Motivation Monday: Starting and Sticking

Last Monday the weight loss study with a group of 23 women started.  They are 23 women who want to improve, change, and transition into a new way of living.  They started, now it's a matter of sticking with it. 

As a trainer I hear a lot of plans.  I hear a lot of what someone intends to do; whether it's coming to a class, starting a new way of eating, beginning a new exercise program, or plans of how many pounds they are going to lose.  The reality is that the planning phase is easy.  It's easy to talk.  It's easy for me to tell you that in a couple of months I want to have a natural labor.  The hard part comes when the labor begins.  Plans are easily disrupted.  Life will unwrap as it's suppose to and the plans we made go right out the window.  Obstacles are inevitable.  Plan that once you make a plan, the plan will be shaken.  There will be a roadblock of some sort that will have to be overcome.  Don't ask me why, it's just part of the process.

How do we overcome the obstacles?  I believe there are 2 things: 1) look at the big picture and 2) allow for grey.  The big picture of the study is to get through the study.  Get through the program.  The grey comes when adaptations need to be made.  So it's no longer black and white but you're still getting through it.  I think that when obstacles arise we confuse it with a sign that we are suppose to quit.  Nope, it's not a sign to quit it's a learning/shaping/growing segment of time.  It's uncomfortable, something we may not be used to.  When something uncomfortable happens use it as a tool to grow, not quit.  And be happy, growing is good!

Lastly, I have to add my personal tidbit.  I'm sitting at 31 weeks pregnant.  I'm growing alright.  Growing is good just like I said, but I never said it was easy.  What would be easy at this point is to stop the exercise and get lazy, it would be eating every carb and sweet I desired in sight.  But the real growing here would be to stick with it to the end.  And the obstacle has been the growing belly, not being able to run but switching to walking and the unending hunger that comes some days.  My goal from the beginning was a healthy pregnancy to 40 weeks or when the baby arrives (whichever comes first).  I always knew the end would be the toughest as getting bigger every single day and gaining weight every single week is inevitable.  And even when it seems like all my efforts are worthless, I have to remember they aren't.