I’m Libby, I’m a mother of two busy, demanding, amazing children. I have lost over 13kg since September with Lose Baby Weight 28 Day Weightloss Challenges and Healthy Mummy Smoothies.
Motivation is difficult, I know. I misplace mine ALL THE TIME!
However, I think people often mistakenly put too much pressure and importance on motivation alone.
Motivation, for me, are my reasons for succeeding on this health journey: my children, my health, my self-esteem, my reward money jar (for reaching my goals this month).
Motivation fuels me. Goals keep me focused (non-scale goals help ease the pressure). Self-discipline is what will get me there.
Theodore Roosevelt once said “with self-discipline most anything is possible.”
I can certainly relate that to my weight-loss journey. I have been most successful when I have practiced self-discipline, and formed positive habits.
- I meal plan weekly;
- I ensure I have breakfast daily (usually a Healthy Mummy Smoothie);
- I prepare meals ahead of time;
- I calorie-count (this keeps me aware of everything I put into my body)
- I plan my exercise into the week;
- I make back-up plans in case my exercise or meal plans don’t pan out.
When I stop pushing myself, and start making excuses, I start falling behind (we all know the excuses).
Old habits die hard, as they say, and we need to fight them in order to create new habits. These won’t change in a week – they take time and discipline.
When I’ve been at work all day, kids are in bed, lunches made, kitchen cleaned, the last thing I want to do is exercise!
But I make myself – I usually do the 28 Day Challenge exercises in my work clothes, because it’ll never happen if I wait until I’m changed. I would never have considered incidental exercise 6 months ago, but it’s a favourite of mine now!
Brushing my teeth, I lunge; sending faxes at work, I squat; waiting for the kettle, I do push-ups off the bench.
It takes a little while for that thought to kick in: “hey, you should be using your time more wisely”, then I get moving. Self-discipline is so very important.
We all make mistakes. We make spur of the moment decisions and later think “what was I thinking?”, “why did I eat that?” or we sulk and scold ourselves, we’ve all been there.
Tomorrow is another day, I totally get that. But how will we stop it from happening again tomorrow?
I don’t know about you, but if I don’t plan or prepare, then discipline and motivation start waning, anything can happen. My workplace is terrible for lollies, chocolates, cakes etc, and I’ve always willingly participated.
Now, I make Lose Baby Weight recipes (they all love the Healthy Zucchini Brownies!), or I have a small amount of whatever I deem less wasteful of my calories.
That time of the month? I make Almond & Cacao Fudge, Peanut Butter Fudge Bars, Date and Almond Energy Balls, Gooey Choc Chip Banana Bread, and cut them all up into portions for freezing.
That way, I always have something chocolatey available for those moments of weakness.
Mornings too busy? I make extra portions of Healthy Mummy Smoothies to keep in the freezer for “those days”, but most mornings it takes less than 5min to prepare a nutritious smoothie to take out with me.
Out all day? I carry pretzels, nuts, or other simple 28 Day Challenge snacks in my handbag/nappy bag, so I don’t need to stress about buying something healthy when I’m out and hungry.
I often prepare extra dinners, or soups, to keep it the freezer for those evenings when I’m just too tired to cook.
But you know what, if I feel like a piece of pie or a pasta dish while eating out, I do allow myself (usually with a lengthy internal debate) an indulgence from time to time, within reason. And so should you.
As Benjamin Franklin said “by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”.
Identify your weaknesses and create solutions to prepare and protect yourself from them. Make a plan and encourage yourself to stick to it.
After a while, self-discipline will form a new habit and you won’t even need to try. It will get easier.
Until then, get up off your butt and give me 20 squats!
Libby xxx
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