What inspires and motivates you?

For the past 15 or so years I have been on the diet yo-yo train. I am pretty sure that if there are 100 diets out there I have tried at least 98 of them. Some worked, some didn’t but in the end I always gained the weight back. I never learned the maintenance part of the diet. That reason alone is why I am not on a “diet” now. I want to make a lifestyle change that will help me for the rest of my life. Not a diet that will change my life for a few months.

No matter what I try I am always looking for things that will inspire and motivate me. Whether it is something on TV, a book, a person or whatever. A few months ago my sister introduced me to Pinterest. I have mentioned this is several posts before but I really want to give props to this site for helping me in this journey. It may sound silly but it honestly has helped me in so many ways. For a while I was just pinning things I liked or things I wanted to do in my home but then one day I saw a pin of a simple exercise routine. I promptly created a new board called “things I should be doing for my health J”. I started pinning little motivational quotes and other exercises on that board but not doing them or even looking back at them. Then one day in December my sister and I got together because I wanted to get her help with a workout plan. I was remembering all the pins I posted and wanted to finally try some. She came over and gave me a small spiral notebook and in it she had put in some exercises and quotes for me to get started. From there I printed out all my Pinterest pins and put them in the book. For me this was such a great gift because I could have all this information with me to carry wherever I needed to go. It was easier than looking online for the information. I carry it with me everyday and I look through it all the time. Not only that but I am actually DOING the exercises! Now I am at a point that I have some great starter workouts and tons of quotes that keep me going. I don’t pin to that board as often but I am always looking for new things for inspiration and I know when I am ready to move into more difficult exercises that I can find what I am looking for.

Something else that I have discovered is a new show on daytime TV on ABC. It is called The Revolution. Now of course I work when it is on but luckily I have a DVR so I watch it when I want. Watching this show makes me feel like they made it just for me. I love absolutely everything about this show. It talks about weight loss, exercise, fashion, health, home and finances and it does it in a way that I can relate to. The fact that Ty Pennington is one of the hosts is a bonus as well! It just started on January 16^th and if you want to watch past episodes you can do that online. When I really started to incorporate exercise into my day I would ride my bike in the morning and do the strength training in the evening. I just recently changed my schedule so that I get up 30 minutes earlier so that I can do it all before I go to work. The best part is that I am able to watch this show while I workout. It is so motivating to see the transformations while I am transforming myself. I am actually excited to get up in the morning and workout. If you haven’t watched it I highly recommend it.

We live in a world full of heartache, war is an everyday thing and times are hard for everyone so I think it is wonderful that I can find a few small things to inspire and motivate me and make my day a little better. What inspires and motivates you?