How To Avoid Setting the World Record For Largest Spandex Pants Ever Created

One of the hardest things about fitness can be staying motivated 100%  of the time. We look at people who run ultra marathons, or weigh 220 pounds of pure muscle with 2% body fat, and here we are, just being normal, using the elliptical for 45 minutes a day and asking to doctor to weigh us completely nude. Sometimes, this can be a great motivator, "Look at that guy, he has one leg and ran 300 miles, if he can do that, I can run a 10k" or, sometimes it can be a real mind -fuck "Well that guy with one leg can run 300 miles and I can barely make it up a flight of stairs. What's the point?" You look at these people, and think, "there is no way they ever wake up and don't want to do that, and today, if I was given the option, I would go get a root canal over going for a 2 mile run right now."

There is a quote, and once again, I am going to not look it up and not give anyone credit, but essentially, the quote says that you should compare yourself to yourself, or that you are competing with who you were yesterday, or something to the effect of that as long as you are giving it your all, you're winning. This might also be three different quotes. But I write a blog, I don't manage the archives of quotes.com, and the main point I am trying to make, is that it's easy to compare ourselves to others, but really, you have to keep in mind your growth. You should be your own motivation. And if that doesn't show up in a google search im taking credit for it myself.

 When we work with goals, both long-term and short-term, when we first start something, it is easy to stay motivated. But what happens when you reach your over-all long-term goal. Imagine your goal was to lose 50 pounds and run a 10k. Because you read my blog, you are enlightened and didn't put a time limit on it, but you were hoping to achieve this is a year. While you were starting, you found Instagram quotes with background images of lions ripping apart prey inspiring. "Yes! I am A lion. I will rip the face off of this run and bring the remains back to my pride," you probably thought, and then you went off and ran 4 miles and felt good. Now, here you are. You have reached your goal. You are 50 pounds lighter, and you ran a 10k. While training, you started to feel like running was not all that fun. It was helping you reach your goal, sure, but you can't really remember ever being on a run and thinking, "Whooo hoo, this is great I want to do this every day for the rest of my life." Also you really don't want to lose any more weight. You made your goal, and you feel like anything lighter just isn't for you. What do you do?

Well, you could, give up. Gain your weight back and start over again. But that probably won't be helpful. A main problem with weight loss goals is that they are so concrete. 50 pounds is 50 pounds. Either you've lost it or you haven't. When this is our focus, we get so caught up in the number, that everything else because a side effect of losing weight, or a means to an end. What made you not give up your 10k goal when you realized you hated running. Was it that douche with one leg? Weight loss and fitness goals can be enjoyable, and running isn't the only cardio available. Previously, I mentioned that this is a lifestyle. If you are creating a lifestyle, don't you want to do it in a way that is enjoyable? When you are trying to set goals, imagine yourself as a new born baby; you are imprinting habits on yourself in this first year of your new life. If you teach yourself that your daily exercise is just a way to get to your 50 pound weight loss goal, once you hit 50 pounds, it's going  to be hard for you to convince yourself of maintaining the motivation to work out. You will look at Instagram photos of lions and one legged men doing great things, and roll your eyes, and start unfollowing accounts. Think of it this way, is it easier to motivate yourself to go to the beach, or to go to work?  If you want to stay motivated long after your goal has been reached, it is helpful if you enjoy the process of getting there. Find a fitness regimen you enjoy, find foods you enjoy eating, it shouldn't feel like work, it should feel natural.

It is important to focus on yourself on your way to your goal, really be aware of yourself during that process of losing weight and increasing your health. Ask questions, reflect on what you're doing.  Am I having fun? What don't I like about this? Is there a fun way I can get the same benefits? Once again, I advocate trying new things; hey, look at all those celebrities on dancing with the stars! They always lose weight and they are ballroom dancing. Find something you really enjoy doing. That way, long after you meet your ultimate goal, you will want to continue doing that and advancing in it as a way to set new goals.

