Skip to main content

Spotlight: Motivation Station

Remember back on New Year’s Day when the resolution to lose weight seemed like a fantastic, and certainly easily attainable, goal.  You were motivated.  You had a plan.  You were going to stick with it this time.  But now, it’s March and it’s cold and it’s gross outside.  You haven’t seen the sun in an eternity.  And eating salads every day is really boring.  You’ve lost the motivation to try.  Maybe next year...
Motivation.  Have you ever wondered where we get our motivation from?  Why are we motivated to do certain activities but not others?  Why can’t we tap into this part of our brain and MOTIVATE ourselves to do what’s best for us regardless of how we are feeling each day.  
Oxford Dictionary defines “motivation” as “the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.”  And to take that to the next step, the meaning of “desire” is “wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen.”  Wishing and wanting sounds pretty easy.  I want to have the abs of a 20 year old.  I wish I could run a mile in 8 minutes.  But where is my motivation to turn it from a wish into a reality?  That comes from another great word...commitment.  
Ken Blanchard, an author and management expert, has said -


“There is a difference between interest and commitment.  When you’re interested in something, you do it only when it’s convenient.  When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses.  Only results.”


We know all about commitments.  As adults, we deal with them every day.  We have commitments to our employer, to our families, to our mortgage company. These are obligations that we take seriously - if we didn’t, we’d most likely be homeless and lonely.  So why don’t we keep commitments to ourselves?  We’d certainly be upset with our friends if they made a commitment to drive our kids’ carpool on Tuesdays, but only did it when they felt like it.  Yet we’re okay with letting ourselves down and breaking our own promises.  We let our interest slide away.
Make a commitment to yourself and hold YOU accountable to YOU!  No excuses!  Every day is a new day. Find ways to remind yourself of your promise to make healthy food choices and exercise.  Here’s a couple of ideas to get you started:


  1. Make a weekly menu plan with your best friend - brainstorm easy ideas together.
  2. Type up your favorite motivational quotes (Pinterest has some great ones) and tape them on your bathroom mirror, your pantry, at work, and your nightstand.  Replace them once a week.
  3. Get your friends in on the plan - form a “support” group and touch base with each other every other day or so via text or email.  


At Kindred Nutrition, we work with every client on an individual basis to find out how best to motivate, plan, and commit to realistic (because real nutrition has to work with your real life) choices.  Weight loss is a journey and requires patience and commitment - not just an “interest” in a healthier lifestyle.  We need to find the place within you that wants to lose the weight even when it’s not convenient, and we will work together toward that goal.  Make the commitment and turn that wish into your reality!
 
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Miraculous Misconceptions: Raspberry Ketones

The interwebs are abuzz about the supposedly “miraculous” Raspberry Ketone supplements. Raspberry Ketone popularity started with Dr. Oz's show in February 2012, when he nicknamed it a “miracle weight loss drug.” Some even credit Raspberry Ketones with stimulating hair growth, but for our purposes here, let’s talk about weight loss. Raspberry Ketones are derived from red raspberries. Proponents claim that the supplement will stimulate your metabolism causing weight loss. However, there are no reliable studies to prove this.   Specifically there is no scientific evidence to show how it alters metabolism to promote weight loss. There is also no scientific evidence to determine a proper dosage. If you find a study that claims otherwise, check the funding source. Most likely, that study was funded by a company who produces or funds raspberry ketone products. As far as I know, no major pharmaceutical companies are investing in Raspberry Ketone research. And it is my opinion ...
9 comments
Read more

Family Nutrition: What’s the deal with Multivitamins?

This is definitely one of my top ten questions from clients and frankly it’s a hard question because there isn’t a generic answer.   The internet and such stores as the Vitamin Shoppe and GNC continue to place a lot of focus on vitamins and minerals and some of my clients swear by their regimen.   I’ve even had some clients tell me they can tell a difference within hours of taking certain supplementations.    Since this is a subject I try to tame my responses too, I was very glad to see the article “Multivitamins, So Many Types, So Many Labels” by Melinda Beck in the Wall Street Journal published June 21, 2001.   Did you know that the multivitamin is the number one dietary supplement producing $4.8 billion back in 2008 and that one third of American’s take multivitamins religiously?   As Melinda points out there are many different varieties of multivitamins yet there is no specific formulation that specifies what a multivitamin should look like.  ...
4 comments
Read more

Body Image

Becca and I recently started a BRAVE  Ed Group for our Eating Disorder Patients. The goal is to provide education about the Eating Disorder recovery process in a group format to decrease feelings of isolation and offer an opportunity for all to share positive affirmations, approaches etc. Last week we talked about Body Image. We completed an activity in The Body Image Workbook for Teens by Julia V Taylor PhD which was very insightful. In this activity all the different body parts were labelled and you were supposed to jot down your first thought. Once completed you then determined if the initial thought was a judgement or truth statement. This sounds a lot easier than it really is. In the last week I've really been thinking about this.  Negative body image is often the first symptom that precipitates the action to make a change to your body. If the action, reducing calories or over exercising for example, becomes compulsive and irrational this exacerbates the negative bo...
Post a Comment
Read more