No More Excuses: How to Motivate Yourself to Lose Weight

October 4, 2012 by Featured Author

“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”
– Benjamin Franklin

Ben Franklin was onto something.

Have you ever met a successful person who was good at making excuses? I haven’t, either. Instead of wasting his time sitting around conjuring up good excuses, a successful person takes responsibility and does what he needs to do to achieve his goal. Simple as that.

If you want to lose weight, do it. Yes, it’s much easier to plop on the couch and crack open a bag of chips while cooking up a reason to skip another day at the gym instead of, well, going to the gym, but would you feel so great about yourself by the end of the day?

It’s easy to let your excuses discourage you from improving your body. It doesn’t have to be like that! Sometimes you just need a little push in the right direction, and what better way to do that than to debunk your lame excuses?

Excuse #1: I’m too busy.

Your life may be going 500 miles an hour, but there’s always a way to incorporate healthy behavior into your daily schedule. For example, the time spent waiting in a McDonald’s drive-through could be better spent preparing a quick healthy meal, like a cup of oatmeal or a bowl of salad. Exercise doesn’t always mean spending an hour at the gym. You can break up your exercise throughout the day or replace one of your activities with exercise (such as riding your bike to work instead of driving).

How to motivate yourself: Create a reward system. Every time you exercise or eat something healthy, give yourself a point. For every 100 points, treat yourself to something nice! Or, instead of a point, you can add a quarter to a jar and use the money to buy something you’ve had your eye on for a while.

Excuse #2: Being healthy is too expensive.

Organic food and gym memberships can be hard on the wallet, but there are plenty of other ways to eat well and work out on a shoestring budget. Did you know that you can get your daily intake of fruits and vegetables for an average price of $2 per day? That’s cheaper than a liter of soda! Buy frozen fruits and vegetables, whole grains in bulk, or prepare meals yourself instead of overpaying for already-made meals. Rent exercise videos from the library, jog around the park, or do physical labor around the house.

How to motivate yourself: Add a monetary value to everything you do or buy. This will help you go for the healthier option most of the time. A few examples include:

“Why should I buy this pack of soda when I can get water for free?”

“I’m watching cable T.V. This is costing me $50 per month. Maybe I should cancel cable and go hiking instead.”

“I spend $60 a week on gasoline, which adds up to $3,120 per year. Yearly bike maintenance costs a fraction of that.”

Excuse #3: It takes too long to lose weight.

Dieting and working out is a long and hard battle. Just because you don’t see instant results doesn’t mean it won’t happen eventually. Be patient, and keep it up. You just need to keep your eyes on the goal. You’ll get there someday.

How to motivate yourself: There are tons of ways to motivate yourself to keep going. You just need to monitor your progress and keep reminding yourself why you’re doing this. Take a photo of yourself on a weekly or monthly basis, and, whenever you feel like giving up, lay out the photos in chronological order. Just seeing yourself get thinner and thinner may be enough to motivate you to keep going. Also, you can take out an old thin photograph of yourself and put it up in a place where you will see it every day. It would also help to take an article of clothing you want to wear when you reach your ideal weight and hang it in a visible place.

Are you a talker or a doer?

Do you know someone who talks the talk but never walks the walk? Do you want to be that person? Visualize the way you want to be, and do something to turn into the new you!

About the Author: Dora Novak, author of this article, writes frequently about topics related to food or health. As a start she used low calorie protein bars when she found herself having troubles with motivation.

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Ways to Stay Motivated While Pursuing your Online Degree

August 31, 2012 by Featured Author Leave a Comment

These days, many people are weighing their options of going back to school and furthering their education.

Thankfully, with the advent of online universities and certification programs, this is now easier and more convenient than ever. Classes can work around YOUR schedule and fit into almost anyone’s life.

Yet, this increased accessibility and availability does not mean that the act itself has gotten any easier. It’s still school. There will still be tests, projects, and more and you will be challenged. That being said, you might need some help staying motivated throughout this journey. Below are some helpful tips and reminders to make the whole experience easier on yourself.

Map Out Your Plan

Goals are much easier to attain when you know what you’re working toward and how you intend to get there. Doing this helps you keep your eye on the prize and also makes the whole process seem more doable. When you have a big, daunting goal such as trying to earn a bachelor’s or master’s degree ahead of you, it helps to break it into smaller, less intimidating targets and objectives, that way you can note and track your progress as you go.

You’ll feel a sense of accomplishment with each passing one, and this will help keep you going.

Find Your Support System

Whether it’s your family, a close group of friends or a combination of the two of them, it’s important to identify who your key support system is, as you will need their help and encouragement during this time. You will likely be stretched thin at times between your career obligations and school requirements, on top of any personal commitments, so when or if this happens, don’t be afraid to lean on those you love. They will help get you through and remind you why you’re doing this in the first place. Now is not the time for pride.

Tune out Naysayers

Just as you should cling to those who offer and provide encouragement and positivity, you should also RUN FROM anyone who brings the opposite energy into your life. I know this might seem hard to do, but it is 100% necessary. Whenever you make any sort of monumental decision, people will give their two cents, no matter how discouraging it maybe, that’s just an undeniable, unfortunate fact of life.

