Another week has passed since I began this incredible weight loss journey towards better health and vitality. Today I want to share with you three tips for workout motivation – for those times when you’re tempted to skip out on your daily exercise.

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Weight Loss Update

This week I lost another two pounds. For the past few weeks, my weight loss has been steady at a weekly average of two pounds.

Although sometimes I struggle with wanting to achieve better results, I am proud of myself.

Natalie’s uncle Omar always reminds me that not gaining weight is a victory of its own accord. Plus, slower weight loss is healthier for your skin giving its elasticity a chance to return to normal.

My Vegan Diet

In an attempt to consume less packaged foods, I have been buying more fruits and vegetables. I’ve been trying to have a piece of fruit every day and at least one serving of vegetables at every meal. I’ve also been drinking my Super Duper Green Powder every single day, sometimes with the protein powder and other times without.

I’m still struggling with processed foods, particularly white bread. I know I have to cut back. I’ve decided this week I’m going to focus on cutting out white bread. This means that I won’t be limiting other processed foods, except for the bread which is one of my biggest problems.

I have come to realize that it’s better to have slower results if they are steady results. So, that’s what I’m focusing on. Consistency is key!

3 Tips for Workout Motivation

As you all know, mustering the motivation to work out has been a challenge for me. Today, I wanted to share with you 3 tips for workout motivation that helped me get out there and exercise.

Tip 1: Exercising in Nature

Find a park or any other place you can get outside in the Sun. It could even be your backyard. My time outside in nature has become an integral part of my weekly routine. The beauty and peace I find outside inspire me to workout.

There are many ways that you could incorporate this into your day. I like to go to the park before lunch to walk and workout. Other ideas include:

• Taking a short walk during your lunch break.
• Doing bodyweight exercises in your backyard.
• During the weekends or days off, exploring parks or other outdoor places by foot.
• Gardening or other home projects that get you outside and moving.
• Any other outside activity.

Getting fitter is not the only benefit of going outdoors. You also breathe in fresh air, get some much-needed sun, and is an economical (or free!) way to get some exercise.

Tip 2: Don’t Overdo It

When you’re first starting out with exercise, I can understand the drive to want to give your all. That initial spark of inspiration to get healthier is often all you need for workout motivation, at first. However, sometimes the anxiety and need to see progress pushes us to overdo it which in turn causes us to burn out quicker.

In my own experience, you can get into a vicious cycle of overworking your body and burning out and not doing exercise for days. Then the guilt of your inactivity driving you to overwork your body yet again and so on.

I have found that it is more important to maintain consistency. You do this by finding an activity that is sustainable for you – something you can do often enough.

Most importantly, starting at your own level is key. Just because you see another person running laps around the park doesn’t mean you must do the same in order to get results. If your only exercise has been your trek across the driveway before and after work, then walking every day for 10 or 15 minutes is a huge improvement. Go at your own pace and you will start to see the daily improvement in your level of fitness.

Tip 3: Visualization and Postive Thinking

There are days when you aren’t going to feel like working out. I have these days, I’ll admit, and sometimes I feel just plain lazy. In times like these, I use visualization and positive thinking as a workout motivation.

I close my eyes and picture the best version of me and the person I aspire to be. I picture this person encouraging me and saying things like “You can do this!” and “I want you to manifest this version of you.” and “You can make this happen!”

It’s important to remember why you are doing this in the first place. This also helps foster a better self-image of yourself in a time when you may be unhappy with the way you look or feel.

Lasting Workout Motivation

Like I mentioned before, consistency is key. Any tools that you use for motivating yourself to exercise should be those you can repeat.

I hope that these 3 tips for workout motivation helped you. I encourage you to explore and see if you can find three things that help you get out there and move.

I’d like to hear from you. Let me know what are the tools you use as a workout motivation.

Stay Strong, Rise Above