Staying Hungry - How to Get and Stay Motivated to Exercise

Motivation is a Muscle. Well not really. It is just a metaphor I used to describe the fact that like any muscle, motivation also needs to be worked on constantly. It is fuelled by our desires and by our achievements. A muscle requires timely exercise and each session must provide an increase in the intensity of some kind. For example, if you have built your bench press bench press to 100lbs for 5 reps, then your muscle would have hypertrophied to be a certain size that gives you the strength to lift 100lbs for 5 reps. But when you start adding weight to the bar, even small increments of 5lbs would result in small increase in strength and muscle size. This progressive weight overload will eventually result in massive gains in size and strength. So set a big goal like losing 100 lbs of fat or gain 50 lbs of muscle. Then set little goals that serve as stepping stones towards the dream. For example break the 100 lbs fat loss goal to little goals like 1-2 lbs per week. Keep working on each little goal until you achieve your big dream. This will help build your motivation and ensure that you go the distance.

Why do we lose our motivation?

The reason we begin a task or set up action plans is in order to achieve a goal. Our eyes are on the prize and once we have our actions charted we set out on our path to success. While on the path, we always take some time and reassess how far we are way from our goals. When it seems like they haven't begun showing any results, people get disheartened easily and give up. This further leads to the belief that something as simple as losing body fat and getting lean is a herculean task. Actually, it is not.

People tie their motivation to the goals and completely ignore what is important. They fail to tie the motivation to the process instead and this often turns out to be their undoing. This is why they lose their motivation.

How to get motivation to exercise and stay motivated

The most important step of success is the actions you need to take. Your actions determine whether your dreams turn to goals or remain a fantasy. So, start fixating on your actions. Start loving each exercise, look forward to each meal. Challenge yourself to be able to overcome temptations. Each time you are able to cover a task successfully, you'll find you're motivation rising. Increase the amount of work you do in a given time. Look for improvements in the way you execute an exercise. Aim for an improvement or increase in output each session.

Each extra rep added to a set, each extra pound added on the bar, each yard you run more contribute to the bigger goal that you have.

Motivation and results

Results and motivation have a direct co-relation. When you fix a goal you're motivated. This drives you to take action. When that action yields results, you are excited and you're motivation increases.

The key however, is the action. Without it there'd be no results. We over focus on and expect quick results. However, we fail to reassess our action plans and determine their effectiveness. Remember, on the path of success, it isn't the goal but the actions that determine your success. Hence, focus on them. Learn to love your actions, learn to love each rep, each set and each exercise that you do. Learn to look forward to each meal that you need to eat. Learn to love the discipline that goes with a successful action plan.

Each appropriate action will deliver the desired result and this in turn will further add fuel to the fire. Before you realize it, you'd have achieved your goal and would already be your journey to the next goal.

Steps to stay motivated

· Set Goals - Whatever they may be, write them down. Reaffirm the goals each day as soon as you wake up and each night before you retire you bed. The more you fixate on the goals the more they get embossed into your subconscious.

· Make smaller goals with timelines - Make smaller goals that eventually lead to the bigger goal. If you're goal is to lose 20 lbs of weight, then chart out smaller goals and fix timelines to achieve them. Here you need to worry about achieving the goal and not so much on the timeline, if you do not make the timeline, do not worry. It just means that you're actions were not supportive of the results. You need to work on them again and continue the task until you start seeing results.

· Determine actions - Plan out your actions accordingly. If your goal is to lose body fat, then you will plan a training and diet regime accordingly. If your goal is to gain a certain amount of muscle, then the actions would need to be taken appropriately. A sport specific goal would call for congruent actions. Plan them down and again commit to paper.

· Take action - Do not confuse having a strong desire or planning your actions with having taken strong and purposeful actions. They are not the same. You must get your body through the motions and get the mind into the game if you want to expect even the slightest of changes to start showing. Learn to love the actions and aim to strive for improvement each successive session. I cannot stress this enough. Do not be in a hurry to get to the destination. Fitness, fat loss, strength and muscle gains do not work that way. You need to put in the time and effort to achieve long term results.

