About Me

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London, United Kingdom
This is the journey of an average girl trying to lose weight and embarking on a new adventure. Everything you read and see posted from me is real. I wear my heart on my sleeve and make mistakes just like everyone! Everything on this page is just my opinion I do not claim to be an expert I am just giving my account of how I feel!

Monday 16 April 2012

MOTIVATION (lack of, moments of & lots of)

What Motivates Me and what could motivate you!

Motivation in my opinion is the BIGGEST factor when it comes to transforming yourself both mentally and physically. If your "get up and go" has "got up and gone" then it does not matter on the goal you are just simply not going to get there! What is motivation? Wikipedia:

Motivation is a term that refers to a process that elicits, controls, and sustains certain behaviours. Motivation is a group of phenomena which affect the nature of an individuals behaviour, the strength of the behaviour, and the persistence of the behaviour. For instance: An individual has not eaten, he or she feels hungry, as a response he or she eats and diminishes feelings of hunger. There are many approaches to motivation: physiological, behavioural, cognitive, and social[1].It's the crucial element in setting and attaining goals—and research shows you can influence your own levels of motivation and self-control [2]. According to various theories, motivation may be rooted in a basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or it may include specific needs such as eating and resting, or a desired object, goal, state of being, ideal, or it may be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as altruism, selfishness, morality, or avoiding mortality. Conceptually, motivation should not be confused with either volition or optimism.[3] Motivation is related to, but distinct from, emotion.

Now that all sounds tickety boo but that paragraph alone is not going to do it for me! If I try to list all the things that motivate me the number one thing has to be........MUSIC.

There cannot be one person in this world who does not have a song that makes them either dance, sing, whistle, jump up and down, cry, shout or laugh to. Music is a stimulant it is like a drug to me (as well as hot cross buns) its an emotional journey, if I am happy I need happy music and if I want to wallow in self pity I stick on Luther Vandross (House is not a home) its always the love songs for me when I am down.

Don't you think it is amazing that you can be lifted so quickly by a song or a piece of music? You can be plodding along exercising to a song and all of a sudden you get that instant lift when the chorus part comes kicks in.
I use music for EVERYTHING (except in the bedroom otherwise it would be Chariots of Fire!). If the mood is low at home I stick MTV on or turn the radio on in the kitchen. If I have boring work to do or need to concentrate at work I put my headphones on and get into the zone. A world without music to me would not be worth living in. Music connects people together and it certainly helps me get through depression and motivates me to exercise. That in itself is the one of the solutions to my problems. When I am low I know I need to exercise as the endorphins lift my mood, music is then my connector. No music, no exercise, no mood lift. Its as simple as that!

Of course I have other motivators for example if I lose a pound or more in a week I always allow myself a chicken kebab (motivator - FOOD) (you can take the girl out of Staines....!) on a serious note a chicken kebab without 10 tonnes of burger sauce is actually not bad but still tastes good! If at the end of the month when I get paid I have lost a few pounds I like to treat myself to something nice like a pair shoes or my nails being done (motivator - MONEY). Quotations motivate me "Persevere and you will win the prize" or "You have failed only when you quit trying. Until then, you're still in the act of progression. So, never quit trying and you'll never be a failure" Tommy Kelley. Quotes put things into perspective for me but the inspiration is short lived, they motivate me for a minute or so then the boredom kicks in. Its the MUSIC that is my starting pistol.
Below are some tracks that help me with certain situations: 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWM5D3MwSgA - this one just generally makes me want to boogie!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmin5WkOuPw - great for when I am on a treadmill or outside running.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2K-hP7kbyY - another good one for exercising!

I could go on an on about music tracks I love but I would be here all day and night!

Starting Point

After speaking to a few friends lately and them paying me compliments about my blog and motivation it is clear to me that not everyone can find this inner motivation as quickly as others. I promise you I struggle every morning to motivate myself, I do not spring out of bed, the sun is not always shining outside my window but I do 100% feel that once you start on a good note it continues and when you are in a positive motivated mood you must try to continue it (unless of course you like being in a mood or having a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp).

Doing CrossFit now motivates me but I can totally relate to people when they put off going to the gym or a certain class. I remember that feeling of dread trying to make sure I got at least 2-3 gym sessions in a week. Gone are the days of being footloose and fancy free when there is no-one at home moaning "what time is dinner? and "oh can you stop at the shop on your way home and get me some chocolate" the pull I have to get home now is tremendous as I carry guilt of working full time and not being able spend every spare moment with my son before he goes to bed. I also found that if I did not get to the gym then I would feel immediately fatter as I had let myself down.

The question I ask is why bother going to the gym then? If you love the gym and can get there without a JCB scooping you up and dropping you off at the door then great, it must work for you, but for everyone else who hates it why not change it? What about trying something else? Surely whilst growing up there must have been a sport or exercise you used to love or even just like? Saying that, growing up there was the stuff I used to like which I was rubbish at and then there were the sports I was good at but they did not have the same cool street appeal as the rest - yes I am talking about shot put! lol No offence to any shot putters out there but no bloke at my school wanted to date a girl who was good at shot put - sorry but its true! They all wanted the gymnasts because in their testosterone fuelled brains the boys thought gymnasts would be better in bed because they were flexible and to be honest I think the grown up testosterone fuelled men still think that! lol

CrossFit for me is going outside my comfort zone, now I am not suggesting you join Crossfit (although you could try) but what about trying something different that you might just like? You might bring back those motivated feelings again? What have we got to lose? I am one step ahead now as you know, I have taken the step to do something different. That does not make me a better person but if you imagine there is a 3ft line drawn on the floor between us, I am one side and you are the other, I have already been where you are and I was not happy, I am then telling you that I've already stepped over that line in front of you and its OK, not only is it OK its actually GOOD so why would you not step over and join me.

Baby Steps

I saw a film once called "What about Bob?" starring Richard Dreyfuss and Bill Murray, it was about a guy (Murray) who suffered with complex phobias, he came across a book that a psychiatrist (Dreyfuss) wrote called "Baby Steps". The basis of the book was about taking little steps you can take to overcome problems or situations, that philosophy struck a cord with me then and today (plus the film is very funny).

If I think about my weight loss goal which is to lose 4 stone I immediately feel overwhelmed, the thought of seeing it through to the end or committing the next year or so to dieting just feels me with dread. Another example is my mum she is a larger woman (5ft 9 and about 25 stone UK size 24-26) to be healthy on the BMI scale (I use that just for comparison purpose) she would have to lose about 13 stone - can you imagine being told that? There is no person on earth who can just take that on board and say "ok lets crack on then" everything needs to be scaled down so that goals are achievable.  I am not setting goals as such what runs through my mind are are baby steps, forget numbers, weights and events, at the moment all I want is for the only black trousers that fit me to become a little bit baggy. I want to pull them up my thighs and over my butt with ease and then when I go to do up the button I don't have to pull it hard - that's all I want right now. That might not sound a lot or may sound like I am aiming to low but think about it - its at least a dress size! 

So to round up above my motto is:

A Sport/Exercise you like + MUSIC + Baby Steps = Baggy Trousers!


Think I am going to watch "What about Bob" again! It cracks me up! 











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