Health & Wellbeing

Finding your Motivation

So hopefully after reading last month’s article you’ve taken your first step to a healthier and happier you! WELL DONE!

One of the next hurdles you will come across is motivation – or the lack of it maybe?

Here’s where most people go wrong…

You wait for the right time, the perfect scenario, a time when

you’re feeling truly motivated to start. But guess what… it’s not going to come.

Action leads to motivation – not the other way around. You

have to start doing the things you know you should be doing in order to start feeling motivated enough to carry on.

So how to make sure you stay motivated? A big driving force of us humans is we love to see progress, and when we don’t we usually pack it all in and wait for Monday – right?

Normally most people use the scales to track their progress. Scales have their time and place but, trust me, if they are the only thing you are using get ready to feel demotivated and quit!

Yes you heard me, using scales on their own to track progress

is STOPPING you from moving forward long term.

Your weight fluctuates for a number of reasons such as:

J Salt intake J Hydration level J Food still in digestion J Soreness from workouts J And ladies, where you are in your cycle makes a huge difference! Here are my top five things to track to help you stay motivated:

J Step count: Track for a week and see if you can do a little more the week after, with anywhere between 7,000-10,000

being the goal after a couple of weeks J Amount of water drank: Can you drink 2.5 litres of water each day? This is the recommended minimum amount.

Don’t overthink it, just do it! J How much sleep you get each night: Sleep is one of the most important factors of health and wellbeing. If you don’t get enough it makes everything else feel ten times harder! J Use a tape measure (chest, waist, arms, thighs): Most people see changes in their measurements before they see a drop in weight, especially at the beginning of your journey J Eat protein with every meal: Protein will help you feel fuller for longer which helps reduce snacking. Here’s some examples;

Eggs, Chicken, Tuna, Beef, Salmon, Tempeh, Tofu, Lentils

These things aren’t ground breaking, and won’t help you shift a stone in a week, but you’ll feel great, you may lose some cms/ inches and, more importantly, you won’t feel overwhelmed and want to quit.

Make yourself a tracking table and tick them off everyday – if you can start to string a few days together you’ll notice some incredible changes. n

Rich Blake is a co-founder of LVL 5, a business founded upon the vision of helping as many people as possible enjoy the process of becoming happier and healthier. For further information you can reach him on 07909 245472 or at rich@lvl5gyms.com