Finding Your Why

Have you ever thought about why you want to lose weight? Is it because you are bombarded by images on the covers or magazines telling you that if you’re not thin you can’t be happy or healthy? Is it because you want to look good in a bikini come summer? Maybe you have some health conditions and your doctor is requiring you to lose weight. 

When I was younger I think if I had been asked that question I probably wouldn’t have been able to answer it. If I did it would probably be something along the lines of wanting to be skinny. I never got that skinny body I hoped for and I lost motivation over and over again. This pattern of lost motivation continued into my twenties. I knew I needed to lose weight to be healthy but it never occurred to me to find my own why.

Fast forward to the beginning of this year, I wanted to change my approach to incorporating nutrition and fitness into my life. I decided to ask myself why. Why do I want workout? Why am I trying to eat more vegetables? Why am I trying to cut out processed foods?

Figuring out my why’s has really helped my motivation this year. Yes I have fallen off the wagon once or twice this year but that is way ahead of the curve when I look at years past. It seems so simple…know what originally motivates you to begin a habit in order to keep you motivated to maintain the habit! Now if you asked me why are you doing this I have a variety of answers for you but my overall theme of these whys is to feel good. I workout and eat healthy foods for me. To make myself feel good. It makes me feel good not only physically but it has helped me mentally feel better about myself. Working out and eating healthy foods has helped improve my relationship with food and eliminate the guilt I feel when treating myself. 

So if you’re struggling to find motivation, my advice to you is to go back to the source. Why did you begin in the first place?