How I Stay Motivated: My Top 5 Tips

We all know the struggle of staying motivated in a new health or fitness routine. This struggle is so real for me! Running an insurance office means my day never stops, I am on call 24/7 which makes it hard to fit in any kind of routine. I also travel a lot for work (and for fun), which often times throws off whatever routine I have managed to work into my daily life. NOT ANYMORE! I have been on a health and fitness journey for a couple months now, and I am learning ways to keep myself motivated no matter what life throws at me. Here are my top 5 tips for staying motivated and on track with your goals.

Pro Tip: If you get just one thing from this blog, it’s this: Everyone is busy, everyone has a lot on their plate, and everyone has the same 24 hours in a day … including Beyoncé! The first step is admitting that it’s hard, but not impossible. Believing you can do it if half the battle.

1. Accountability Buddy

The buddy system goes back to when we were little, stay with someone and you are less likely to lose your way. Same goes as an adult trying to stay motivated and fit in fitness! Find an accountability partner that will help keep you on track with your goals. This can be someone you go to the gym with, share meal prep recipes, or just a close friend going through the same struggles you are. Not only will you be able to hold each other accountable, you can also motivate each other. I know for me, seeing friends of mine who are killing it at the gym or eating their healthy meal prepped lunch, makes me think twice about skipping the gym or reaching for that candy in the office.

Pro Tip: Follow people who are inspiring and working hard on their health and fitness goals. Scrolling through your feed and seeing their healthy meals, tough workouts, and killer bods can help give you drops of motivation throughout the day!

2. Plan Ahead

This is probably the most important tip for me! Especially when I am traveling or have a busy day of meetings outside of the office. I think of planning ahead like giving myself the weapons I need to battle the day. This is where meal prep becomes so important. Think about what you have coming up in the week. If I have a lot of meetings outside the office, I know I need to prep snacks and lunches that don’t need heating up. Chicken and veggies will not do well for me when I am on the road, but something like a salad full of protein and veggies is perfect! Sometimes I will even research healthy lunch options near where my meetings are that day, I’ll even go as far as deciding what I am going to order. I also like to plan out my workouts for the week, and even schedule them in my calendar. Having them on my calendar helps me mentally commit to them, almost as if they were business meetings.

Pro Tip: If you use an app to track your meals and workouts, try inputting everything a couple days ahead of schedule. This makes it easy to follow, and it’s less you need to think about. You will have fewer surprises and be more likely to stick to your plan if it’s already in your tracker.

3. Set a Goal … and a lot of smaller goals!

Having a goal is a great way to help you stay motivated. You need a reason to stay on track even when you don’t want to, and for me “to be healthy” is just not enough honestly! Whether your goal is to lose weight, or do “x” amount of push-ups, or run faster, whatever it is you need to have a clear goal in mind. Once you have your “Big Goal” in mind, create smaller goals that will help you get there. This is helpful because it gives you something to celebrate along the journey. Small goals I like to make are, workout 4 days a week for 3 weeks straight, or don’t eat out for 3 weeks in a row, lose 4lbs, things that are small and attainable. Doing these smaller goals will help me get to my bigger goal.

Pro Tip: Highlight the days in your calendar that you workout or go the whole day staying on plan. Then when you look back at the month you can see how you did. There are times when you think you are staying on track, but realize you got busy or gave yourself too many cheat days. This helps to explain why you might not have seen the results you were hoping for.

4. Reward Yourself for Staying Motivated!

When you hit those milestones or complete your smaller goals, give yourself a pat on the back! Make sure you are rewarding yourself and celebrating the small wins along the way. For example, when I workout 4 days a week for 3 weeks straight I like to buy myself a new bathing suit or pair of shoes … or even new workout gear. Then every time I wear them, I am reminded of the small win I had. Find something that motivates you, just make sure it is not something that will get you off track, like a big cheat meal or too many days off. A massage is another great treat for yourself after you have trained hard for weeks on end!

5. Switch it Up!

Routines get stale, it’s just a way of life. When you start to fall off the health and fitness road, try switching things up a bit. Make a new meal prep recipe or start a new workout class, something you can get excited for! Sometimes you think you are over working out when in reality you are just over the same routine day in and day out. It’s not a bad idea to change up your routine every couple of months anyways. Try new combinations of recipes and workout routines, maybe even change up the days you do things. You can change what you’re doing and still be on track with your goals! What’s that saying, there’s more than one way to skin a cat? Something like that!

What are ways you like to keep yourself motivated? I would love to hear any tips or tricks you have. Sometimes you also have to change up the ways you keep yourself motivated, so I am always open to new ideas!

Kristin Francy Insurance & Financial Services Agent