Finding your motivation

“You can have anything if you want it desperately enough”

If I knew the secret to getting every single individual motivated I would be in a very powerful position indeed, but unfortunately, as is the case with many human attributes, motivation is a complex and changeable state. For many, motivation, particularly when it comes
to health and fitness routines in innate; we learnt to eat and behave in a certain way when were small and will continue to do so for the rest of our lives. For others, a health scare or realisation that you are 20kgs heavier than you should be gives us the kick we need to change our daily habits and turn our lives around. Then there are those individuals who just seem to never get it
and keep at it; they try one health and fitness craze after the other, never cementing a pattern of living that give their bodies and lives at better chance.

If you are reading this it is safe to say that on some level you are motivated. If you know that now you also need to cement your motivation it may be useful to clarify a few things. Some simple
questions that may help you to clarify the key reasons that you want to get your body fit and healthy and ultimately keep it that way include:

What are the benefits of keeping my body fit and healthy?
How would my life be better if I felt better about my body?
Am I the kind of healthy role model I would like to be for my children?
Can I physically do all the things I would like to with my body?
What am I really putting into my body each day?
If I was fit, healthy and happy what would I be eating and what training would I be doing each day?
If I knew I could keep my body disease free by eating well and moving, would I be more inclined to move more and eat less?
Who are the people in my life who would support me living like this?
What changes can I make to my lifestyle today that will help move me closer to my goal of living well and feeling healthy?

Having clear answers to some or all of these questions is not only useful in helping to remind you of the bigger picture reasons for wanting to get in shape and stay there but keeping the answers to such questions on hand can be very useful to refer back to when and if you do find yourself going off track.

The truth is that for behavioural change to be sustained, the desire for wanting it needs to come from within. It cannot be based on wanting to look good for a wedding, or to fit a certain dress, it
has to come from deep within to such an extent as it actually becomes part of you and you can no longer imagine life without it. As you embrace this new approach to weight loss and control, give yourself time to cement your new habits – you need 3 months. 3 months of regular training and eating well for these behaviours to become habits. And the longer the habit is with you, the harder it is to break.