Find a Buddy, find your inspiration!!!

One of the best ways to stay motivated in fitness (especially when the going get tough), is to find a person that will workout with you, walk with you each day, or even someone that keeps you accountable on your progress through your journey of getting into shape.  Speaking from experience, sometimes the idea of putting your body through pain on purpose seems upsurd.  I totally understand that!!  But you have to realize that in order to achieve your goals' you can not quit as soon as something becomes uncomfortable.  When you are walking/jogging for those 30 minutes, and that last 5 minutes has you cramping up or thinking about the fact that you would love to be anywhere but where you are at that moment, put the thought in your head that you are making yourself better, more fit, more empowered. 

Think about that spring dress that you want to look flawless in at the beginning of the season.  Think of those pair of jeans that just one year ago looked magnificent on you and made you feel amazing!!!  You get the point, I am sure!!  I say this because I am notorious for saying, "Oh!  I am really tired today!!  And I had a good workout this morning.  So I don't need to go to that fitness class tonight!"  This is the time that procrastination and yes even...laziness comes and wrecks your plans on becoming more healthy and in that summer bikini.  Find a time of the day that really gives you no choice to make the time and go to the gym or that walk that you always put off.  If you work, like I do, keep your running shoes either in your locker at work, in your car, or by your front door.  That way no matter how you will feel, that gear will be staring you in the face, reminding you of the time and effort that you need to put in to get into that really cute bikini in July.  (Do you like how I keep throwing this scenarios in?)  Another way to stay motivated is to grab that pair of jeans that you have that may not quite fit in the way that you would like and put it at the front of your closet in perfect view.  So, that everytime that you open your closet you see them, and are reminded of how you were so empowered when you looked the way you wanted in them.  This is when having a buddy can help.  A buddy can keep you accountable for your progress and what you are doing to get to your goal.  For example, I have a friend (who is also my neighbor) that every week we share if we had lost any weight that week and what we had learned to help or health or diet.  Believe it or not, this works!  Because, let's face it.  By nature, we are a competitive species.  As soon as your neighbor comes to you and says, "I lost 4 lbs this week!" and you know that you have only lost 2, then you are programmed to become competitive and want to ramp it up the next week to catch up to her or even surpass her.  This is the way we are built!!!  Use it to your advantage.  When I was depoyed last year, everyone in my work center was working out and daring each other to lift more weight than the other, or more repetitions on this particular machine...who ran the farthest...You get the point.  Believe me it works more than you will realize.  No matter what, keep up the good work and grab those running shoes and get off of the couch!!!!  You can do this!!!!