Good morning Summer Glow Boot Campers! Can you believe it is already Week 3 of the SGBC? As you may have seen on the calendar, this week’s topic is all about ‘Getting Over The Hump’…aka motivation issues and how we can triumph over them!
This morning, we have a post on motivation put together by the fitness diva herself- Caitlin from Healthy Tipping Point. When I emailed Caitlin, I knew that she was my go-to girl whenever I think about motivation to keep on top of my fitness. Whether she is running a 15-mile trail race or biking 60-miles, she never fails to inspire and renew my love for an active lifestyle!
Take it away, Caitlin! :)
Staying Motivated When The Going Gets Tough
You decide to eat healthier or exercise more, and although you tackle your goal head on for the first few weeks, soon you’re ready to throw in the towel. And even though you really, really want to stay on track, you find yourself sabotaging your goals – sleeping in needlessly on the weekends when you could be outside or ordering a large ice cream instead of a small. You wish you could bottle up some will power and take a small dose everyday! Sound familiar?
De-motivation is a normal part of the New Habit Journey.
The New Habit Journey is not a linear path – in fact, it has twists and turns, sudden halts, and sometimes it even goes backwards. Achieving any lifestyle change includes five components:
- Inspiration Moment: The inspiration moment can be one watershed instance, or it can be a slow build. But suddenly, for whatever reason, you want to CHANGE! Maybe you stepped on the scale at the doctor’s office and saw a scary high number. Maybe you’re trying to get pregnant. Or maybe you’re motivated to finally run a 5K race. When you experience an Inspiration Moment, it is important to SIEZE on this positive energy! Don’t wait until the next week to “start” running, eating better, quitting smoking… do it right now! Yes, right now. Don’t just talk the talk, walk the walk.
- The Gun-Ho Period: Most people will experience a gun-ho period that lasts approximately two weeks to a month when trying to make a lifestyle change. At first, your change is exciting and interesting. You’re still riding high on your Inspiration Moment. As you did for your Inspiration Moment, appreciate and embrace this zest for your New Habit! But, you want to be careful not to get overly enthusiastic. It’s easier to adopt a habit for the long-term if you slow integrate it into your life, figuring out how to make the change work for you and not against you. Make your initial goals small and manageable. By vowing to work out three times a week instead of six, you’re building in room for error as you adopt to a lifestyle change. Many people feel discouraged if they cannot be “perfect,” so don’t ask yourself to be!
- De-motivation: Despite your best intentions, most people will be hit by de-motivation several weeks into their New Habit Journey. Let’s face it – making lifestyle changes are hard, and temptations to slack of are everywhere. De-motivation can just occur over time, or it can be caused by a break from your normal schedule. Holidays, special events, and vacations force you to deviate from your new routine. Anticipate these De-Motivation hotspots by coming up with a "healthy game plan" ahead of time. If you fall “off the wagon,” don’t throw in the towel! Remember that something is always better than nothing. If you don’t want to go to the gym, try going for a walk, doing sit-ups in front of the TV, or dancing around your living room. If you’re on vacation and want to enjoy the local food, splurge at dinner and maintain your diet for breakfast and lunch. The worst thing you can do is give up just because you can’t be at the top of your game.
- Re-coop: Not everyone reaches the point of Re-Coop. Many people enter De-Motivation and never come out. But, if you want to make a lifestyle change, you must emerge from de-motivation stronger and more intent on your goal. Re-coop involves bouncing back from minor setbacks and reminding yourself that it’s your OVERALL progress that matters. If you’re in De-Motivation and want to get back on the wagon, write down a list of why you want to change. Tape the list to your bathroom mirror and read it whenever you need some motivation. Also, talk to a close friend or your significant other about your De-Motivation and ask for support. It’s easier to stick to new habits if you’re not the only one in the boat.
- Healthy Tipping Point: The most glorious part of the New Habit Journey is the Healthy Tipping Point. A Tipping Point refers to a sociological event during which a previously rare phenomenon becomes rapidly and dramatically more common. Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book called The Tipping Point, and he describes the Tipping Point as "the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable."
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Thank you Caitlin!
Even though I didn’t realize it for many years, I now know that consistency is key to long-term change. It can be frustrating when we don’t see change as quickly as we would hope. The most important thing I have learned is that if I am consistent with my exercise, I will eventually see pay-offs, even if they do not come as fast as I want them to.
For example, I used to be able to run for only 1 minute before stopping and walking. One minute. I hated running for this reason. I hated it with a passion. It wasn’t fun or enjoyable when I was gasping for breath all the time. In the past, I didn’t treat my body right and I didn’t treat my overall health properly. In fact, I ignored it. It seems funny to me now that I ever expected my body to give back to me when I didn’t give it what it needed to succeed- proper fuel, nutrition, rest, and love!
