Motivation Comes, And Motivation Goes

I was watching an Instagram story the other day, and Christy was talking about how motivation goes through cycles. I never really realized it until she said that, but she was absolutely right. Once I realized that I decided to go back and have a look at my FitBit app. The app syncs with MyFitnessPal and keeps track of calories in vs calories out. I was completely shocked by what I discovered. If you’re struggling with understanding how to use that function on your FitBit (I know I was at first), here’s a quick tutorial!

I noticed a trend where for a while I was on it perfectly; one cheat meal a week and either under my calorie goal or right on target every day of the week. This trend was from November to about the end of January (not counting holidays because those are too special to not indulge in). After January I noticed a steady trend of some weeks on and some weeks with more than my one day over my calorie goal. I was honestly a little down because I had a lot of weeks of just maintaining and no loss. I see why now. I knew I felt differently at the time, but I never realized what I was missing. My motivation. It had kind of just disappeared and I was going through the motions, mostly. I noticed that I wasn’t working out as regularly and I remember making a lot of excuses, but at the time I felt mostly fine. I wasn’t giving up, not at all, I just wasn’t as committed as I had previously been.

Now though, two weeks post cruise, 5 days perfectly back on track and I’ve never felt more motivated or driven to reach my goals. I feel like I did when I first started this whole journey, and I honestly couldn’t be happier. I have the willpower again to say no to little bites here and there, I have the drive to go for three walks in one day just so I can reach my step goal. Motivation, it’s so great to see you old friend.

I have this really odd feeling that my motivation will leave me again. Christy said that happened to her in cycles for the two years she’s been doing this. She made a valid point, however, that despite a loss in motivation, YOU CAN’T QUIT. I didn’t feel like quitting in those several months, but who knows how I’ll feel the next time it happens. She said that you have to keep going through the motions because eventually, you’ll get that motivation back, you’ll get that wonderful feeling of knowing you’re doing everything right and you’ll see results. I know that the next time I lose that drive that I can overcome just like I did this time. I just gotta keep tracking my food and water, and just keep on pushing.

I am so happy to have my motivation back. I can’t wait to see what I’ll accomplish in the next few months. If you’re lacking motivation, or just found it again, I would love to hear from you!