Staying Motivated & Not Feeling Discouraged
If you're just beginning your journey or even if you've been at this for years, you're probably familiar with feeling discouraged. It's not easy when you're killing yourself in the gym, watching what you eat and not seeing the scale move or not noticing the changes. So let's talk about the scale first. The scale is not the only way to measure progress, and it's not the best either. There are so many factors that go into the weight on the scale. Water, hormones, sodium intake, did you poop (sorry had to say it hehe), that time of month for ladies, anything! If you're starting off your day feeling frustrated with the scale, HIDE IT. It will only make you feel worse and you don't need that negativity in your life! Take progress pictures, use measurements, or get your body fat percent tested if you really want to track your results. I'm a huge fan of pictures for progress, becasue you can always SEE the difference. Measurements are pretty accurate too as long as you measure the same spot every time. So the next time you step on the scale and think, "I'm not losing any weight!" try checking some pictures, or re-take your measurements. If you hit a plateau for over 2 weeks then it's time to switch something up because your body may have adjusted. Remember it's not going to be easy, or fast so you have to stay motivated. Which leads to the question I always get "HOW DO YOU STAY MOTIVATED?!" I've been on this 'fitness' journey for over 5 years now and do you think I woke up every day motivated and ready to go to the gym? That's a big NOPE! Things that help motivate me if I know i'm just being lazy is either scrolling through fitness IG's or looking at my own progress pictures or keep a list of my goals in my phone. Some days your body is sore, you're tired, you REALLY don't want to go to the gym... on these days you TAKE A REST DAY. I see these posts like "team no rest days" well that's not good because your muscles need time to rest to grow! If you're constantly working them then they aren't properly repairing which means they aren't growing! Which is what we want here, right?! Or let's talk about the days that you make it to the gym but just can't focus or get into it. Sometimes I just leave, or I get on a cardio machine and watch YouTube (my favorite Youtube's to watch is Brittany Lesser, Jazmine Garcia, etc) and then I either get my focus back or I atleast feel better from the cardio. You don't want the gym to feel like a chore, so if you just REALLY dont want to, you don't have to. Take your dog for a walk, go for a run, go hiking, catch some Pokemon (that seems to be a new way of walking around now) take a yoga class, anything to just get active or get some air. I say this on my IG all the time, you don't have to run if you don't want to, you don't have to lift, you don't hae to do yoga, you don't have to do crossfit, you do what YOU want to do to get in shape and healthy. If it feels like a chore then you're never going to feel motivated. Sometimes if you just take a rest day, or two.. eat a cheat meal, or two.. (I don't recommend more than 1 if you're known to just downward spiral after that) just RELAX and get back to things when you feel better again.
Just remember, PROGRESS IS NOT LINEAR & the journey is not easy & sometimes you have to just trust the process and stay focused.
<3Paigey