But eventually, I started to treat myself better. I became more patient and kind to my body and in return my body responded better than I could ever have dreamed it would. Before I knew it, I was running 5 minutes at a time, and then 1 mile at a time, and now I can run for over 1 hour without stopping to walk. Because of our busy lives, sometimes we forget to pay attention to small changes that are occurring! It didn’t even click with me until recently how little endurance I had when I used to run and how much I have changed. I was so busy focusing on improving my pace or my goals, that I forgot to appreciate the journey.
I think if we all stopped to write down a couple things that we appreciate about our own progress we wouldn’t feel that twinge of de-motivation as severely. We could simply consult the things we have accomplished and recognize that change is happening, even if it is small. Because when you think of it, a handful of small changes lead to one BIG change and before we know it we have reached our goal.
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The wonderful Amazing Grass is at it again! Today marks the first of three Amazing Grass giveaways for Summer Glow Boot Camp. You can read about the other two giveaways here…you won’t believe what the 2nd and grand prize draws are for- nothing short of AMAZING!!!
Up for grabs today:
- Sample of the Amazing Grass packets,
- Amazing Grass T-shirt, and
- A shaker (my all time favourite Green Monster container!)
How to enter: You must leave a comment on this post telling us two positive changes you have made to your health and/or fitness in the past month or two. We need to start appreciating the journey and stop being so hard on ourselves all the time! If you hit a hump or ‘De-motivation’ refer back to your changes to renew your faith in your goals. Contest open to US and Canadian residents only. Contest closes Tuesday July 14, 2009 at 11pm EST. One entry per person.
Want a second entry? Simply link back to this giveaway on your blog or email someone about the Amazing Grass contest making sure to copy me on the email ([email protected]).
Even though I can’t participate, I will still answer the question:
1) I have drastically improved my side planks! I can now do advanced side planks without so much as the blink of an eye, whereas before I couldn’t even hold myself up at all! It is fun to feel strong.
2) I ran my first 10 race ever mid-June 2009 and I am running in my second race- a 10-miler– this Sunday!
Goodluck to all participants! :) See you this afternoon for some exciting news!
Yay! I’m so excited for this contest… I have made 2 positive changes
1. Putting a stop to my daily Starbucks habit. This is my first week cutting back. I know it will be hard but the end result will be so worth it
2. Starting a new exercise regimen to re-energize myself. I am going to try out 3 different group exercise classes this week. Can’t wait!
1- I’ve let myself rest! I used to do something work-out related EVERY DAY of the week. Even if it was just 10 minutes. But I was so tired that most days ended up being just 10 minutes long. Now if I’m exhausted I rest without guilt and instead of 5 10 minute days a week, I’m doing 6 quality workouts!
2- I’ve cut back on having lunch dessert. A piece of gum does the trick!
Thanks so much for the opportunity! Number one I have improved my pushups. My form is a lot better and I can do more and more each day since I have started. Second, my mental health has improved because of Operation Beautiful! Reading those notes and writing my own has got me smiling on the inside and out each day!!
I don’t have a blog to link back but will definitely email a foodie friend!
1) I registered to ride in the 20 mile option of Bike MS locally in support of my mom who has MS! (and I am a total beginner!!)
2) Found my inner willpower when it comes to desserts! Sure, I treat myself sometimes, but I make better choices on satisfying my sweet tooth.
Hi Angela! Hey we’re going to the same event this weekend! I’ll be doing the 5k though :) Best of luck on the 10 mile – wow!! :)
The first thing I did to improve my health recently is starting to run seriously – I signed up for my first 5k in June, and am doing my 2nd 5k this weekend – I think that giving myself a goal, signing up for those races, gave me the motivation, the extra push I needed to get up and exercise. I have a different focus now – I train to improve my performance, not just to ‘work out’… (and that’s all thanks to your exercise and guilt post;)
The second thing is, I have started making more food at home with better ingredients. I used to eat frozen meal at every lunch at work but now, I make veggie and rice stir frys, veggie and pasta… That’s my first step towards eating healthier… and I can already feel how much more energy I have than on the frozen meals!
I linked back to your giveaway for my second entry, here’s the link!
http://englishcinemarie.blogspot.com/2009/07/amazing-giveaway-on-oh-she-glows.html
Thank you so much!!! I hope I win – I’ve been wanting to try amazing grass so bad :)
ps. I am now addicted to your bars. working on a post… I’ll send you the link when it’s done – they are soooooooooooooo yummy :)
I’ve been wanting to try Amazing Grass, so I figure I’d enter. :-)
Two things I’ve done in the last two months to improve my health/fitness:
-I’ve been taking a weekly Polynesian Aerobics class. It’s about a half hour/45 minutes of low-impact cardio and then another 15 minutes/30 minutes of strength training. I feel amazing afterwards!
