Monday, September 21, 2009

The carrot and the stick

I am no good at self-discipline! Heck, I'm not really any good at being disciplined by others either. I swear something goes off in my brain the second someone says, "You can't have....." or "You should do that...." It's like I say, "Oh, yeah? Watch me!" Unfortunately, much of the time those things that I am being told that I shouldn't have or do really aren't good for me.

Should I have a cookie? No. Should I get to bed early? Yes. Should I get out and walk? Definitely!
Do I have a cookie? No...well not just one! Do I got to bed early? Sleep is for the weak! That walk? But the couch is so comfy!

Knowing this about myself, I am constantly trying to find something to motivate me to do the things that really are good for me. I know I can. I've don't it before. I know those things like eating right, exercising and getting plenty of sleep make me feel MUCH better, but they seems so much like work and so little like fun when I am actually in the moment that my decisions are made. A few years ago I actually was able to buckle down and stick to it by working out every morning and shunning those pesky sweets. I took off 40 pounds and felt great! But now I've slipped back into my lazy life again where I opt for snickers rather than salads.

So what can I do to motivate myself?

Well, I LOVE the Biggest Loser on NBC! Seriously! I love the fact that the money the winner takes away ($500,000) is soooo not the point. I love Bob and Jillian scares the crap out of me. I love seeing people make breakthroughs about WHY they eat and realizing they are amazing people. (Still working on those myself!)

So here's my thought:
the stick approach:
I need to get more steps in since I am QUICKLY falling behind! My plan is that I only get to watch that week's show once my average for the prior week is 8,000 steps per day. Will this work? Probably not. But hopefully it will at least push me a little further each day. Currently my average per day is about 6,500 - hence the reason I am 100,000 steps behind!

Have any suggestions? I'm open to nearly anything! What works to motivate you?

1 comment:

Breadwinner Wife said...

I have two pairs of pants that I want to fit into and I have them hanging up to motivate me! Why is it that the natural thing for us to do is opposite of exercising and eating right? Sigh.

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