In the past 30 days my fitness routine has hit a major rough patch. Between traveling, the start of summer break and some routine burnout I’ve probably only logged 25% of my workouts. It’s bad. Then I feel discouraged and get down on myself and compound it by eating terrible. It’s been a solid downward spiral.
I worked too hard to get to the fitness level I was at to just let it go. And I know that I feel better, both physically and mentally, when I am on a solid workout routine. So how can I get back on track? I did some searching online for solid recommendations and found some articles with as many as 29 different suggestions. Maybe when you are already in a great mindset those 29 suggestions would all work, but I’m in a funk. And when I’m in a funk the cynical side of me rears its head.
Following are my top 5 suggestions to help pull you (me) from your (my) funk and motivate you (me) to get your (my) hiney in gear. I hope these will prove fruitful to us all!
1) Commit to a Program
Whether it’s using a fitness app like Kayla Itsine’s Sweat app, firing up a Beach Body program DVD or signing up for a Bootcamp class at a gym, commit to a program that is a set amount of time. Tackling a 30 day or 6 week program (or whatever you decide on) is attainable. We are all capable of doing something for a short period of time. The odds are that once you achieve that goal and complete that program you will see and feel a difference and be motivated to keep it going.
2) Put on Your Workout Clothes
If you aren’t attending a group class that starts at a certain time this is a suggestion that really does help. It’s easy to get distracted – I’m just going to hit these few emails, oh I need to switch the laundry, that phone call just set me back 20 minutes… Next thing you know you are an hour and a half past your regular workout time. If you are wearing your workout clothes you are much less likely to choose to just skip the workout.
3) Make it a Friend Meet-Up
Who doesn’t love to have friend time? Working out with a friend keeps you accountable to someone you love, respect and enjoy spending time with. It’s a win-win. The reality though can be that it’s challenging to carve out the same workout time/schedule as a friend or that the workout that we enjoy or need is the same for our friend. This suggestion isn’t fool-proof, but if you can make it work for you it will be beneficial.
4) Use Visuals
I find visual aids and other’s success stories to be very inspirational. Watching The Biggest Loser and browsing Pinterest for those Before and After fitness posts is a big help. I think to myself ‘If she can lose half her body weight I can get my butt on the treadmill.’ I also girl crush over pictures of gals will round shoulders, ripped tummies or cut legs. I think it may be my competitive nature – visually seeing other’s accomplishments puts me in the “If they can do it, so can I” mindset.
5) Use a Calorie Tracker App
I’m a small person and am blessed with a pretty good metabolism, but poor food choices over a period of time will catch up to me. It’s easy to ignore what we are putting in our mouth in terms of calorie totals when not recording it. I find that I can use a food tracker for a few weeks every few months and that will keep me grounded on the amount of calories in different foods. When you realize that it will take you 30 minutes on the treadmill to burn the 200 calories from the candy bar that took you three minutes to eat it doesn’t look nearly as appealing. More than that though is realizing that foods that we generally think are healthy are more calorie dense than we thought and becoming aware of what portion sizes are actually supposed to be.
There is a saying that abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym. You can work your butt off in the gym, but if you are loading up on calories the results you are after will not materialize, leading to discouragement and burnout. With that in mind, maybe this suggestion should be number one on this list?
I plan to implement four of these five suggestions, immediately. I don’t have a friend whose schedule jives with mine so I can’t make that one work for me, but I’m jumping on the rest immediately. How about you, do you think any or a combination of these suggestions would truly help you stay motivated in your own fitness journey? Do you have any suggestions that you use to stay motivated that you can share?
These are great tips! I have another one that helped me break through a frustrating fitness plateau: Macros! It seemed so complicated, but it’s not! If you’re logging your food already on something like My Fitness Pal, the app counts the macros also. I shoot for 40% protein and 30% both fat and carbs, and it has worked beautifully.
I also use an app called Studio Tone It Up for toning workouts. I like that they do the workout planning for me and I can do everything from home before the kiddos are up and around.
<3 your blog!
I’ve been a bit scared to tackle that beast!