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> Hints > Past Newsletter Editions > Articles > Motivation from the inside out

Motivation from the inside out

Recently I read an article by a fit young woman saying that, while she had difficulty keeping her chocolate addiction under control, she had no trouble whatsoever motivating herself to exercise.

Whatever the weather, whatever her mood, she'd be up and at 'em, punching air and just doing it.

How nice it must be to have that kind of intrinsic motivation for exercise, I thought to myself.

My own level of intrinsic motivation for anything more than incidental activity is close to zero.

I've always known this, but in the past month it really hit home. Having triumphantly announced to you and thousands of others around the world in my last newsletter that I'd started aerobic and strength training, my running shoes and dumbbells started gathering dust under my bed.

Feeling a dismayed, I wondered what would happen if I pretended to myself that I loved running and lifting weights and just did it? After all, like all things that are good for us and good for the human race, we're genetically programmed to like doing them if we just give them half a chance. Maybe I could get addicted to aerobic and strength training if I stuck with them for long enough?

Case in point: vegetables used to be the last thing I'd consider eating. The only reason I'd put them on my plate was when I wanted to lose weight. However, years later I realized that I actually liked eating vegetables because of the way they made me feel. Or rather - I intensely disliked the fat stodgy feeling I got whenever I didn't eat enough veggies. You've probably noticed a similar phenomenon yourself for the healthy habits that you've already established in your life.

Just as I had become intrinsically motivated to eat vegetables though force of eating them, maybe I could also become intrinsically motivated to do aerobic and strength training? The trouble was; how could I make myself stick with them until I reached that elusive state?

That's where extrinsic motivation is so valuable. Extrinsic motivators are things outside yourself that push you to do things you wouldn't normally do.

Knowing how 'energy efficient' I am, I deliberately told you and thousands of others of my plans to increase my fitness. This gives me a giant dose of extrinsic motivation to pull out those weights and keep lifting for fear of embarrassment if I don't do what I said I would.

Dave is using a similar approach. Dedicated to losing weight by connecting with his body, he's set up a blog that will no doubt give him oodles of focus and kick-ass accountability. To visit Dave's blog and send him a supportive message, or to get ideas on how to set up your own online source of extrinsic motivation, log on to www.facebook.com and search The Don't Go Hungry Diet.

Knowing that I'd rather stroll to a cafe than go for a run, I volunteered to organize a team to participate in a fun run. This month my team Nerves of Steel and I will run alongside Sisters of Charity Mary and Leone in the 'Nun's Run' to raise money for a new cancer research center. This has given me terrific motivation to run/walk in preparation for the event. To join my team or visit my team page, click here.

Opportunities for extrinsic motivation are everywhere, and they can bolster you onwards until intrinsic motivation takes over.

When Jeanette organized a team of colleagues to participate in a corporate wellness challenge, extrinsic motivation pushed her to get over 10,000 steps every day. Jeanette found that the best way to ensure she got all those steps was to go for an hour-long walk before breakfast. Six months later, long since her corporate wellness challenge has been done and dusted, Jeanette is now totally addicted to her pre-breakfast walk and makes sure that nothing keeps her from it.

When Rita attended my advanced workshop in September last year, she realized that the main thing standing in the way of her weight loss success was a habit of frequently eating until she felt over full. Rita adopted several external motivators that helped her to break this habit: she kept a Success Diary for several months and focused on getting all +2s and +3 in her satiety column, she made her serving sizes smaller, and she regularly e-mailed to tell me of her progress. Seven months later, Rita has lost 8.8 kilos and reports that she now almost never eats until she feels overfull, simply because she doesn't like that sensation anymore.

I've been swimming breathy laps on Sunday afternoons for longer than I've been running or lifting weights, and I'm happy to note that I'm already hooked. Yesterday my husband suggested that we find a babysitter for a few hours one Sunday afternoon so that we can go and see a film together. "What a great idea", I said, adding: "How about we stop by the pool for a quick swim before the film?"

Persistence pays. So now that I've persisted with strength training for two months, how's the intrinsic motivation coming along? It hasn't quite come to get me yet, but things are definitely starting to happen.

A couple of weeks ago I had to fly to Melbourne to give a workshop. As I fumbled through my wardrobe in the dark of early morning, I tried on the size-ten denim miniskirt that I'd bought myself last winter but never dared to wear. To my complete and utter amazement, my coveted little skirt now swam easily over my hips, and my tummy and bum seemed tighter and shapelier than I'd remembered from the last time I'd tried it on. Maybe this strength training was really doing what Paula's book promised it would? As I pranced through glamorous airports and the cozy locales of Melbourne in my swanky miniskirt, opaque tights, and tiny top, I felt rather pleased with myself. Clothes are external, but boy can they make you feel good on the inside!

My dream is that if I just keep going, then one day I'll be able to triumphantly tell you that I'm now hooked on running and strength training, just like Jill, just like the young woman I told you about at the start of this article, and just like I'm already hooked on swimming, incidental activity, veggies and eating according to my body's physical needs.

Over to you

Here's something you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

You no doubt have several really healthy habits in your life, things that are good for you and your body, things that you don't need any willpower to do, things that you do every day simply because it feels good to do them or because it feels bad when you don't do them.

Take a moment now to think of one to three new habits that will help you move further towards the vision you have of yourself at your best.

If you've attended my new advanced weight loss workshop, you might like to focus on the top three actions that you identified as being key to your success.

Maybe one of the new habits you want to acquire is eating only when you feel physically hungry, even after dinner when the cupboards are calling you? Maybe it's getting enough incidental activity? Or keeping your alcohol intake to a level that will allow you to lose weight and keep it off?

Whatever it is that you know will make the difference in your weight loss adventure, what can you do this month to make yourself extrinsically motivated to do it?

Perhaps you can take up an evening class or hobby that will keep you far away from the kitchen cupboards after dinner?

Perhaps you can commit to wearing your pedometer every day for a month to see what a difference it makes to your motivation?

Perhaps you can find a like-minded 'buddy' who can help keep you accountable in your plans to improve your body?

Perhaps you can click 'reply' and tell me what you're going to commit to doing this month? There's nothing like telling someone who cares to help keep you on track.

If you'd like to order a copy of Fit & Firm Forever as a valuable source of extrinsic motivation and receive my top tip on losing fat and centimeters when you beef up your exercise levels, click here.

If you gather together a few simple external motivators to help you do the things that will help you achieve your health goals, and if what you're doing is sustainable, then sooner or later intrinsic motivation will take you away and it will all be so much easier.

Let's see how much intrinsic motivation we can all muster this month!

Sincerely yours,

Amanda

Dr Amanda
Connect with your body
www.DrAmandaOnline.com