Finding that motivation when you have nooo motivation to kickstart your new nutrition journey…

This was something I struggled with a lot before I embarked on making some serious changes in my life, it was finding that initial motivation to get me started that I found so difficult at the start. And looking back on that time it was only natural to feel like that, I was feeling poop to be honest, I had low energy, which affected my mood, I wasn’t eating the right foods or drinking a lot of water, I was unhappy in my job, lots of other factors that had bought me to a low period in my life. It was as though in my head I knew the changes I needed to make in my life, I knew I had to change my mindset, manage my weight better and for sure eat better but I was struggling to gain that momentum to start putting my thoughts into some positive action. My previous diet habits in the past were what many of us do, partaking in crazy fad diets, from juicing for a week (Whoo that’s a whole other story!), to trying a low low-calorie diet for pre- weight loss surgery patients! (That’s a whole other story too!) I found throughout my adulthood I was following the latest fad diets to achieve quick weight loss, I would feel crappy during the whole time I would be dieting, moody as I was hungry (Hangry at times), I would be almost salivating at other people’s food whilst I’m here sipping on a juice made from spinach and cucumber, only then to put it all back on within weeks. I would go a few days dieting, then I would reward myself with a big eating blow out, because I had received a comment from someone that mentioned it looked like a had lost a few pounds! (Maybe they were just being nice and not stating any truth to their comment), however for me that meant time to celebrate with a KFC box meal whoo and that would just be for starters!

But you can get some idea from the snippet above, where my mindset was with my nutrition history. A biggie was I was not well informed on heathy eating and weight loss (in my case I needed to lose weight), I just had no clue to be honest of how to lose weight in a safer and more sustainable way that was going to give me more longer-term results. It wasn’t about going on a temp short fix to achieve quick weight loss by following the latest fad diet, it was about dismantling my current situation and limited knowledge on nutrition and finding a new way of doing things, because I was stuck in a rut for sure and I knew I needed to make some serious changes to my current lifestyle and eating habits.

I would do a lot of pre-planning as well in the past, not as in being organised with my meal prep nooo I meant I was wasting a lot of time (and money) on getting foods that I was going to now eat, salmon being one of them, all because I knew it was what people eat when trying to eat better, and equipment to help me on my way such as certain water bottles that I thought would encourage me to drink more (they didn’t), or even fitness equipment such as resistance bands, that are now being used to play tug of war with my Son! So it was this empty pre-planning I was spending so much time doing rather than just taking some action.

Looking back on it now a lot of this was procrastinating (I’m a sucker for that at the best of times.), it felt like I was doing something about making changes and achieving my goals. in my head yes, but the reality was I struggled so much with putting it all into action. In my head I was planning on eating a healthy salmon dinner with salad followed by some exercise with the resistance bands and drink plenty of water with my new drinking bottle, I would go to bed thinking this is start going to start tomorrow you watch new me here I come!

But then by the time the morning came the motivation and the positive thinking last night I was doing trying to motivate myself to act in the morning had disappeared, replaced instead with feelings of low energy, low mood, I would struggle at times to even want to leave my bed! The lack of motivation I had was ridiculous, I would then lay in bed thinking, its ok I’m half way there to my goals, I at least have all the stuff I need to start, what I will do is I will go in as if I am at a All You Can Eat Buffet then will start afresh tomorrow, this would then reassure me (until it came to the evening then I would feel bad that I ate rubbish all day without a single thought), and off I would go eating everything in sight, and the types of foods I was eating were definitely not helping towards my general mood and energy levels. So, as you can see it was quite some emotional rollercoaster, I would put myself on, and this happened a lot during my adulthood this whole process then rinse and repeat, it was quite the cycle.

So how and where did I find that motivation to kickstart my new journey?

The way I did it I remember I had to reign it in a bit, instead of being all elaborate getting all these new foods in (a lot of wastage would occur too which is not good at all), or buying some random exercise equipment, I took small steps to gain some momentum, I set small goals, and gave it my all to achieve them, once I would hit a goal, I found it gave me motivation , it made me feel confident and proud of myself that I had set a goal and reached it, and I noticed it would help my mood too, I would each day feel a new burst of energy, I was actually getting out of my bed in the mornings with a spring in the step and saying whoo-hoo as soon as I got out of bed, as I read this helped change your energy and mood up (Please, I implore anyone to try this it really does work!)

That was one of my first small goals, to actually get out of bed in a better mood and to lay off my mobile device when I woke up, I was in such a habit of scrolling through my phone looking up the usual mess on social media as soon as I woke up which is not good at all. Studies have actually shown that going on your phone device as soon as you wake up affects your brain chemistry and dopamine levels and it doesn’t get you off to the best start to the day, I knew in order to successfully embark on my new nutrition and fitness journey and to gain better sustainable results, I would need to change certain habits that were hindering me from growing and evolving in my life for the better.

Perseverance is key, keep going even when times feel crap and you lack motivation, if you feel like nothing is motivating you, just hold on and take time out for yourself, remind yourself why these changes need to be made and think of the end result always, of how you would feel once you achieve that goal, another biggie for me was journaling and writing out my goals so I had a visual to always look at (I’m quite the visionary you know), I would tape it above my bed, so when I would wake it would be the first thing I see, that in itself was massive it straight away changed my mindset, it was a much needed reminder to keep me on track.

Instead of laying in bed scrolling the news feed on what Sharon gave her kids for breakfast on Facebook, I was jumping out my bed shouting out a whoo-hoo ready for the day, and from achieving that goal it then made me want to write down many other goals and aim to achieve more, as it had made me feel so good and proud of myself that I did it, it didn’t matter how small that goal may of seemed to others, to me it was a massive hill I had climbed and it kickstarted a whole new journey that changed the whole course of my life.. No joke this works it really does

Don’t get me wrong it will take a few attempts it is always hard at the beginning when you are doing something new, but you watch as soon as you achieve that first goal, however small it may be or however long it takes, you will get there, it may sound so cliché but it’s the truth.

And this is my truth on how I got started, in a nutshell of course I don’t want to be writing a dissertation on it, just yet…

What are your thoughts guys? Can anyone relate to my experience? Let me know your thoughts people, how do you find your motivation? What motivates you? Let me know your experiences 

Take  Care

Satveer x