So, rather than letting them “win” and get the better of your, turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to anyone who offers a less-than-productive outlook on things. Because, the truth is, you yourself might get discouraged, which mean you don’t need people around you turning you into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Replace their negativity with more uplifting positive thoughts and you’re sure to succeed.

So, if you make the decision to pursue an online degree, please remember these tips. They may seem simple, but they can make a world of difference. Trust me, I’ve seen it first hand.

About the Author: Patricia Garza is a freelance blogger and education writer that can offer suggestions on anything from choosing between accredited online colleges to picking a major. She welcomes your comments below.

Mission Trips: How Serving Others Can Change You

August 21, 2012 by Featured Author Leave a Comment

I have always loved my sister.

As the older half of our sister pair, I have always felt some responsibility for looking over her. Because of this veritable lifetime of keeping her within my line of sight, I was a bit worried – okay, more than worried – when she said she wanted to go on a mission trip to South America. Though I shared her religious convictions, I was worried that she would face dangers that I wasn’t ready for her to tackle. Unable to dissuade her, however, I insisted she get a mission trip insurance policy and allowed her to head off on the adventure she was eager to tackle. Upon her return, I found her changed in ways I could have never imagined. My trepidatious little sister was replaced with a mature woman with new-found self-confidence and understanding.

Maturity

My sister had always seemed to me to be a child, even as she turned 18 and I knew that legally she was an adult. Perhaps it was because I coddled her so severely and never allowed her to be the adult she could be. Whatever the reason, my sister’s mission trip provided just the opportunity she needed to break out of her shell of childishness. From the moment she stepped off the plane after her trip I could feel her new-found maturity. She had left a little girl and returned a woman. The difference was both palpable and amazing.

Worldliness

I have, myself, never ventured out of the borders of the United States, so I would never have referred to myself as worldly. My sister was much like me, ignorant of other cultures. In the days that followed my sister’s return from South America I found that she was no longer quite as naive. Instead, she was well-versed in the cultures and ideas of the places she had visited and could speak about them in an animated and informed fashion. I now find myself envying her ability to do this and eager to attend a mission trip myself to gain this life experience.

Selflessness

Though my sister was always giving, her mission trip increased her selflessness exponentially. Now she seems more in tune with the needs of others. I feel like she would give everything she has to help another, something that I am thrilled to see as I want her to be a giving, Christian person. I can say with certainty that it was her experiences while on her mission trip that made her more altruistic and made her even more devoted and dedicated to improving the lives of others.

The mission trip that I was so eager to prevent my sister from taking–when she first mentioned it to me–turned out to be a wonderful adventure. I now appreciate the changes I see in my sister and am thrilled that I didn’t allow my desire for her safety to prevent her experiencing this wonderful adventure–it changed her life and the lives of those to whom she was able to spread her message of God’s love.

About the author: Danielle, who blogs on behalf of Sears and other prestigious brands, enjoys entertaining and socializing as well as maintaining a healthy lifestyle. She has a weakness for new running socks and old family recipes.

Learning to Play: 10 Classes to Take Just for Fun

August 16, 2012 by Featured Author Leave a Comment

by Pepper Givens

While it’s always important to keep on learning throughout life, there is no reason to turn learning into a code word for drudgery. In fact, learning new things is the perfect way to incorporate a little fun into your day. Taking classes just for fun is an opportunity to, not only learn a new skill, but to actually learn how to let go have fun again! If you’re stuck for ideas on new things to do, try out some of these accessible and fun courses. You can find most of them through community programs or available at local colleges and universities:

1. Acting

While you may want to make sure you enroll in a class that is not meant for professional actors, there are plenty of different reasons why an acting class can be a blast. If you’ve ever wanted to be on stage, this is the perfect time to just let loose and go for it. You never know, a role could even be waiting if you discover a hidden passion.

2. Ballroom Dancing

[Read more…]

The Importance of Loving Yourself at Any Size

July 26, 2012 by Featured Author Leave a Comment

By guest author Susan Wells

No matter how much you weigh, you’re a special, beautiful, interesting person.

If you want to lose weight to improve your health and change your physical appearance, I commend you and want you to know that losing weight will have a tremendous, positive impact on your life. However, it’s important to keep in mind that losing weight won’t necessarily magically give you the self-confidence you always wanted. Self-confidence comes from loving yourself, at any size and no matter how you look. It comes from loving your mind, body, and heart.

I’ve struggled with my weight for practically my whole life.

At 26, I was morbidly obese, and I was seriously considering getting bariatric surgery. I wanted so badly to be able to start over as a thin person. I wanted a second chance to eat right, exercise enough, and stay healthy. I talked to my doctor about the risks of the surgery, and I started fantasizing about how great it would be to be thin. Then I called my insurance company and realized they wouldn’t cover bariatric surgery, which they considered to be a “cosmetic” surgery. I was crushed.