Finding your real motivation to be healthy

Do you find it hard to stay motivated with staying healthy? Eating right or sticking to a regular gym routine? Or maybe you get off to a flying start and then find you lose that early motivation quickly.

Generally the reason people fall off the wagon is not because they don't want to be healthier or even because they haven't set goals. Whilst goal setting is beneficial to cementing what you want to achieve, it really all comes down to making a connection to WHY you want to reach those goals. 

If you don't have a deep WHY or a burning desire to become a healthier person, then you will never quite succeed in doing so.

Perhaps you think you want to lose weight to look better, but deep down that's not enough reason as it's ultimately a one dimensional reason i.e. it's superficial. There is nothing wrong with working towards having a hot body, but a true driver will have layers of reason as to why you must make changes for your health.

For example, being fit enough to run around and play with your kids; improving key biomarkers of health after poor tests at the doctor; feeling truly confident in yourself as a person; or even just to ensure you're around for as long as possible to spend time with loved ones. Losing weight can be the first layer of all of these, but it is really only twenty percent. Finding that remaining eighty percent is key to your healthy success.

Sometimes you won't even have to think hard to find that burning desire for something. A health scare may easily shock you into action and make you reassess everything in your life. But what if you have been trying to improve your health, but just can't quite seem to stay focused or even get started?

The best way to cement any reason into your mind is to write it down and visualise it. Breaking it down into a features and benefits list that will help you to connect deeply with it. Let's say you would like to lose some weight and increase your general fitness; your list may look something like this -

Features                                      Benefits
Losing the first 2 kg                   I will feel confident in my body and my self-esteem.
Losing 5 kg in total                     My body will be healthier, feel more comfortable and I'll be able to fit into my old clothes.
Running 10 km                           My fitness will make daily activities easy and I'll be able to enjoy time playing with my kids and be able to keep up!
Eating nourishing foods           My physical appearance will benefit, I will feel more energetic and I won't have to deal with cravings.

You can see how finding those real benefits will help you stay focused on achieving the features. Don't just think about them though, write them down and make sure you have it somewhere that you will see it every day. If you are a visual person, then making a dream board of images is a great idea.