Motivation is more than the juice and determination that keeps you striving for a goal when you want to quit. It is also a byproduct of setting good goals and working towards them.
As we wrote yesterday, motivation is a very personal thing. What may motivate a friend or someone similar to you, may not motivate you. You need to find your own "hot buttons" or strategies that gets your attention and makes you excited. Look around you, there are many sources of ideas that you can use to help you first identify what you want and then go after it.
Tips for Finding Motivation:
(1) Motivation starts on the inside. Take time to THINK.
(2) As important as logic is, emotion provides the real fuel of action. What are your dreams?
(3) Deciding what you want is more difficult than getting what you want.
You need to first have a goal that is important and personal to you.
(4) Breaking old habits takes time. Try crossing your arms the other way and
feel the difference. It takes concentrated effort and time to change.
(5) Creating new habits also takes time. It can take up to 21 days to
establish a new habit. After 21 days, you won�t even have to think about it
anymore. It will be an established habit.
(6) Writing down your goal and reviewing it on regular basis increases your
likelihood of success.
(7) Look for stories that are inspirational. They are everywhere- books,
magazines, television.
Whether you want to lose weight, run in a marathon or plant a garden, you need to decide what you want. We recommend that you get a composition or spiral notebook and start writing down a master list of your goals. Don�t leave anything out, regardless of how silly or ridiculous it may seem at first. If you like, you can also cut and paste pictures in your notebook. Make it your "Dream Book". After your list is complete, choose a goal that you want to focus on and on a separate page, write down why this goal is important to you.When will you achieve it? What will it feel like when you accomplish it? Take as many pages as you need. If you have chosen an important and worthy goal for you, this will be easy and feel natural.
Now, make a list of what you have to do. For losing weight, we recommend limiting the amount of fat you eat to less than 20 grams and to eat more than 30 grams of fiber every day. We also suggest that you spend at least 30 minutes per day in some kind of fitness activity. Write these targets down and keep track every day. Are you eating what you should? Are you getting 30 minutes of fitness everyday? When you write this down in your journal you will feel positive and in control. You are moving TOWARDS your goal and what is most interesting is that now you will also feel motivated.
Motivation is a byproduct of your progress plain and simple. Do your work by identifying what you want, set a achievement date and take positive steps that move you closer to your goal and you will discover that motivation will follow!
Troubleshooting:
What should you do if you have a bad day and completely fail to do what is planned? Maybe you ate too much or you laid around all day. The answer may surprised you, but here it is: Forget about it! Don�t fret, forgive yourself and make the decision that tomorrow you will start again. When you are flexible and tolerant with yourself, without being defeated or shameful your motivation will return. Before you go to bed review your journal and reaffirm that tomorrow you will be back on track. Next Lesson: Eat
Nutritious and Healthy Food:
You are what you eat. If you eat too much fat, you will become fat. If you eat a healthy and balanced diet, you will not only shed extra pounds but you will also greatly improve your health and quality of your life. In addition to losing weight, when you follow our simple plan, you can reduce the chances of heart disease and cancers and control both diabetes and high blood pressure.
For any diet to work, you must take in fewer calories than you consume.I f you are of average height and activity level, you need about 1,800- 2,500 calories per day to meet your energy needs. With the abundance of tasty and calorie rich foods, it does not take long to meet your daily requirement. Remember that any extra calories you do not use will be stored as body fat. Every 3,500 calories is equal to one pound more or less on your scale.
Some foods are very calorie dense like butter, eggs, breads cookies, crackers chips, mayonnaise and others. You have to extremely limit how much you eat of these foods since you can reach your 1,800 - 2,500 limit much faster when you eat these foods.
Other foods like fruits vegetables, whole grains and beans are low in calories and also have the added benefit of natures best appetite suppressant- fiber. These foods in fact are so low in fat and high in fiber that you do not have to limit how much you eat. You will fill up before you eat too much.
The 20/30 Solution
The healthiest diet is a diet that is based on eating an unlimited amounts of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans. As opposed to a short term fix, our plan is a lifestyle approach that you can maintain easily for the rest of your life. You will want to aim for the following targets:
1. Eat all the fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans you want everyday.
2. Eat no more than 20 grams of fat each day.
3. Eat 30 grams of fiber or more each day.
4. Limit all foods made from refined flour as well as all low-fiber
foods. This is the biggest pitfall you need to watch out for. If you eat low
fat and do not restrict foods that contain white flour you will NOT lose weight!
5. Get 2 FREE Meals a week! If you follow the program strictly for
19 out of 21 meals, reward yourself with 2 meals where you can eat
anything you want (in moderation of course!)
We recommend 2 or 3 servings of seafood per week. Seafood provides protein, vitamins and minerals. They also contain omega-3 fatty acids that help to prevent clotting, the last step in a heart attack.
How to Read a Food Label
Reading a food label is simple when you know what to look for. Select your grocery items according to the following rule:
(1) Is it a reasonable serving size? A good gage is how many serving you could eat at one sitting.
(2) Does it have 2 or less grams of fat per serving?
(3) Does it have 2 or more grams of fiber per serving Remember When you shop, read food labels!
Tips for Success
(1) Clean out your kitchen! Get rid of oils, butter, meat, eggs, cookies crackers, cake mixes, white rice and any food with more than 2 grams of fat and less than 3 grams of fiber.
(2) Stock up on fresh and canned fruits, vegetables whole grains and beans. You will also
(3) Eat breakfast every day (4) Snack often
(5) To accelerate weight loss results, remove all foods that are made with white flour!
(6) Start a healthy recipe box with healthy low-fat, high-fiber recipes from
newspapers and magazines.
Meal-Planning
Follow the guide below for your daily meal planning:
Breakfast: Cereal (hot or cold), skim milk and fruit
Snack: Fruit, vegetables, fat-free dips, yogurt
Lunch: Soups, salads, vegetables, tuna fish on pita bread fruit,
Snacks: Fruit, vegetables, fat-free dips, yogurt
Dinner: Fish, casseroles, salads, Veggie burgers, fruits vegetables
When you on this plan, remember, you do not have to limit portions and you can snack whenever you are hungry. Just be sure to avoid those foods that are calorie rich. Great healthy results are right around the corner. Lesson: Fitness
