Ask:

I want to lose weight and wanted to know whether you had any self-motivation phrases you say to yourself during the day when you feel you are going to give up and indulge in say a chocolate cake or something fattening. 
I thought about maybe wearing a bracelet that would remind me I like to be in control.

Answer:

I took this 30-day transform your body with Pilates challenge
I took my measurements and then took some photos of myself from all angles
At the end of 30-days I did the same thing it proved to me that my hard work actually did generate results and since I waited the full 30 days before I got to check my results the results were more dramatic, it was eye opening. I am so easily discouraged by an added pound that weighing myself regularly just depresses me. I weigh myself once a week at the exact same time under the same circumstance and take my measures monthly.

Another thing I do is keep a journal I write about my successes (ran my first mile whatever) and as for my failures I record my feelings, what might have triggered me to overeat, why I gave up and didn’t exercise that day etc. It keeps me honest and helps me find what emotional barriers I have to getting fit. I have a lot of emotional barriers!

To avoid excuses for not exercising I have created alternative plans
When I am stuck at home I have videos: P90X, Insanity, Jillian Micheal’s 30-day Shred, Serpantine (it’s a video I just bought on Belly Dancing I love it!) and I also have Yoga books and Pilates books/videos, workouts from magazines I loved and saved
When I am on vacation
I know of cheap gyms to common destinations like when I visit my mom that I can use. Usually I pay $5 a visit (more than 1/2 the time they let me go free)
And I have 3 full routines of body-weight exercises I can do when away

As for motivational statements
In my mind I pretend I am instructing someone else on the exercises as if I was making an exercise video (this works for me because I am a Pilate’s and Yoga Instructor and I love teaching). It forces me to focus and has vastly improved my form
I think a big thing for me is learning that the body I already have is beautiful (I have learned to accept that I have soccer player legs not model legs and that’s okay because my legs are insanely strong; basically attacking every negative with a positive), I focus on my own body basically it’s like when you do yoga, your practice is on your mat just be there in that moment as you are, work with what you have
I remind myself I have the power to transform my body, that all it takes is consistency (I remind myself of dropping my pregnancy weight), if you’ve never lost weight remind yourself of a goal you accomplished that at the time seemed impossible
I remind myself sometimes of this crazy hard yoga class that I somehow got through, I was the only person who didn’t collapse when we did 500 ab bicycles (we did them in two sections of 250 reps) I just focused on form and somehow got through. Challenging yourself you see you can do a lot more than you ever imagined you could do. I have to consciously push myself b/c I am a bit inclined toward laziness Continue reading What shall I say to myself to lose weight? →