Now, short-term motivation is also an issue. Like I said above, when we start doing something, it's usually easy to see results at first. As we watch our bodies change and as we start to feel healthier, we get into it. We go to the gym, we hit goal after goal, after goal, after goal, and then, sometimes we get stuck. We have a day where we just don't want to go to the gym. Running another mile on the treadmill is the equivalent of making a suicide pact with devil, and the very thought of NOT sitting on your couch watching Netflix until your eyes bleed actually brings you pain and sadness. Maybe we have a week like this. We start to feel discouraged, because we are not the one legged marathoner or the body builder who appears to have descended from Zeus. You feel like if you go to the gym and go less than 150% why even bother. Well, remember being a kid, and your mom told you to clean your room. So everything would go into your closet. Your room looked clean, it took 5 minutes to do, and then you got to go to Sally's and play with Barbie's. Then remember the next day when you were looking for your shoe, and you couldn't find it. You had to pull everything out of your closet and now you're were right back to where you started. Had you taken the extra time to put everything where it went, as I'm sure your mother told you endlessly,  your room would have stayed cleaner longer.

When you are looking for a missing shoe in a clean room, maybe you open a door, check under a bed, maybe things get a little messy, but you can set them right pretty quickly. In the same way, when you are trying to lose weight, if you've been working out consistently and staying on track, taking a day or week off won't ruin all of your work, and neither will doing an activity that's less rigorous than what you are used toa. Things might feel a little messy, but you can clean up rather quickly. By staying on track and working so hard, you've made your body the equivalent of a well organized closet. Maybe for a week, you don't work out as hard, or you don't work out at all. Maybe you stop counting calories for a week, or let yourself have sugar and bagels. You didn't burn down the room, you just threw some things on the floor, once you get back on track, it will be easy to get back to where you were and start making progress again. It will be easy to clean up and reorganize.
 
When we are lacking the motivation to keep following a diet and exercise plan, it is easy to fall victim to comparing ourselves to others. "Well that girl drank Detox tea for 3 days and lost 15 pounds! That's not fair." This is where we get angry or discouraged with ourselves. Maybe we are still eating and working out in the same way, but now our weight loss has tapered off, we fail to see our progress, because we no longer see huge change. Have you ever been to the point where you just want to give it up, maybe eat 6000 tons of tacos. Week after week you put so much effort in, but you haven't lost any more weight, so now, you've hit a point of frustration where you think to yourself, "Ugh, meeting my weight loss goal is so difficult, I'm going to set a new goal. I'm going to be the largest human on the planet. I want to be so large, that I set a record for the largest pair of spandex ever created, and then I want to set a record for being the largest amount of human mass ever shoved into a pair of spandex. I can easily do that by eating 6000 tons of Tacos, which is really more challenging than not eating any tacos if you really think about it. So. New goal." Thoughts like this happen when we feel like we are putting in so much effort and getting nothing back in return. Thoughts like this are also a real motivation killer.
 
It's like if you keep your room clean, but then your mom still won't let you have a friend over. "What do you mean, mom? Last time it was because my room was a mess, so now, the queen could come and have high tea in my closet and I still can't have anyone come over?" If you were to respond to this by throwing everything on the floor and making a mess, it probably wouldn't get you very far in terms of playing with your friend. So, maybe you'd make an alternate plan, go to your friends house, talk to her on the phone and simultaneously watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, then maybe next week, your room will still be clean, or easy to clean, and your mom will let her come over. In the same way, when you feel like you are doing everything right but still not getting what you want, you may just need to use a different tactic for a bit.

For example, if your goal was just to work out 5 times a  week, you might have fallen into a pattern. Maybe you run on Monday, Do the elliptical Tuesday, Take a class on Wednesday, Thursday you bike with friends, and Friday you see a personal trainer. Now, on Monday you barely want to get out of bed, the class is boring, and your friends all suck, because there is no way anyone who doesn't suck really wants to bike around the block 567 times. This is when you have to mix things up. If you have a personal trainer, ask for some tips, look up some treadmill workouts online, maybe sign up for a road race and train for that. Eventually you might miss your friends and work them back into your new routine, or maybe you won't and they will bike off into the sunset without you.