– I’ve been packing my lunches for work and thus not eating the processed crap that McDonald’s and Burger King have to offer.
1. I have been doing Jillian Michaels’ “SHRED”. It’s tough as nails but excellent and leaves one with a feeling of serious accomplishment.
2. I have been been seriously striving to reach my daily produce intake, which I love doing by adding AMAZING GRASS Superfood powders to my morning oat mix. ;)
Thanks!
1) Cut out most processed foods from my lunches. Now I eat grapes as a side instead of a gross 100 calorie pack of Doritos:)
2) Running 4 times a week no matter what. A 20 minute run 4 times a week makes me feel amazing!
1. I try to be more aware of when I get full and to stop eating, even if there is still food left on my plate.
2. To appreciate the small things and not to get caught up in what the scale says.
Thanks for an awesome giveaway!
My 2 major life changes are:
1) I admitted that I was a sugar addict! I recognized that I have a problem, to the point where if there was AA for sugar addicts I should belong. Since making this declaration I have given up (cold turkey) all forms of sugar (except fruit/honey) including chocolate.
2) I decided to run a half marathon and have already started training. I HATED running, I was always good at sprinting, but anything more than a lap bored me to death and I didn’t see the purpose in it. However, I realized that my aversion to this was all mental and I wanted to be able to defeat this (and loose some weight in the process). So I have now gone up to 6 miles, with serious ease, and am looking forward to going much further and hopefully dramatically increasing my time. I believe the competitive nature of me against the clock for an actual race is what I am finding so invigorating.
Thank you for always being a constant bright spot in my path to healthiness!!! (P.S. I am a fellow baker, but unfortunately I haven’t learned how to incorporate healthy ingredients into my recipes!)
I blogged about your giveaway!
I got up the courage to run my first ever 5k alone, and came in under my goal time! I also started yoga again after a year break. I’ve never felt better!
I have started to get more veggies in at breakfast through smoothies and green monsters, plus I have added more variety to my workouts by taking up spin and ultimate.
I really want to try amazing grass before ordering it to Canad!
Hi Angela, Thanks for having Caitlin as a guest bogger! I read her blog all the time too.
I love your giveaways! My changes…
#1: I can run 5 miles. This year, I couldn’t run one. I just didn’t like to run, but one day I got a crazy impetus to start. So I did the Couch 2 5 K, and completed it. Now, I’m training for a 10k. I’m hooked! I love running.
#2: I’ve been trying TONS of new healthy foods this year (almond butter, kale, mango, flaxseed, pumpkin seed, coconut milk, coconut water, and the list goes on and on.) I’ve broken through my “I’m afraid to go there because it looks too difficult” mindset, and developed a new mantra of putting good things into my body, and trying everything once (healthy-wise)!
I love your website!
My changes:
1. I make time for myself which means that I schedule time to go to the gym or for a run and that makes me so happy.
2. I started tracking my running and food that I eat. I love seeing what great progress I have made each and every week.
2 changes I have made are:
1. Eliminating artificial sugar from my diet
2. Starting to run again… not just on my treadmill, but outside, out of my comfort zone, and where people can see me… for me, this is huge!
1) I have started making green monsters part of my morning routine. Now I can’t go a day without them! I crave them when I wake up :) I can’t wait until Whole Foods carries Amazing grass so I can get my hands on it!
2) I have also started juicing – I drink green juice almost daily.
I don’t normally comment (read regularly though) but really want to get my hands on some Amazing Grass!!
Two changes I have made recently:
1) Finally transitioned from drinking diet sodas to seltzer and water…this was not easy especially during the summer.
2) Gave myself a cut off time at night to stop working/turn off the computer. This has allowed me to sleep better and reduce stress.
1. After changing my workout routine this month (you can see my post on my blog for this) I can begin to feel, and even see, some of my ab muscles instead of just flabby flesh. YAY!
2. I tried my first green monster!!! One step of many to eat more whole foods, especially fruits and veggies.
My changes:
1. I quit college volleyball, giving my body and mind a break from mandatory 3 hours-a-day, 5 days-a-week workouts. This may not seem like the healthiest decision, but it’s brought me so much peace with myself and given my body a break from the constant stress of injuries. What this has meant is that I’m able to choose my own workouts and control what I’m eating (as opposed to shoveling anything and everything I see into my mouth because I’m so starving after those long workouts!)
2. I started Bikram Yoga! It’s a 90 minute class in a room at 105 degrees with 50% humidity. It took a little getting used to, but the class pushes you to try and “stretch it out.” This has really helped with my stress and also makes me feel leaner and longer. I try to go at least 4 days a week and then on off days do some form of cardio.