Act first. Get motivated later.
/Setting expectations for your health and fitness goals is an important first step. Please don’t fall into the trap of believing top athletes, fitness models, coaches or people you might see in the gym on a regular basis who appear to be “killing it” are always motivated to train hard or never deviate from their optimal nutrition or always get eight hours consistent sleep every night etc.; because this is simply far from the truth. Everyone has their ups and downs in life and inspiration to do a workout for example will wax and wane. Even when you get workouts done, out of every 10 completed on average four will feel great, three just ok and three will not feel great. It’s simply par for the course. If you aren’t physically ill or injured the most important thing is you are being consistent which is what brings about the change or at the very least will maintain your strength, body composition and general health. Here are some tips and tricks to help you act first, before feeling motivated:
Schedule in your workout at a particular time of day to whatever calendar system you prefer. Similar to booking in a dental appointment - once it’s booked only an emergency might change it. You’re not waiting for inspiration to strike, you have something locked into your day.
If you train early in the day, set your gym clothes out on the end of your bed and have your gym bag packed with what you normally bring to the gym. If you train later in the day, you could still pre-pack your gym bag and place it near the front door or in your car.
Utilise structured workouts which you know of in advance. Once you step into the gym you know exactly what you need to do for that session. Never improvise your workouts based on what you feel like doing. Ever.
Make use of some sort of food portion tracker, even if very simple. Next time I will delve into ways of portion control but if you want to lose or gain significant weight, the most straightforward way of doing that is tracking what you eat and drink on a daily basis. Digital options such as MyFitnessPal work for some people or a handwritten log works for others. Tracking portion intake removes the guesswork - be your own scientist.
Perhaps the most important ‘trick’ is what the story is that you tell yourself about yourself: this refers to your personal psychology on what you believe you are. Are you a fit/strong/lean person or are you the opposite? Even if you’re just beginning a fitness journey, if you have something in your mind’s eye you will much more likely succeed.