Similarly, say you have bodybuilding goals and you find yourself all of a sudden not wanting to go to the gym, but you are stuck because you know you need to or you will lose your muscle. So, what can you do? Also, I'm not quoting anything directly here and this is not proven by facts or science, but I would say that happy muscles grow bigger and stronger than muscles being held at gun point in the gym. Mix up your routine. If you isolate muscle groups, maybe just do a few days of full body circuits instead with some of your favorite exercises. Maybe take a week off, take classes that use lighter weights but still focus on muscle training.

If you have always enjoyed your workouts up until this point, chances are you are burning yourself out either mentally or physically. Your mind and your body are trying to tell you something, you have to be alert enough to listen and respond accordingly. Not feeling motivated, or not feeling like you are making progress does not mean you are failing and should give up, but what it does mean, is that you can take a minute to mix things up and create new motivation, or find your existing motivation again. Just like your stomach will tell you when you are hungry, when your mind is telling your body to sit this one out, it might be telling you that you are exhausted. Taking a week off may show you how much you missed it. It may also give your body time to rest and recover and when you get back in there you'll be stronger and more ready than ever.

When we create a lifestyle for ourselves that incorporates healthy eating and exercise it allows us to have weeks that we may not feel like going at 100% and that is okay. There is a reason people take vacations, because if you don't give yourself a break, you may burn out. Look at how far you have come. Fine, you can't run 300 miles with one leg, but do you want to? If you do, then work on that, strive to be that person, but compare yourself to your own progress, look at how far you've come. If you want to set new goals, set them, change them, as long as you enjoy them. The most important thing to remember is taking a day off because you honestly don't want to work out, is not the worst thing, I'd assume having your face ripped off by a lion is. You want to enjoy what you do and maybe you need a break. That doesnt mean you are giving up, or that everything you have done doesnt count, it just means youre tired or bored. Maybe you need to mix things up. Or maybe you need to read more inspirational quotes. Whatever it is you need to do, remember you have built a lifestyle that allows you to make a mess once in a while, but you clean up nicely and you can do it in no time at all.

Mainly this is just a blog telling you to follow my Instagram if you don't already. I'll put a lion post up ASAP @ Wisdom_and_weights.

Friday Fives: "Five Ways I Motivate Myself to Enjoy the Gym"- As Told by Pam @ alittleglitter.com

Hi Guys!  My name is Pamela and I run the website A Little Glitter.  I blog about all types of things (fashion, beauty, motherhood, events, decor and lately working out/health).  I would love for you to stop on over and visit sometime.

 
 

I've been skinny fat my whole life.  I've never had to work out or watch what I ate and I've always stayed pretty thin.  Before you start to hate me, let me just say that this year that behavior is finally starting to catch up with me.  My bad cholesterol is too high, I have no muscle tone and I am starting to gain weight.  Also, I see all these skinny bitches on the internet with these cute little butts and muscly bodies and I want that, too!  So, I signed up for the gym and I am going about three times a week.  That being said, I am not a work out person.  I know people that wake up and CANT WAIT to go to the gym.  I think about throwing myself down the stairs so that I can get out of it.  It is not effortless for me to attend.  I am going to share with you some of the ways that I motivate myself to go and enjoy my time there.

1.  Cute sneakers.  I feel better about myself when I look better. I am the ugliest workout person ever.  I do not glisten.  I SWEAT.  Also, my face turns beet red.  I cant control those things but I can wear some cute sneakers...so I do.  Here are some that I am obsessed with:

2.  Fabulous workout clothes.  Same idea as number one.  I love tanks with funny sayings on them like this one:

 
(It also doesn't hurt that it matches my dream sneakers pretty well!)

3.  Music.  If I forget my headphones I am pretty much over it.  I may as well go home.  I wont work as hard or for as long.  I am totally unable to motivate.  My all-time favorite cardio song is Pursuit of Happiness by Kid Cudi.  It has a great beat and I find myself running faster when I'm listening to it.  

Kid Cudi feat. Steve Aoki - Pursuit of Happiness (Project X Video Edit by Mr. Habela) from DJ Mr.Habela on Vimeo.

