This session was captured by Bari from Live Laugh Run Breathe. I strive to: Live life to the fullest, Laugh often, Run free, and just Breathe, all while raising nearly 17 year old twins and training for my second marathon.
Calorie counting, daily exercise, the dreaded scale — weight loss is tough and it’s even tougher the farther you go along your health journey.
How do YOU maintain the mojo?
Join Katrina Pilkington and DubyaWife to gain great insight and the tools you need to MAINTAIN THE MOJO!
Getting Started
Christine has lost over 80 pounds and this is an ongoing journey. Kat started her blog in 2012 after getting married and becoming a personal trainer. Now she motivates other people. Others telling them both “you are so inspiring!’ really motivates them too.
Everyone’s journey is different. Some are just getting started on their weightloss journey where others are in the middle, at the end, restarting, etc.
The pivotal point is when you’ve said “enough’s enough.” For Christine, it was a comment from her husband that she misinterpreted and she lashed out – he pointed out that we all make excuses. The next day she said “today, I’m going to do something to be healthy.” The point is, day one, day two, etc. That was her moment. She knew how she felt at that moment and the next day and the next. You have to know where you’re going.
For Kat, it was watching a commercial and realizing she needed to do the hard work. She started to live allowing control from others vs. her own control.
Others in the room shared pivotal moments: an uncle dying of a heart attack, unhealthy parents, trying to live healthy to motivate others, injuries and being told they would not be able to exercise but knew they could fight for themselves, deaths in the family from preventable diseases.
We want a great quality of life and a LONG life. You are fighting for it!
Maintaining Motivation
What issues do you have from keeping you motivated? For Kat, it’s seeing sweets. For Christine, it’s life getting in the way, stress, etc (busy at work, forgetting to defrost dinner) and the spiral. Others mentioned feeling selfish about nurturing self vs. helping others, depression, social settings and feeling like I can’t be social if I’m not sharing in the cupcakes, being in a dry spell (you’ve lost a lot and still have more to go, but feel pretty good where you are).
How do you stay motivated during dry spells? It’s ok be in the precontemplation mode and contemplation mode where you are gaining information but not really ready to jump forward. Research mode is fine! Sometimes adjusting the goals will help. 60 pounds will not happen tomorrow. Break the goals up and make them realistic. Making small changes can also make you much healthier even if there isn’t an outward change. Give yourself credit. Read the book: The Compound Effect. The number 1 reason people give up goals is because the results are invisible.
Social media – finding like minded people and community will help you. In the workplace – find challenges, new year’s motivation. Try a new class. Kat – If I’m very comfortable, I’m not going to go anywhere. The most uncomfortable thing can make you feel amazing. Do the things that scare you – but others feel that doesn’t give them enough control.
Redefine what “failing” means. Choose to fail on purpose – choose to try something and recognize that it may not go the way it you expected but that’s ok. Christine used the analogy of a “bad” run making the “good” runs feel so much better. Babies learn to walk by falling. Re-name it! Change vs. a Pilot Program.
Overcoming Plateaus
Diet and nutrition – take a day off to give yourself time to refresh and rethink. Stop and restart at the beginning to combat the “I got this” mentality. Think of it as “practicing maintenance”. Switch things up. Get an outside perspective. Chronic dieting can hurt your body. Not eating ENOUGH is a huge problem and so is eating the wrong combination of food or thinking you can’t eat fats or a specific food type. Are you enjoying what you are eating or the process of cooking/eating? A plateau is a rest stop.
Fitness – we get into a circle of guilt and shame because you missed a workout and then think “why start over?” Using injuries as an excuse – “do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you CAN do”. “We’re all gonna fucking fail at some point in our lives!” Allow yourself to “fail” and come back. Minimize the regrets in your life by doing it on purpose.
Reaching Your Goals
What’s the final result?
Just try. Do you do a vision board? Write what you already have interspersed with the things you want? Christine wants to “do all the goals!” so she needs to become laser focused on ONE hard-core goal. Prioritize and make some tough decisions. Kat – stop multitasking and start microtasking. Surrender to the luxury of doing one thing. What are the top 3 things in your life? If weightloss isn’t in the top 3, don’t stress about it. The goals you set have to be things that are within your control. “Lose XX pounds isn’t really in your control” but journaling your food, exercise, etc are.
SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time Sensitive.
Visualize achieving your goals. Athletes do this.
[…] very first session I attended at Fitbloggin was Weight Loss – Maintain the Mojo with bloggers @DubyaWife from DubyaWife.com and @KatrinaElleP from KatrinaElle.com who are both […]