How do I keep my motivation in the weight loss process

I get this question very often. So often that I sometimes wonder if I'm really able to answer it. But until I clarify this issue, I thought I could share with you the few things that help me be motivated or find my motivation in the moments when it leaves me.

I've said it before and felt it on my skin so many times, but I feel the need to repeat it: losing weight is not easy at all. For if it were, we would all have looked drawn as if through fine rings with glittering diamonds.

So for various reasons some people end up gaining more pounds than they can handle, and at some point the situation gets out of hand. These people should not be judged, but helped. Judging is so easy, but so painful at the same time for the person in question. And I tell you the truth, I've heard it so many times. "you are such a beautiful girl, if you lost a little more… ”. If I lost a little more weight, what? Would I be smarter, better and my human quality would suddenly increase? Would I suddenly become a more valuable man? Alas, how many revolting thoughts crossed my mind! And not to mention the absolutely classic line "I'm thinking about your health". Seriously? Hearing this from people who are not close to me or who don't know me at all annoys me to the core. Since when can a stranger no longer sleep at night from my care? No, this was clearly just a reply that some people use to make them feel better after making a comment that puts another person in an embarrassing situation.

And now let me tell you why I felt the need to share with you these thoughts that have crushed me for years: I am a sensitive man, who takes courage and feels motivated when he is encouraged and when he hears beautiful things. To me negative motivation it never worked, on the contrary, it always had an unwanted effect and made me shut myself in and resort to emotional eating. And like me, there are certainly thousands of other people. My advice? Pay more attention when giving advice and maybe more empathy. Let's let the specialists do this or those who have been through this and can share their own experience.

I started doing sports with Iulian Dinu on June 18, 2015. Apart from dancing and ballet, I never liked doing sports. I don't like to sweat, run out of air and feel like I'm breaking into thousands of pieces when I do a sprint. The first workouts were like an unpleasant and necessary treatment that I applied to my body, hoping that it would soon become easier. I always managed to do (without exception) all the exercises that Iulian gave me. In a very short time he showed me that in his studio (Personal Trainer Studio) it does not exists I can not because he always knew how to dose the effort so that my body could support it. It quickly gained my trust because I noticed that we were on the same team and that we were working together to get the results. And the results were not long in coming.

There are periods when I am very focused and I am very attentive to my diet, I go to workouts with a lot of fun and a lot of energy, but I also have periods when I start to eat less healthy and the desire to do sports disappears. These are episodes that don't last long because there are a few things that help me get back in shape quickly. It is natural and as human as possible to have these episodes, but the most important thing is not to let them become habits that erase all the work done until then. Rome was not built in a single day either, so I am convinced that the results cannot disappear after only a few days of neglect.

Below I will make a list of things that motivate me and help me not to deviate from my goals.

# Iulian Dinu - my coach

Strange as it may sound, Iulian is the person with the most constant presence in my weight loss process. After a year, my schedule looks like this: on Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning at 08:00 I go to training, and on Tuesday and Thursday at 21:00 we go on the Lia Manoliu athletics track to run. When the rain turns our plans upside down, you find me on Olympia (that's how I christened the treadmill at Personal Trainer Studio because sometimes I feel like I'm at the Olympics when I run on it).

In addition to training, Iulian helped me learn to form a healthy eating style. I abstain from many foods, but I don't have a draconian diet. I try to keep a balance and eat as many fresh vegetables as possible. From time to time I make certain cravings and I have established a rule to consume something sweet only when I am with Iulian. Do not imagine that I am a client with a special treatment, because Iulian is very involved in collaborating with each person who steps on the threshold of the studio and establishes his approach according to the stimuli to which the person reacts best. I react well to rewards, that's why he once took me to KFC, once he let me eat chocolate tart, at the Alistmagazine.ro party he let me eat half a portion of cake and after May 20 he promised me that we would go let's eat burger.

(I didn't have the energy and desire to go to training one day)

He also tries to make the workouts as fun as possible so that all his clients react as well as possible to the exercises. I remember being outraged at a workout because of exercises that seemed too demanding, but which I was able to perform successfully, and because I had an angry face and was grumpy and jokingly asked me if I wanted a degree for success. And because I said a resounding "yes," he went to his office and came out with a diploma for me. I didn't even expect to receive one, but I admit that his gesture made me happy and motivated. Now I keep my diploma on board the car as a small reminder of my success.

But even when you are late for training, you receive reprimands.

# Results

12 months ago I was wearing size 52 on my clothes, and now I can be 44-46. That motivates me damn hard. If a year ago I only had 3-4 store options from which I can buy clothes, now I have very little left and the doors of all the stores in the malls will open. In addition to the aesthetic benefits, I am very excited that I can do a lot of outdoor activities or that I am in a much better shape than my friends. In fact, I am not happy that I have a better tone than them because we are not in a competition, but that I am much more energetic and that I am no longer excluded from certain activities from the start. Not to mention that the health problems are almost gone. I had no back pain at all.

