Forget Motivation

We all had lots of motivation when we started this plan.  There may have been different catalysts for what finally flipped the switch and prompted us to get started, but that catalyst was accompanied by a burst of motivation.  This time was going to be different.

Motivation may have gotten us started, but it won't keep us going over the long haul.  It has an annoying way of dissipating, sometimes just when we need it most.  If we're depending on a constant supply of fresh motivation, we will end up being disappointed and discouraged, and we may find ourselves on and off the program, waiting to restart until another burst of motivation appears on the horizon.  That's not a good long-term strategy, especially since each subsequent wave of motivation is a little less robust that the last one.  Almost everyone who's been on and off program repeatedly confesses to finding it more and more difficult to get back on plan and stay there because the initial motivation they had never returns.

So what's a person to do?  I read a quote a week or so ago that said, "Motivation gets you started.  Habits keep you going."  It's the habits we develop that will keep us going in a different direction.

According to the Mayo Clinic, "90% of what we do is habitual, autopilot behavior - how we treat people, how we spend our money, how we eat, our attitudes. If you want different results, take inventory of your habits & consciously change them. Most studies show that a habit can be broken in 6 weeks!"

When I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, my focus was to just stay on plan for 21 days in a row (I'd always heard that it takes 21 days to break a habit or create a new one).  I marked off the calendar each day, and as I neared day 21, there was a level of excitement and amazement as I realized that I was actually doing it.  I had never followed a weight loss plan for 7 days in a row without cheating, let alone 21.  When I reached the 21st day, I realized that if I could stay on plan for 21 days in a row, I could stay on plan indefinitely.  That was the first turning point for me.

Even though my motivation certainly waned over time (although seeing the scale continue to do down and dropping a size a month helped my motivation not to disappear completely), each day that I stayed on plan strengthened new habits.  Each day that I stayed on plan, those old, unhealthy habits weakened and had less power over me.

As was pointed out in the Mayo Clinic quote, changing our habits is a matter of conscious choice.  It won't happen automatically, and it's not easy.  But it's a choice we CAN make.  If we recognize that our old, unhealthy habits are no longer serving our best interest, don't wait for motivation to get started.  Make the decision to change your habits, beginning today.  Once you do that, your choices will begin to reinforce the decision you made.  Choose wisely :-)