
One thing is for sure; physical fitness and the motivation to achieve it goes hand-in-hand. Motivation, though used heavily while talking about high achievers, simply means the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It is that which causes you to act, whether to get a glass of water to quench your thirst or to read a book to gain knowledge.
It is not as if motivation comes automatically the day you decide to start working out. It’s got to be worked at; harder than any muscle you’ve ever worked for; everyday of your life.
So, what was my motivation?
Usually, there is a mighty story connected to someone’s motivation towards self-transformation. I have NONE! I did not have any health complications (thank God), wasn’t taking part in some beauty pageants or even sports meets; nor was I overweight or underweight. I was just unfit — unhealthy, easily fatigued, unable to sit on the floor or carry a chair…nothing much different from a lot of urban, middle-class women of my age…. For me, I just woke up one day and decided to be healthy and fit to be able to spend quality and energetic time with my family, instead of being the kachcha nimbu, that’s it.
And what kept me going?
The fact that there were two young ones watching my every move was a motivation enough to not give up. Add to that, having sportsman for a husband helped a lot too!
Plus, there were a few of my own commandments I came up with to keep my motivation up there:
1. Stopped looking for validation from others.
And by that I mean anybody who was not me. Anybody who said “you don’t need to lose any more weight” or “are you taking part in a pageant, lol” or “you are beautiful already” to fellow-gym female members who either looked at me enviously — coz I was thin, duh — or buff-boys, who looked askance coz they thought their boys’ club was being infiltrated by a girl!
2. Started understanding how the human muscular system works.
Hated biology in school; sleepwalked through the major systems that were being taught… and here I was, reading up, asking the trainers infinite questions, watching videos or reading up on the internet, all to understand what I was doing to my body.
3. Same with digestive system and metabolism.
They say, it’s not just that one hour in the gym; but the rest of the 23 hours that matter much more when you are weight training. What you eat, when you eat, how much you hydrate yourself and how much you rest; all is equally important if you really want to see results. I began to observe and understand my body’s rhythm and started eating and working out accordingly.
4. Started planning my day, the previous day.
Yup. Right from what my workout would be to what time I would hit the gym… coz once that was planned; and the pre and post workout meals were organized, there was just no reason to skip the gym.
5. Began working solely with keeping ‘that time of the month’ in mind.
Oh yes, I happen to belong to that unlucky majority of women who struggle with pain, discomfort and energy at ‘that time’. So, always worked with the thought that I will miss a week, which means, I cannot afford to miss any other day. That thought kept me going and before I realized, not only was I addicted to working out, I also became fitter and stronger to not require skipping the gym coz of ‘those days’.
6. Bought myself an awesome workout logbook on Amazon.
Did you think, I bought me some awesome clothes and shoes…well that too! But most important to keep me going was a logbook. Filling it in, checking my previous workout and looking at my progress gave me a beautiful high. I kept on working out to fill the book and the more I filled, the more I wanted to improve. A beautiful cycle…
7. There was no place for ‘just this once…’
From day one of my workout, I completely eradicated the term ‘just this once’ from my life. No missing the gym ‘just this once’, no eating a samosa ‘just this once’ and absolutely no taking phone calls during workout, unless extreme emergency, ‘just this once’. Over a period of time not only did everyone around me start respecting my workout regime, but they also started praising my commitment to it.
8. Change my outlook; my attitude
In my journey towards fitness, and to keep up my motivation, I worked on my attitude. I started involving some fun rewards for me for going through the week successfully. Weekends meant cheat meals.. which soon changed to once a month, to once in 3 months…
or, I’d give myself an extra hour of watching TV/reading a book or pour myself an extra cup of coffee…
I began to look at my workouts as time spent in the best company ever — myself; instead of a chore that someone (read: doctor) forced me to do.
In the end, all I can say is that working out and following a disciplined diet and lifestyle is hard. But so is looking into the mirror and not liking what you see. At some point, sooner, rather than later, one has got to choose what ‘hard’ do they want to live with. Also, it is not always about the looks…being fit is the only medal we will take into our sunset years.
