Losing Weight - Motivation

In the post "How I Lost 50 Pounds and Kept Them Off", I discussed the changes I took over the course of the last few years to gradually lose the weight. The main idea is to lose weight gradually enough, while keeping the focus on building healthy eating and exercise habits, so that by the time you reach your desired weight, those habits are so ingrained that you would keep staying active and eating healthy. In all those years, for instance, I counted calories for only 4 or 5 days. That's all I needed to get an idea of portion sizes and see how what I'm eating measures up against my caloric needs. Beyond that, counting calories felt like a waste of time. As I saw from my own results, it was unnecessary, as long as I eat nutritious whole foods and stop eating when I'm full.

What I left out of that earlier post, is how I got myself to instill each of those habits in me. The book No Meat Athlete has excellent sections about habit-forming. For me it meant taking a few small steps to keep myself accountable and also to induce myself to get out. I use the RunKeeper App to track my runs and walks, and those get automatically shared with my friends. I also have resorted to motivating myself by means of small rewards - a cookie perhaps, or some chocolate. Yes I left that dirty secret out of the original story.

Nowadays my afternoon cup of coffee is my main motivator. I know I'll get a serious headache by evening if I skip it, so I'll want to earn it by getting my workout done and out of the way as soon as I could.

Races are excellent for fueling motivation. I enjoy the excitement of the race itself, but for weeks prior to the race, I am trapped knowing that I'll be running that race soon. That knowledge makes it harder for me to justify skipping a training session. The effort invested now will make it easier for me on race day, and helps me achieve better performance. What makes races really worthwhile, however, is after the race when I go back home. Invariably, as soon as my daughter sees the finisher medal I get, she puts it around her neck, and that really is what keeps me going!

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