# Improving health problems

If I spent January 2015 in bed due to a back crisis, today I run on the 5km stadium without taking a break. And more than that, I enjoy running. I remember the first time I climbed the treadmill and I could barely walk for 5 minutes. I didn't think I'd be able to run for an hour. My health has improved due to regular sports and all these benefits motivate me not to give up. And in the moments when I feel like I can't try to remember why I want to do this.

# Marcela - my Fitbit bracelet

I found out about Fitbit bracelets on Instagram. I admit that I follow a lot of people who go through or have gone through this process to be inspired by them.

I have the pleasure of naming my things and you may consider it a childish habit, but I do not think that everything in life should be taken seriously.

Marcela is a bracelet that measures the number of steps I take daily, the distance traveled on foot, the number of calories consumed (here I do not think it is very accurate), the heart rate, the number of steps climbed, the number of hours slept if you wear it and night) and has other functions. You connect the bracelet to the Fitbit application that you need to install on your phone, and there you can see all this information. In addition, you can connect with other people who have Fitbit from around the world, enter all kinds of competitions that help you win trophies and badges. The purpose of these competitions is to motivate you to exercise as much as possible every day, and it really motivates me.

The bracelet can be ordered by HERE. I have the Fitbit Charge HR model.

# I'm doing something for myself

When I do sports (or any other kind of exercise) and when I eat healthy, I feel like I'm doing something for myself. We are usually so preoccupied with all our daily duties that we often leave ourselves in last place. This over time can lead to the accumulation of frustrations that we initially do not know where they come from and that can degrade our quality of life. The fact that I do sports and take care of my body makes me feel that I put myself first and that I really enjoy life, not that I just live to work and pay bills.

# Encouragement from others

We advised you at the beginning of the article not to throw left and right tips. Now I want to thank those people who in the last year have offered me sincere encouragement and congratulations, whether they knew me or just followed me online. Know that a beautiful word, may come at a time of neglect or stagnation, can be a boost of will. There are many moments when I no longer see results or changes, and the fact that a stranger comes and says "Bravo Ioana, keep it up!" it reminds me that I'm on the right track and motivates me to keep going.

# Ashley Graham

Ashley Graham is a plus size model and I discovered her when someone sent me to watch her TEDx speech. I instantly fell in love with her and since then I follow her activity on Instagram and I am inspired by her attitude and the projects she is involved in. She looks like a gorgeous woman and a role model. I admire her because she works for her body and she is not the kind of plus size model who thinks that for that you only need to be overweight. I really like the videos she posts from her workouts and which of course I do.

When I run on the treadmill or when I exercise on the machine Ab Generator and I feel like I just can't, I admit I'm thinking of Ashley Graham and I'm sure she's shooting harder than me and that's why she has such a beautiful body. And that's how I manage to run another 10-15 minutes or do a few more abs.

# Sports equipment

When I started training with Iulian, I had only one pair of sports tights, a cotton T-shirt, a T-shirt and a pair of sports shoes.

Now I have about 4 pairs of shoes and countless bustiers, T-shirts, T-shirts and tights - all as colorful and cheerful as possible. I enjoy matching them and taking funny workout selfies that I post on my Instagram account (follow #MyBodyJourney if you want to see them). I don't take these selfies to brag that I go to the gym, but they help me notice my progress over time. I really like the sports clothes from H&M, the only downside of the brand is that they only measure up to L. Now the L size suits me very well, but before I was very outraged that I don't bring bigger measures. After all, people who do sports are not small. I also really like the Decimas and Decathlon stores, which have large sizes and colorful equipment made of very good materials. But I admit that when I leave the country I always buy sports clothes because I don't have the problem of measures. Ah, and I found the best bustiers for people with big breasts at Marks & Spencer and Admiral (a brand discovered in Greece).

I like to buy new equipment that I can't wait to wear to training.

# I follow stories from other people around the world on Instagram

I follow my friends and the people I admire on Instagram, many make-up artists, models and photographers from all over the world, plus size models and people who do sports, have lost a lot of weight or are in the process of losing weight. It helps me understand all the stages of this process, to take the moments of frustration as something normal, to inspire me for different healthy food recipes and to motivate me in the moments when I feel tired.

The conclusion?

Motivation also leaves me. Especially since my goal is not to lose a lot of weight fast and to be able to boast a lost weight. My approach is this (and I admit, that Iulian was the one who helped me understand this): I do this for my health, it is not a quick and pleasant process, and for this very reason I do not have to focus only on the destination the final. Much more important than the end result is to replace certain wrong habits with healthy ones, to understand what mistakes I have made in the past and not to repeat them, to enjoy every stage of this journey both the pleasant moments and the most a little pleasant. And it matters a lot not to be alone. I have Iulian who guides me, supports me, scolds me and punishes me when necessary, but I also have you who, even if you don't realize it, most of the time help me not to slip.

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