My Motivation & Finding Your Motivation for a Healthier Life

I’ve talked about my lifestyle in a previous post (the “30 Day No Mirror Challenge”, go check it out) but I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about what made me switch to a healthier lifestyle and tips/motivators for you guys as well to lead healthier lives. Health is important to me and I wanted to share my excitement and knowledge with you guys on the blog because this is life as I know it. With it being the beginning of a “new year” I thought this would be a good time to talk about this and share my progress pics (don't be a perve guys) as many people often make the resolution to become a healthier version of themselves, but somewhere down the line, end up giving up on that goal. I am putting up these pictures not for attention or compliments, but to show you that I am not bullshitting what I am saying. Hopefully my story will inspire someone to treat and view their body in a more positive way for life! Enjoy :)

This was before my journey began. I think I took this in June 2017.

This was 3 months in. I started my healthier journey at the end of July and took this photo in October 2017.

This is the most recent progress photo which I took at the beginning of January 2018.

At first, yeah I started living healthier because I wanted my body to look a certain way. But, learning from my dieting mistakes in the past, I realized that was not going to work and I needed to focus on a goal bigger than my body image. I needed to have a healthier mindset, and the body I want will follow. As you can see from the progress photos, this is exactly what happened. I decided I didn’t want to be like my parents who are popping pills left and right for health related issues like diabetes. I do not want to live my life like that. I don’t know about you, but when I’m older I want to be able to run around and play with my grandchildren and not be in a hospital taking 20 different pills 3 times a day for the health related issues I have. I want to be mobile, still be able to drive a car, go out and enjoy vacations, go hiking, and save myself from muscle and joint pains down the line that can hinder me from living my best life. This was the biggest motivator for me to switch to this lifestyle. I recently went to the U.S. to visit my family and I spoke with my grandmother who is 80 years old and not taking any medications and not in any pain whatsoever. She told me the key is eat your fruits and veggies and keep active. That was even more reassurance that I was on the right path and doing the best thing for my health. I hope you guys will find that one thing that triggers you into a healthier lifestyle. Maybe these tips will help:

Tip #1: Have a goal bigger than just looking a certain way come summer time. Living a healthier life is a marathon not a race and you should be taking care of your body for as long as you are living in it (it is how you move and get around after all)! Take care of your body and it will take care of you back. Once you move your mindset to looking at the bigger picture, everything changes.

Tip #2: Find healthier alternatives to the foods you already love. If you love fries, buy some potatoes and cut them up and bake them. All you have to do is Google and a healthier alternative is out there that isn’t crazy expensive. You’re tastes will adapt and change to like the new healthier food you are putting in your body and eventually, you’ll find yourself automatically going for the healthier alternative. It is mind over matter.

Tip #3: Trick your mind and do your research. One thing that really helped me was visualizing what the food I was eating was doing to my body. If I ate something that was deep fried and had a lot of salt, I would actually imagine my arteries and chest getting clogged from the oil and salt building up in my body. I know, it’s weird, but trust me, turning yourself off to processed food was really helpful. Also, research about what different chemicals in the food you’re eating does to your body. Things like high fructose corn syrup and artificial colouring can cause a multitude of health problems like diabetes and cancer.

Tip #4: Drop the excuses and realize it’s about balance. My neighbour said to me once, “what is the point of eating like a rabbit if life is not guaranteed and you can die tomorrow? Don’t you want to eat all the bad food you can and enjoy the ‘best’ tasting food”? Like I mentioned before, if I get the privilege to live long enough, I want to be able to run around and move up until the very end. Making excuses like these aren’t going to help. Healthy food can be just as satisfying to eat and eating junk food in balance with your healthier options is the best way to keep yourself satisfied and not feeling deprived.

Tip #5: Find something active that you actually enjoy. You don’t need to go to the gym to live a healthier lifestyle. You can workout from home, go for a walk, take a boxing class, go on a run, anything you enjoy. Even just standing for a longer period of time during the day is a small step in the right direction. If you start doing exercise you don’t like but are doing because of obligation, you won’t stick to it.

Guys, I know it’s hard. Believe me I am/was addicted to chips, fries, and anything chocolate. The first week or so of switching to this healthier lifestyle was the hardest. I was constantly craving these things because my body was so used to consuming them. I was so insensitive to salt and sugar I never considered anything too salty or too sweet. This is why I say you need to have a goal bigger than just wanting your body to look a certain way. You need that extra motivator to get over those times of craving junk and reaching for alternatives. I hope you guys found some inspiration in this post and I will have more healthy things coming your way (like what I eat in a day, and workouts) if you want to see them!