4.  Putting classes in my planner.  I am a list maker.  I refer to my planner every day.  If I have a pilates or barre class written down on my list in there I want to check it off.  

5.  Hot Girls.  If all else fails, I make myself look at pictures of toned up, muscly girls on Pinterest for at least five minutes.  It motivates me to work hard so I can look like them and I remember that I am not going to get a cute butt by sitting on it.  I have to get up and head out in order to achieve that derriere.

I hope I was able to inspire you today!  Have a fabulous weekend!  xo

Friday Fives: 5 Struggles I'm Facing in my First Month of Dieting - As Told By Snapchat:

For those of you who aren't familiar with Snapchat, mom, before I can share with you this week's Friday Five, let me give you a quick rundown. Snapchat, is an application for your cellular device. You still with me? It allows you to take a photo and send it to someone, but the cool part about this, is that after 1-10 seconds it goes away. Some people may send their exposed body parts, and others may just send pictures of themselves at their day job not yet being a famous blogger trophy wife. So whether you send your boobs, or your lunch, or something funny you just saw but not so funny you're gonna share it to Facebook, you know it is quick, and not going to stay on that persons phone forever. I'm from the camp that if someone is going to show their naked body to someone they should be there in person to get the gratification of hearing their body be appreciated. Regardless of how you choose to use it, Snapchat is a fun tool that some of my clients use to stay on track.  If you have a friend who lives far away, but helps keep you motivated, sometimes it's fun to schedule workouts at the same time. 99% of the time I would not want someone to have a picture of me directly after I have finished working out. Snapchat is a fun way to send a picture of you looking like you were just chased for 56 miles by a pack of dogs, with a thumbs up emoji, to show your best friend, you did in fact workout hard, simultaneously, to the point of a near death experience, without actually having to worry about how terrible you look.

This is a Snapchat:

Today's Friday 5 was brought to you by a client in her first month of a new program; she uses Snapchat to share with her friends what is going on in her diet.

5 Struggles I'm Facing in my First Month of Dieting

1) Staying on track when the food around me is soooo tempting.

(I'd like to point out here, that actually would be a legitimate way to lose weight, but I don't think the saying is an eye for an eye, an arm for an Oreo, and there's probably a good reason for that. )

2) Getting back into a workout routine without collapsing a lung.

(She probably had to kick her shoes off because that missing arm made it difficult to gently remove them. )

3) Setting REASONABLE goals and expectations for my weight loss and fitness regiment, even though I'd prefer to lose 70 pounds this month, I know that's not healthy, or realistic.

(You go Glenn Coco! Also weight loss jars are an amazing visual tool to aid weight loss, so really, you go!)

4)Feeling discouraged when I don't meet the goals I was hoping to.

(If you find a scale that always tells you your goal weight, please let us all know where to find it! However, even though this scale is clearly not playing by her rules it's adorable! )

5)Not drinking my calories, and pretending that I love water.

(Well these aren't the jugs I was promised I'd get through Snapchat!)

These five struggles are very common in the first month of starting a new program. You are retraining yourself and asking a lot of your body and your mind. This client is on point, because she is not only approaching her struggles with a sense of humor, she is sharing them with her friends. When you let others know what difficulties you're facing it makes it easier to face them knowing you have support. While the desire to rip off a limb in exchange for a cookie may be there, one armed snapchating may be difficult.  So just hang in there and remember you're not alone; even though the first month is difficult, just think, in a few months from now when you're snapchatting your naked body, how good you feel about yourself thanks to the struggles you faced in month one.

As always feel free to let me know if you have something you'd like to see on the blog. Comment below about your struggles and how you've managed them. If you haven't already, subscribe to the email and like the blog on Facebook (fitness from within)

Thanks for reading! 

-Nicole (and Snapchat)

Friday Fives: Gym Bag Essentials- As Told by Amanda

When I was in college, I bought an audio recorder. I had big visions of me recording lectures, and then sitting down promptly after class to listen to, and transcribe, said lectures. What that actually looked like, was I played Tetris during class, and never listened to a lecture once. But today, I dusted off the old recorder, removed the oxidized batteries, deleted 73 lectures from "An Oral History of the Written History of Uneventful Things that Happened in Psychology," and hit the gym to find someone to tell us what their 5 gym bag essentials are as I recorded them with the grace of Katie Couric.

