Are you starting to hearing yourself saying:

- I don’t feel like exercising

- I don’t have time to exercise

- let me just skip my workout for today

- let me just indulge and be good tomorrow

Let me tell you this. I DON’T always “feel” like working out, I don’t always enjoy my training especially when it’s tough, but that doesn’t mean I choose to continue to sleep in and skip my workout session just because I don’t FEEL like it at that moment.

If you want to see results, if you want to succeed, you have to show up AND take the steps towards your goal. So I want to share with you how I keep myself motivated and discipline even when I was on vacation to Australia.

 1) TRACK your meals and fitness progress

During my travels, I took pictures of all my meals and roughly listed what and how much I ate using the app. Obviously it’s not going to be the exact amount, but by taking pictures and tracking my meals, it made me more aware of my eating habits; whether or not I was having enough vegetables, were my meals too heavy, was I indulging too often and was I drinking enough water throughout the day.

When I noticed that I wasn’t consuming enough veggie for lunch, I’d choose a meal with more veggie for dinner. If I had a huge breakfast and lunch, I’d aim for something lighter during dinner.

I’d also track my activities. If I weren’t walking enough, instead of taking the tram back to the hotel, I’d encourage my friend to walk for about 20 - 30 minutes back. Eventually she started enjoying the challenge and wanted to achieve our daily goal of 12 thousand steps.

When you start tracking what you eat and how active you are:

  • you’ll realize what and how much you actually eat
  • you are more likely to make healthier choices
  • you’d want to be more active
  • you’d learn to enjoy your favourite treats in moderation
  • You receive immediate feedback on your progress.

You’ll know immediately how your choices will contribute to, or detract from, your weight loss goals, as a resust, your fitness goal becomes more attainable.

2) Set a specific goal

Don’t just say I want to lose 20kgs in 6 months. I can tell you that 90% of people who set a “weight goal” never achieve it. Add more fun to it. For instance, challenge yourself to sign up for a 10k run and train towards that or set a goal of organizing a hiking trip with your family.

You might have a wedding goal or to fit into that bikini before your summer vacation. My goal this time was to feel and look my best ready for my cover shoot.

So on days when I wasn’t feeling motivated to train while on holiday, I thought about how good and confident I’ll feel on the day of my shoot. THAT kept me going and remained discipline throughout the month despite my crazy schedule and no matter where I was.

So whatever your goal is, be specific, add a little bit of challenge to it, make it fun, write it down and remind yourself daily.

3) Plan AHEAD!

Plan ahead! While I was travelling, I didn’t just decide there and then, that I was going to workout. I planned it way before my trip. I made the conscious decision to book a hotel with basic gym and pool facilities.

My plan was to fit in at least 3 workout sessions during my stay in Melbourne and I did.

Of course, I secretly wanted to lie in bed and just be lazy. But I knew that, if I don’t get up and workout, I’m going to end up complaining to my friend about how crappy I feel and that I SHOULD have worked out.

So I had a decision whether to get up, workout and feel amazing for the rest of my day, OR lie in bed for an extra hour, feel crappy, regretful and complain.

What I’m trying to say is that you don’t just “stumble” upon success. You’re not going to achieve results, if you just think and wish upon it but have no plans or actions. You got to be ready to invest in yourself, plan ahead, stick to a schedule AND have the discipline to do it even when you DON’T FEEL LIKE IT.

Every time you do something that you know is good for you even when you don’t feel like it, you’re building self-discipline. You’re a true champion because you’re willing to do the hard things despite your feelings at that moment.

We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline OR the pain of regret. What’s your choice?

 4) Commit Publicly

I’ve always encouraged you to share your fitness progress with me. When you commit your goals publicly, it makes you feel accountable, and in a way you’ve set a challenge for yourself to succeed in order to prove yourself, which can be a huge motivation.

When you commit publicly and be part of a community, you’re not doing this journey on your own, you have those with the same goal to help push you through especially on your down days.

Tracking and sharing your progress, will also allow you to look back and have a record of how far you’ve come, because we need to celebrate small success along the way.

5) Don’t be too hard on yourself but don’t find excuses either!

So you have a clear goal, you’re ready to commit and give your 100%, but hey, NOTHING ever  goes according to plan.

You WILL definitely be faced with challenges along the way and even fall back into your old habits. You might miss several workout sessions, overeating and cry about it. HOW you choose to tackle those moments will define the outcome.

You can either continue to self-pity OR you can train yourself to look at every stumble and every setback as an opportunity to strengthen your willpower, build character, and learn from your mistakes, ask yourself “how can I improve on that. How can I not fall back into the same old habit”. It shouldn’t be an excuse to walk away and give up.

Remember that fitness is not a destination, it’s a journey, and it’s a process. Fitness isn’t something you start and do it for 3 months, and then stop once you’ve achieved results. Instead it’s a lifestyle. You continue to stay active and eat well because you want to be in the best state both mentally and physically.

All the best xx

 

#jsohactive
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