Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Personal Motivation for Dieting and Exercise

This is a more personal post, in relation to what truly motivated me to lose weight and take proper care of my body as opposed to what I was doing to it prior to my decision. During my past three years at college, I gained a total of 15 pounds ("the freshman 15"). I would usually just use crash diets when I had continuous trouble fitting into my clothes properly. This crash dieting consisted of minimal to no eating and a quick trip to the gym. It was a momentary fix, but with the amount of drinking and binge eating during down time in between classes, I would gain back the weight I quickly scrambled to lose during my crash dieting.
Finally, my junior year (this past academic year), I decided to exercise on a regular basis, drastically cut down on the amount of alcohol I consumed, and eat much healthier, as opposed to randomly starving myself. My motivation behind this change was that not only did I physically not look my best, but my insecurities were at an all time high. I looked at pictures of myself prior to gaining weight and a light bulb suddenly went off. This was strictly something only I could fix. Once my clothes don't fit properly, it truly bothers me. During dieting, the feeling of fitting back into clothes that were always a little snug on you without a problem is not to be believed. Not only did I eventually see excellent results over time, but I had so much more of a positive outlook on my overall state of mind, and I physically felt great as well. I lost a total of 15 pounds (the healthy way) by eating complex carbs and a lot of protein, and upping my cardio to about 4 to 5 times a week. I've kept the weight off since March and I look and feel great. I also inspired my mom to lose join weight watchers and she ended up losing 30 pounds, something she's never pushed herself to do since I was born. She has the same personal satisfaction I feel, which I am more than happy for being partially responsible for.

2 comments:

  1. First of all, congratulations to you and your mom. Finding the willpower (and MOTIVATION) to lose weight is never easy, and the fact that you had the constant reminder of your clothes not fitting properly seems like it was a good motivational factor. This is a really good example of coping with stress by means of both intrinsic (your desire to look and feel good) and extrinsic (your clothes not fitting) motivation.

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  2. You gave a great example of gauging your weight loss by how your clothes fit because pounds aren't always the best way to see how healthy you are.

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