Me: I’m like, maybe 80% sure I’m recoding this.

Amanda: Okay I’ll tell my agent.

M: Amanda, you are possibly being recorded, if not I’ll do my best to remember.

(I drop the recorder on the floor and accidentally kick it)

M: Well I’m probably not recording anything anymore

A: I think that red light means you are

As you can see this girl knows her stuff, and this is possibly why I didn’t listen to my recorded lectures. Amanda is a personal trainer here in NYC, and is always in the gym. Here are Amanda’s 5 Gym Bag Essentials:

1. Shaker bottle : Amanda’s shaker bottle has compartments in it, so you can take up less space in your gym bag with Tupperware, but still carry everything you need. Amanda keeps:

Vitamins (fish oil, multivitamin and Vitamin C) , 

and today Amino Acid, NOT COCAINE, in her shaker bottle, but sometimes keeps protein powder or pre-workout. “I don’t eat a lot of meat, so  I need to get my aminos somewhere.” Pre-workout is sometimes used by people, prior to working out to increase endurance.

2. Lock: Having a lock makes sense. This lock, has a key, which Amanda notes is difficult to keep track of, and we’ve both had the problem of locking a key in a locker and needing it cut off.

However, check out this nifty gym hack Amanda suggests if you forget a lock. A lot of the time people aren’t looking to find your unlocked items, they are just looking for a locker and if you happened to not have a lock that day but, brought your iPad, then, you might be in trouble. Amanda suggests taking a plastic baggie (most gyms will have these to put your sweaty clothes in), and tying it through the locker. Most people are not going to untie the bag, and it’s a good way to let people know that a locker is taken.

3. Head Phones: “ I always listen to something when I do my cardio. Lately instead of music I’ll listen to podcasts, things I don’t have time to do during the day.” If you forget your iPod, or you don’t want to use up the life on your phone, most cardio machines have jacks on the TVs and then you can watch your favorite Bravo shows without reading subtitles and falling off the treadmill.

4. Socks: “These socks are glittery, and they match the glitter in my shoes. I usually have a few pairs of socks in my gym bag. There is nothing more uncomfortable than showering and having to put on nasty socks.”

5. Deodorant: “No one wants to be that person at the gym who people are avoiding because they smell terrible. I got this on sale. That’s how I pick my deodorant. If it’s on sale and I don’t smell when I’m wearing it, it’s doing its job.”

Because this is a blog about how to find your wellness balance, and even though I enjoy insider tips on where I can find deodorant on sale, I asked Amanda how she helps her clients stay motivated. Amanda usually recommends group fitness classes, but stresses that you have the proper form when doing exercises like squats or deadlifts, to maximize benefits and minimize risk of injury. If you don't know how to do something- ask! Group fitness classes are great because they can mix up your routine, and the added benefit of being surrounded by others working hard keeps you working hard! If your gym doesn’t have classes, or you don’t belong to a gym, look up boot camps, find a Groupon for a fun activity, or look into what a day rate for a local gym that has classes may be. If none of these work,  get some friends together and create a circuit, or dust off your mothers VHS tapes, pull out your VCR, put on some Jane Fonda, and pretend you’re sweating with 30 other people.

(Jane Fonda was not present for this interview or available to comment on the essential-ness of Amanda's Five Gym Bag Essentials)  

Pumpkin Spice is the New Black

As summer comes to an end, and we pack away our bathing suits and our, "Suns Out Guns Out" tank tops the world delivers us pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin spice donuts, pumpkin spice air; pretty much, this year, pumpkin spice is the new black. But whatever your favorite fall treat is, and it's most likely not pumpkin spice ricecakes, which I'm not sure if they exist, but chances are they will by the time I'm done typing this post, something delicious and autumnal will be calling your name every day. Additionally, we have a ton of 3-day weekends, holidays that revolve around food, and the natural instinct to put on weight to stay warm as we suffer through winter, from our heated homes. So what can we do to stay on track when there are all of these tempting treats being shoved under our noses, and the propensity to be 7/8 naked in public is greatly diminished?

