Admit it, you have not changed the number listed as your weight on your driver’s license since you were 16. It probably advertises a number that would be completely inappropriate for an adult. Most people never make the effort to update the weight listed on their driver’s license out of embarrassment or feeling like they have a positive advertisement, or to remember just how small we once were.
My friend Suzi stated on Twitter that she had not changed the number on her driver’s license when she had gained weight, not out of embarrassment but because she had hoped she would get back to that weight. She announced this on Twitter because she was celebrating that as she went to renew her driver’s license she is back at that weight.
I’m sure you have all heard about the 10,000 steps per day thing, right? Well, I am a firm believer in it. The purpose of this goal is to get the sedentary, or couch potatoes, up on their feet more often. The average person’s stride is between two-and-a-half to three feet long, which calculates out to around 2,000 steps to walk a mile; while 10,000 steps is nearly five miles.
Again, this is a goal to motivate those who need a little extra kick in the butt to get moving. Set a goal for walking 10,000 steps and once you beat that for a week straight, up your goal to 11,000 steps per day.
When you are in a habit of rewarding yourself with food treats for a job well done, what do you do when those treats no longer fit in your daily diet? After all, when you are trying to lose weight, it goes against all you are working toward to celebrate that five pound weight loss with a big slab of cheesecake. (Not to say that it may not taste delicious, but that slab of cheesecake might set you back more than 500 calories – are you ready to run for an hour to burn that off?) As you work to lose weight, staying motivated can become very difficult. Here are some non-food ways to reward all of your hard work:
- Buy a new exercise DVD
- Try a new class – if you are walking, try a spin or martial arts class – think outside your comfort zone!
Solution-focused therapy encourages forward progression in several ways, one of which is to look for past successes (and exceptions to the problem) and build off of those. In goal setting and achievement I encourage my clients to consider the smallest change they can make immediately, as well as the very first, smallest sign of progress they will notice. We are most likely to achieve and maintain large goals in small steps, undertaking one at a time, rather than trying to create an entirely new life or way of being over night.
In general people do not pay enough attention to how successful and powerful they actually are already. Preparing a healthy lunch rather than stopping at Taco Bell just one day is a major change for that day. A smaller change would be to go to the same eating establishment, but order lighter fare instead of the usual.
So, I went skydiving this past weekend and wow; what an experience. It is definitely not for everyone, but I strongly recommend that you give it a try. Being fit or in good shape definitely made the whole process a lot easier and more enjoyable. Being strapped to another guy while trying to maneuver through the plane and out the door was not easy and I have a few sore muscles and several good memories to show for it.
As you all know, I am a personal trainer and I have trained a young lady for a couple years now. When we started, she had set a goal to lose a certain amount of weight (more than 100 pounds) and her reward for doing so would be to go skydiving. Well, we hit the goal and we hit the air. Good overall experience!! My point is to set a goal and go for it, don’t give up or lose motivation until you hit that certain goal. Hard work does pay off, just ask my client.
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