{"id":8081,"date":"2011-01-31T13:03:51","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T21:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=8081"},"modified":"2011-01-31T13:03:51","modified_gmt":"2011-01-31T21:03:51","slug":"how-i-stay-motivated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/?p=8081","title":{"rendered":"How I Stay Motivated"},"content":{"rendered":"

(This is part of the “Ask me Anything” Series.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Ivie <\/a>asked: “I would love to know what you do to motivate yourself?”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bonnie also asked: “I think it\u2019d be interesting to read about how to stay motivated to eat healthy when all you want to do is lie on the sofa and snack on chips (obviously I\u2019m speaking from experience).”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These are great questions and they are questions I get all the time. “Motivation” seems to be a hard one for a lot of people. For me it was an easy decision because I had to lose weight. I was developing diabetes and had a mess of other health problems. There really wasn’t any other decision for me to make than to lose the weight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nThe crucial component to maintaining my weight LOSS is twofold:<\/p>\n

1. Exercise. Moving my body 5 days a week.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2. A lifestyle change. My lifestyle has changed a great deal. I\u2019m a different person than I was before and I like my life. I want to continue that. Just because I lost the weight doesn\u2019t mean I can sit on my butt and not do anything to keep it off!<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s All About Balance<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n

I LOVE working out. I grew to love the high and working out FEELS good to me. Swimming is my Zen Time. It relaxes me. It clears my mind. Running was my Aggression Time. I got a Super Runner\u2019s High and whenever I was frustrated or mad about anything, running purged that.<\/p>\n

Biking is my Fun time. It\u2019s when I get to explore the city and see new places. Hiking is my Adventure Time. I love exploring the beauty that is the Oregon Wilderness.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Growing to love activities like the ones I listed above have enriched my life AND kept the weight off. Plus it’s all the motivation I need. Since I like doing these things I don’t really think about “motivation.”<\/p>\n

Sure there are plenty of nights when I am filled with dread about going to the gym. Driving there. Parking hassles. Crowds. All the treadmills full. Annoying people. Wanting to just go home and watch TV…<\/p>\n

Then I remind myself: “I will feel better if I work out!”<\/strong><\/p>\n

And I always do! Working out is also a habit now. It’s part of my daily life, my schedule. In fact if I miss a day my whole schedule and routine feels off.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now for the food…I think my blog is all about BALANCE. I eat in moderation<\/a>, I count my calories but I also don’t deny myself anything. If I want a treat, I eat it. I may not eat an entire piece of cheesecake <\/a>by myself but I still enjoy myself. I give in to cravings <\/a>all the time. But I try to figure out “healthier<\/a>” ways to enjoy the things I crave.<\/p>\n

If you’re lacking motivation, does money help or hurt? For example, if you pay $300 a year for a gym membership does that motivate you to go so you get your moneys worth? It does for me.<\/p>\n

The Great Gym Experiment<\/span><\/h4>\n

One gym took it a step further. I recently read an article about a gym experiment <\/a>run by a Harvard grad that is very intriguing.<\/p>\n

“Groups of exercisers at two different gyms receive a free membership\u2014if they keep to their workout schedule. If they don’t, a $25 fee applies for every week that they slip up.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I think this is AWESOME. It’s a brilliant idea. If health and happiness don’t motivate people to work out, would this gym model do the trick<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Geniuses! I think it is a fantastic idea. As someone who is a regular gym goer, it would be great for me because I’d save money and get a great workout. On the flipside, the gyms would still make there money because they can count on the percentage of people that quit going. It’s a win-win in my eyes.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: What do you think of this Gym Experiment? Would it work? Would it motivate you?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(This is part of the “Ask me Anything” Series.) Ivie asked: “I would love to know what you do to motivate yourself?” Bonnie also asked: “I think it\u2019d be interesting to read about how to stay motivated to eat healthy when all you want to do is lie on the sofa and snack on chips […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1864,152,318,319,193,214,258,261,298],"tags":[8628,2418,689,2421,2420,2419,2417],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/motivation2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8081"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8081"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12671,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8081\/revisions\/12671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}