1. Re-evaluate your goal. Say you weigh 180lbs and wanted to lose 10 pounds by December 1st, but you are going away for 2 weeks on vacation in October. Then you have Thanksgiving weekend, and then you have your goal date. You've been doing great, but you're worried about vacation. Set a small goal right before you go on vacation. Make your goal to not gain any weight, or to only gain 3 pounds. That way, just like I mentioned in Cheat Meals, you can have tastes of foods, but still opt for mostly healthy options. When you return, give yourself a day to get back to your typical diet and exercise plan, then weigh yourself the following morning. Did you maintain? Did you gain 5 lbs? If you gained weight, that's okay, by creating a goal to not gain weight, or by allowing yourself to gain a small amount of weight, you ate much healthier than you would have if you just said, "eh fuck it."  So way to go! You gained less then you probably would have, and you're already back to your healthy habits, congratulations, you're phenomenal!

2. Decide before you go away, even if you're only going home to your parents house for a 3 day weekend what your exercise schedule will look like. It's okay if it's less rigorous than you are used to, chances are you're not training for an Olympic team, so doing any exercise, instead of none, is beneficial. If you usually work out for an hour on Saturday, but realistically you'll only have 30 minutes, schedule it in, just like you've scheduled in seeing Sally who you just caught up with on facebook after not having talked to her since high school. This will be a time commitment you make with yourself. Give yourself an actual time to workout, and stick to it, by scheduling it in for yourself you'll have it in your mind that you've committed to it and you will be more likely to actually do it.

3. Let yourself have the pumpkin spice muffin, but balance it out by pairing it with a protein, like some eggs or a salad with chicken. Instead of just having the sweet, make it part of a meal instead of a snack or a treat. When you have the piece of chocolate, or the bite of pie, or the pumpkin spice everything, your brain gets so excited, it wants more. Essentially you're training yourself to want sweets or cake. By pairing it with nutritious options, since your brains reward system is already activated, you're helping yourself learn to eat better, and diminishing the rewarding effect of the sweets on your brain. At the same time, you are increasing the association between balanced meals and feeling fulfilled and happy. So don't deny yourself the occasional sweet, but just make it a part of a meal instead of a reward, or a cheat snack.

4. Don't be so hard on yourself. When we set our initial long term goals, we usually give ourselves a time limit. That can be a beneficial way to stay motivated, just like a work deadline for a project you wouldn't actually do unless you were going to be fired for not doing by a certain time, a goal to hit a certain mark by a certain time can be helpful. However, life happens. If someone died, your boss would probably give you an extension, if you aren't going to hit your goal, set a new goal, give yourself an extension. You've come so far so don't give up. Maybe you want to get back on track by the day you had set to hit your goal weight. Maybe you've been perfect and now your weight loss has slowed or platued. See a personal trainer or a nutritionist to mix things up and revamp your plan. Or even see a behavioral therapist to find out if there is more to this than meets the eye. Remember just because you didn't hit that long term goal, you've still come far, you just might have to be more realistic about when you'll get there, it doesnt mean you never will.

So even though we are covering our bodies with oversized sweaters, that probably have pockets to hold all of the delicious treats the world has to offer, not to mention that we didn't eat all summer, remember, you are working to have a healthy body all year round,  not just when your prancing around the beach trying to get a life gaurd to give you mouth to mouth even if you're not drowning. The biggest thing that happens in winter, is we get discouraged that we arent making the same progress, but it's only natural. You have been making changes for a few months now so progress will be less intense. Appreciate how far you've come, enjoy the treats in moderation, and create realistic wellness goals that you can stick to for now.

Remember, there is still time to subscribe to the email or follow the blog for the giveaway. Also, if you don't want to win free things, I understand that, but by following the blog on google + or bloglovin, and/or subscribing to the email, it lets me know if people are reading and enjoyingit enough for me to keep going. So if you read this, and like it, and don't want free things you are more than welcome to pass on the gift and continue to read the blog.

Thanks for reading!
Nicole