Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Motivation Comment

LapBand Gal, I am now your official stalker. I tried 8,234,123 times to get my comment on your blog post on motivation with no luck. No joke - check your stats!. Lots of blogs have been discussing motivation in addition to LabBand Gal. Finding it, keeping it, losing it, etc., so I thought I'd chime in.

Motivation is a philisophical thing for me. It's like: Which came first the chicken or the egg? Or, do you get wetter running or walking the same distance in the rain? (Think about that one. It will drive you crazy debating with yourself! OK, it does me.)

Motivation is something that ebbs and flows for me. In various posts you will see references to "funks", "slumpville" and "sloth". A component of these for me is just plain ol' lack of motivation. What happens? Life. There's just ups and downs in life and I don't think that it's realistic to always be "on" or motivated. And, I also think that's alright. At least for me it is. ; )

But let's talk about motivation and exercise. I workout my fair share. Do I always want to? Nope. In fact, I have determined that I hate running in the Texas heat. Yep, me no likey. So I'm not doing it. I'll run when I feel like it (believe me there's a ton in bootcamp, so I'm not missing out) and pick it up again with the longer distances when it's cooler.

So what do I do when I'm lacking motivation? I take the: just do it, put my big girl panties on, I'll feel better after I do it, pull myself up by my bootstraps, fake it until I make it, get your ass out there, suck it up buttercup, whine a little (or a lot), there is no valid excuse approach. It's a million dollar question in my book that doesn't have just one answer and varies from person to person....hmmm, sounds like something else, huh?
(weight loss, banding, etc.)

Ultimately for me, motivation is like what I choose to eat. It's the law of averages. I need more days of motivation and healthy eating than days that aren't. Balancing the teeter totter that way (ooooo, another cheesy graphic!) has kept me at a steady goal weight for over 3.5 years.

This isn't a diet. Behavior modifications such as exercise and what I choose to eat are not temporary and to me that's what sets this journey apart from a diet. These life changes are never done and they have to continue. I refuse to have wasted my money, time, and effort...and most annoyingly for me personally to be a statistic that supports the "WLS surgery doesn't work" camp.

Why yes, I was going to put this entire thing in LapBand Girl's Comments. ; )

11 comments:

-Grace- said...

Great post! The more I think about what motivates me, the more I totally agree with the ebb & flow nature of the beast :)

Dawnya said...

Thanks for sharing Fluffy. This post is so accurate.

Lap Band Gal said...

Thank you for this post :) Great advice from a bandster veteran.

MandaPanda said...

I LOVE your visuals!

I think it's how I FEEL when I'm unmotivated that bothers me more than anything. When I haven't been to the gym and start losing that energy...when I feel like my head and my heart and my body are all pulling in opposite directions. Just doesn't feel...right.

Cat said...

Great post! It really is a matter of just getting it done somedays isn't it?

Beth Ann said...

This is it exactly. I think I'm sort of there, in that I have more good days than bad, but it is more at a maintenence level. Going to have to step it up to get to a smaller size. That's what the CrossFit is for... :) 13 days to my first (real) class!

Andrea said...

I always love your blog! Such great advice! I completely agree with you. We are ALL going to have good and bad days. I guess it comes down to just pushing through those bad days to find what motivates us and like you said "fake it til you make it"!

Jody V said...

Great stuff as always Fluffy!!

banded bella said...

Hi I am your newest follower....great blog and great post. Motivation, to me is a mind over matter thing....when you stop minding it ceases to matter. We should always mind gaining weight or not exercising so that it always matters.

The Cozy (not crazy) Coconut said...

I like your take on motivation - it makes a lot of sense. It truly is all about balance,isn't it? Thanks for your comment on my blog today, I've been thinking about getting a heart rate monitor - I think I need to do it now. I need to figure this out and why I'm not losing. I'm also going to shoot for 1000+ net calories per day - that's what you're talking about right? Not eat 1000 but net 1000 after exercise? LMK. thanks - I appreciate your input since you've clearly licked this thing! :) Rhonda

speck said...

Great post. Thanks

Sandra