Motivation Has Nothing To Do With It...

“Motion creates emotion”

As usual I came home tonight and worked out.  But it wasn’t just a regular workout.  For the first time I did the Strength workout from Insanity The Asylum, all the way through, no breaks.  I did every single rep, even when I thought I couldn’t keep going I pushed through and got it done.  I love the sense of accomplishment when I can beat my own record, when I can achieve what my body tells me is impossible.  Always in competition with myself!  

Do you think I was motivated to workout when I got home from work?  Heck no!  All I wanted to do was sit on the couch, stuff my face, and watch The Walking Dead (which rocks by the way)!  I was drained from another long day at work.  If I had let myself be led by emotions, I would not have accomplished what was one of the best workouts I’ve ever completed.  

A lot of people ask me how I stay so motivated.  They tell me that they WANT to lose weight, they WANT more energy, they WANT to feel better.  They’ve bought workout programs, joined gyms.  They’re just not motivated to do the work.

What I do has nothing to do with motivation in my opinion.  I’m rarely motivated to exercise.  It’s about commitment.  I have a full time job and I own my own business, I’m a mom and a wife.  I’m busy and tired, all the time!  I come home drained, exhausted from work thinking about all the other things I could be doing.  I don’t really WANT Shaun T to make me want to cry or Chalene Johnson to make me want to puke.  But I’ve made a commitment to myself to be as healthy as I can be.  To be a healthy mom and wife.  It makes me feel good about myself, confident and strong.  I treat my workouts like a business appointment.  As soon as I get home from work I put my workout clothes on and press play no matter how tired I might be, and I ALWAYS feel 100x better and accomplished when I’m done!

Here’s what I’ve learned about motivation...  if you sit around and wait for it to slap you upside your head, it’s never going to happen!  Motivation does not come before action, action comes before motivation.  Once I get moving I feel better, the adrenaline kicks in, and THAT’S when motivation strikes.  Not the other way around.  As my hubby Syed likes to say, “motion creates emotion.”  The only workouts I’ve ever regretted are the ones I DIDN’T do.  

So the next time you think to yourself “I just don’t feel like it”, “I’m too tired”, “too busy”...  “I’m not motivated today”... cut the excuse and just do it already.  You’ll feel better when you’re done, I promise.

Ultimate Reset Day 4

Ok so lots of people said that day 3-5 are the hardest and to be prepared to feel like crap, tired, sore, crabby, etc.  I will say that aside from the headaches on day 1 and 2 I feel amazing!  I'm following the meal plan just as it's laid out and I'm down 5.4 lbs in 3 days.  I've lost more than Syed at this point which is a little weird cause I way a lot less than he does.  We're thinking it might be the fact that I've accidentally been drinking almost 2x as much water as it calls for.  Oops, but it seems to be working!

I feel very much alert, not hungry, if anything I can't even eat all the food that the plan calls for.  It's so much food!!!  I woke up today at 7 am (exactly the 8 hour mark) wide awake and wanting to get out of bed.  But I thought, who am I?  I love to sleep and I don't have to be anywhere so why not take advantage of this.  I made myself go back to sleep until 10:30 when Novali came and got me.

Syed and I did some stretching with Insanity Asylum's Relief dvd, that felt great.  Afterwards and for the rest of the day my legs were very achy so that was a little uncomfortable.  We spent all day relaxing, watching movies, cooking, and just feeling very content.

That's the one thing, there's so much cooking involved!  All meals need to be prepared fresh, so our kitchen and dishwasher have been getting A LOT of use.  The hard part will be continuing with this AFTER the 21 days are up!  I'm feeling so good I've had NO cravings and when I even think about the things I usually eat as take out, it doesn't even sound appealing.  No Cinco de Mayo indulgences for us!

Here's to good health!

Full Circle - How I Lost 20 Lb. & Will KEEP IT OFF in 2011!

One year ago today, I was pretty much in the best shape of my life, and proud of it.  I’d gone from my heaviest ever at 128, to about 115.  Now to a lot of you, 128 might not seem like a lot, but keep in mind that I am barely 5 ft. tall.  128 was a lot of weight for ME.  

My best friend Grisel and I had been doing Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Slimdown, which consisted of 30 Day Shred, No More Trouble Zones, and Banish Fat Boost Metabolism.  We’d both had amazing results and as of 1/1/10, I’d lost about 12-15 lb. We were ready to step it up.  So we did our research, well SHE did the research, and found a program called ChaLEAN Extreme.  She purchased it for me for Christmas, and that was the beginning of a total life change for BOTH of us.  I started it on 1/1, and I was hooked.  Chalene Johnson is a phenomenal trainer and I loved working out with her!  This program changed my body, I lost another 5 lb., doesn’t sound like a big deal but it was to me!  But what amazed me is how STRONG I felt!  It transformed my body.

Even better was that I could do it all at HOME!!!  I’m a busy mom, at that time I was a SINGLE mom working full time, with a 2 hour commute.  It was just me and Novali.  Which meant it was not realistic for me to go to the gym.  So what I would do was, I’d come home after work, start a quick dinner, and workout while dinner cooked.  I had a tiny place so it was easy for me to keep a eye on everything.  Novali had dinner first, and then I would eat after my workout.  It was the only way for me to be able to balance it all.  And I was determined.  

After ChaLEAN I went on to do several more at home programs, including Insanity, P90X, and now TurboFire.  They kept me in great shape.  But ChaLEAN was the program that inspired me, and still it is my favorite.  It’s my soulmate workout.  

2 months ago I started TurboFire, also by Chalene Johnson.  I LOVE it.  But I’ve realized that the best workouts for me are the ones that incorporate a lot of resistance training.  I love to lift weights and my body responds better that way.  In the past few months, I’ve gained a few lb. back, and I’m determined to get back to where I was with ChaLEAN.  

So in honor of my soulmate workout, I’m going to come full circle for 2011.  I will continue TurboFire, but I am going to do the ChaLEAN Extreme/TurboFire Hybrid.  The best of both worlds!  I know that this will get me the results that I want…  Tomorrow morning I will take my before pics and measurements so that I can compare in 3 months and see how far I’ve come!

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