Staying motivated, especially during a pandemic, is challenging but necessary to achieve your goals. Today I want to share how I stay motivated to live a healthy lifestyle and how I continuously live into that goal. It's not always easy, but I will say it's always rewarding!
Plan Ahead
Planning for me is KEY. I love planning ahead. Whether it's a workout, what I'm eating or when I'm going to the grocery store, I think that planning helps me set the tone for my week and gives me the time to mentally prepare myself for what's ahead. I'm an avid user of my iPhone calendar and feel like it holds me accountable for what I say I'm going to do. At the beginning of the week I like to go through my calendar, see what I have planned as far as work/social outings and plan my workouts around that. Book your workouts in advance or block off time for the gym, add it to your calendar and do your best not to miss it!! Most workout classes charge you when you're absent and who wants to waste money AND miss a workout? No one.
Next up, plan your meals. I'm not saying you need to meal prep, but just plan out what your meals will be for the day a few days in advance. It might sound silly, but it'll ensure that you have the time to get what you need from the store if you don't have it and will help you avoid eating out. Nothing is worse than getting home from work, looking in the fridge because you don't know what to eat, realizing you don't have everything you need to cook and then ordering fast food as a result. Plan out healthy meals, try something new and get creative with what you're eating. Check out Pinterest if you're needing inspiration OR even better, check out my recipes tab!
Listen to Your Body
Exercise is important, but don't burn yourself out. Give yourself time to rest when your body needs it, but don't take advantage of this and use it as an excuse to endlessly skip days. If you need a day to sleep in, then sleep in and don't feel guilty about it. Rest days are important too!
Figure out when you feel your best exercising. Are you a morning person or a night person? Feel when your body is most active and ready to go. Maybe you're struggling to get to your workouts because you're planning them at 7AM and you can't get yourself out of bed until 9AM. Try doing an evening workout and see if that feels better for you. Listening to your body is more than just for rest days.
Get into a Routine
I'm a creature of habit and love a good routine. Find healthy habits to implement into your daily schedule and make them apart of your life. I start EVERY morning with hot lemon water and end every night with ginger lemon tea. I take a pre and probiotic every morning to make sure my digestive system is working at its best. Little things like that may not seem like they have an impact, but they do! I always feel like I'm starting my morning off on a good note when I drink my hot lemon water and take my vitamins. If you're someone who has a pretty repetitive schedule each week you might even be able to plan reoccurring workouts each week. This was something I did pre-pandemic and I really loved it.
Don't Deprive Yourself
Living a healthy lifestyle doesn't mean you have to completely abandon things you like that aren't that great for you. I think that everything in moderation is okay, except for like cigarettes or vaping or stuff that's like just straight up bad for you.
I absolutely love chips and salsa and eat that as a snack pretty frequently. Something I try to do is look for healthier alternatives to things I love. Even though I know it might still not be the best thing for me, I know it's better than what I was eating before. I look for food products with cleaner and fewer ingredients. I'm not a big dessert person, but I love chocolate chip cookies. Instead of buying Chips Ahoy or Pillsbury cookies, I opt for Sweet Loren's cookies. Sweet Lorens' are non-GMO, contain clean ingredients and are AMAZING. I actually prefer them over any other cookie. I know that this doesn't mean that the cookie is healthy, but it's healthier than a cookie that's filled with artificial flavors and preservatives and other unnecessary shit.
Do What You Love
Find something you love to do. I would get a gym membership, go a handful of times and then be over it. This happened quite a few times before I realized that the gym just wasn't for me. I tried kickboxing and hated it. I tried running and didn't love that either. When I finally took my first barre class and realized how much I loved it and saw the changes in my body, I knew I found the perfect workout for me. Taking barre led me to try other low impact workouts like yoga and pilates, both of which I also love. Mix it up, try something new and find something that makes you WANT to go workout everyday. Find something that excites you and challenges you! Having an actual interest in what you're doing will make getting your ass there even easier.
