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.

Need help losing weight? Visit our sister site, www.21DayHabitChange.com and you’re guaranteed to change one bad habit in 3 weeks or your money back. (Enter code “ScottSentMe” and save 60%)

The Power of Accountability

September 4, 2012 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

by guest author John Lenning

The following is a letter that I received from a new friend. I asked him if I could share it because I thought it was awesome.

I just wanted to say “thanks” for helping to get me back on track.
For a little over a year before I contacted you, I had been having pain in my hip flexors. It started off as nagging pains, but got worse and worse with each month. About one month before I met you, I went to my sister’s house for a weekend get-together.

One of my college buddies who I had not seen in over 9 months was there. When he saw me, he said “Haven’t seen you in a while, what have you been up to?”

I paused for a second, then replied “Work, and uhh…that’s about it”

He replied, “Work, that’s it?”

I said, “Yeah….”

He then said, “Seriously, you haven’t done anything else?”

I just kind of stood there with a dumb look on my face, thinking, “Wow, I really have not been doing anything, have I?”

After what seemed like forever, I kind of laughed and acted like it was not a big deal. I then quickly changed the subject to something about his job.

For a week after that, I just kept asking myself what I had been doing. His question made me take a look at myself and realize that I had let my pain prevent me from doing things. I had been using it as an excuse. I had used my hip injury to justify skipping the gym, camping trips, and other things. I even used it to justify my poor eating habits.

I realized that I had been passively going through life, never stopping to see that things seemed to be going downhill.

Even after that experience, it took me over three weeks to convince myself that I needed to start doing something about the pain. I finally convinced myself that I needed to actually do something and was able to convince myself to talk to Mike. The rest is history.

I am thankful that I was able to finally break through the walls that I had built, and ask Mike if he knew what I should do. If I had not, I would still be living a mediocre lifestyle. Thanks to you guys I am back to my old self.

Thanks again,

Here is the lesson:

If you are having a difficult time motivating yourself, get someone you can trust and tell them what is going on. Then, tell them that you are not comfortable in your situation. Ask them to hold you accountable to do something about it. You do not need to ask for “help” or “assistance” just accountability

About the Author: John is a competitive athlete and trainer. When John is not working out, coaching, or eating, he is usually trying to learn something new. He currently writes about the causes, symptoms, and treatment of hip pain at his personal site.

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.

How Giving In Can Help You Get Ahead

August 28, 2012 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

by guest author Tara Spenser

Dieting can lead to a vicious yo-yo cycle that can have you swearing to cut out all junk food one day and binging on ice cream the next. Sometimes, it seems the more you try, the harder it is to succeed.

Though it may seem counter-intuitive, sometimes, the best way to get ahead and to finally meet your diet and fitness goals is simply to give in.

Here’s why:

Takes the Pressure Off

When you think about your diet all the time – what you are supposed to eat, what you can’t eat, and what has to happen – you start to put so much pressure on yourself that you may be tempted to eat what you aren’t “supposed to” or to skip going to the gym. The constant thought of your new regime can make you focus too much on temptation, cause you to rebel against it, or just make you feel like you don’t have the mental energy to see it through.

When you stop thinking about all the new “rules” all the time, you feel less pressure and will be more likely to eat in a healthy way. Going to the gym might seem a little more enjoyable. When something seems less like work, it becomes something you are more likely to do.

Limits Feelings of Deprivation

If someone were to tell you right now that you can never eat a doughnut ever again, what would you do? Chances are you would start to think about donuts – maybe think about them a lot. You will start to think about how delicious they are, how long is has been since you’ve had one, and how impossible a future without those donuts seems. Chances are also good that you would go out and eat a doughnut – or two or three or a dozen.

By not focusing on what you “can’t” have, you are less likely to want to indulge in it. Successful dieters sometimes indulge in treats. If you feel a craving for a do-nut – or any other junk food – or you want to indulge at a party, go ahead and eat the doughnut. Accept that you have permitted yourself an indulgence, and move on. Get back on track later. Don’t beat yourself up for being “bad,” as it will likely lead to more indulgences that will completely derail your diet plan.

Allows You to Focus on the Positive

Many dieters focus on absolutes. Either food is “good” or it’s “bad.” Either you are sticking to your diet plan or you aren’t. Indulgences are seen as failures. One chocolate bar can indicate the end of the diet, leading the diet to give up completely.

By allowing yourself to let go of these expectations, you leave yourself room to focus on the positive. Instead of talking about what you aren’t doing, you can highlight the ways in which you are succeeding. Maybe you did have a chocolate bar for breakfast, but instead of dwelling on that, you can focus on the delicious salad you had for lunch or the baked chicken and Brussels sprouts you had for dinner. Celebrate your successes and you will feel more encouraged to continue on your healthy journey.

Allows You to Honor the Process

Success doesn’t come quickly, and you can’t change your habits overnight. Putting too much pressure on yourself only sets you up for failure. If you expect to just stop eating all sugar overnight, or only eat whole foods, or never eat saturated fat again, you’ll likely feel frustrated and defeated the first time that you inevitably break one of these rules.

Understanding that healthy dieting and fitness is a process can help you to achieve success. When you eat unhealthy foods or skip a day – or a week – at the gym, you don’t have to feel like a failure. You can recognize that it is part of the process and know that you will keep working through your goals and find more successes in the future.

In many ways, giving in can help you to get ahead with your dieting goals. “Giving in” doesn’t mean giving up – it means to let go of your expectations and all the rules you establish for yourself so that you can focus on establishing new healthy eating patterns in general.

Have you found that giving in has helped you to get ahead and reach your dieting goals? Tell us about it in the comments!

About the Author: Tara Spenser is currently the resident writer for workingcapital.org, where she researches the most affordable small business loan interest rates available. In her spare time, she enjoys blogging, swimming and being a mom.

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.

« Previous Page