· Chart progress - Take measurements when you begin, measure the number of reps you're able to do for a given exercise and the amount of time you take to complete the session. Use this as a bench mark and work on improving it. Each week repeat the process. If you do not see improvement for two consecutive weeks, then you've either stagnated or you're not doing something right. Reassess and rework the action plan and get right back on track.

· Celebrate Success - Each little goal that you determine and achieve calls for a celebration. Make some noise about, tell a few people how good it feels and how you found the process enriching. Share your experience with them. Watching you making a difference within your life will inspire them to take actions themselves. Watching them taking constructive actions to improve their lives will in turn make you feel elated knowing you were the reason they are doing it in the first place. There is no greater motivator than the fact that you are a person contributing positively to someone else's well being.

Get a training buddy - Get someone who is motivated and equally driven if not more. You can feed off of each other's energies and mutually benefit from each other's drive. This will help you stay on track. If you are low on motivation one day your partner can pick you up and you could return the favour when your partner feels low.

These are exactly the steps I have followed consciously and unconsciously close to sixteen years. I have had marginal results, dramatic results and for most part of this period - NO RESULTS. These motivation fundamentals helped me to stay on track and keep working even though I was not getting anywhere close to my goal for 15 years. The outcome, right after the last readjustment to my exercise module, diet and food habits, I lost 20 lbs of fat within 17.5 weeks. These tips and techniques helped me learn a great deal about fitness and most importantly about myself and my body. I am absolutely positive that you too can benefit from them the way I have. So get up and get moving. LET'S GET FIT TOGETHER.


Before I started [http://www.csifitness.com], I was struggling to actually see any substantial result in my body. I was 248 lbs with over 26% body fat. But things changed since June 2013. I made some drastic changes in my workout and nutrition patterns leading to a net 20 lbs fat loss in just 17.5 weeks.

My lifelong goal has been to help all of you struggling with your fitness and bodies and to help you have a resource at your disposal that helps you find the best and most useful fitness tips, tricks and advise. The lack of accurate knowledge at one location and with too many theories and false promises for a high price made me want to develop an avenue that could help people find the best and only relevant resources for their fitness goals which is cheap and also comprehensive.

Which is why I started my website with precisely that goal in mind. To make a complete fitness resource available that would help you'll with anything you need to achieve your fitness goals and lead a healthy life.

Visit my website for the best information on how to lose fat and gain muscle at home or the gym and how to get value for money in your fitness endeavours. If you have questions please feel free to CONTACT ME and I shall answer them for you.

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Here Are Some Exercise Tips To Help You Lose Weight

Do you know there are some simple exercise tricks that can naturally help you lose weight? It is true that when people see themselves as overweight, they search for something to make them shed those extra pounds. They don't want to feel heavy and that they simply want to get rid of that weight.

But the sad thing is their weight loss goals go astray and they end up in anger and frustration. They simply go back to their old self - their old eating habits - and their newfound love of exercising to shed weight and slim down vanishes inside bags of potato chips and high calorie foods.

In this article, we are going to look at some fun things you can do to avoid these weight loss problems and make it much easier to reduce weight. You will also get to know how to make your weight loss plans permanent and your new habit of exercising daily to become something you look forward to.

Exercise Ideas to Help You Lose Weight

Begin your weight loss exercise program with SOME exercises

It is your desire to shed extra weight and get a lean body. Therefore I believe you have made up your mind that you are going to make some changes to your lifestyle to help you lose weight and feel better. That is a good idea. But it does not mean you have to participate in all the weight loss exercises just at once.

You don't just engage in all tomorrow and future exercises today just to burn fat. If you do not have any knowledge of how to begin a weight loss exercise plan, the best you can do is work your way up to it, not do all the exercise at once.

Studies have shown that over-exercising do not only leave you feeling sick and exhausted, but 99 times out of 100, the hope of a life filled with healthy exercise in controlled amounts that is beneficial for you to help you lose weight, simply flies out the window and lands in the gutter.

You feel worse than before. And now you are mad with yourself for being unsuccessful in your new effort at losing weight.

However, it is advised the best approach to beginning a weight loss exercise routine is to take it easy. If it's been a long time you did a single push-up... do a single push-up. And in the event that you cannot get yourself up off the ground for a single push-up just press on the floor with all your might. In actual fact, that kind of muscular contraction exercise does wonders for your body and help you lose weight fast while it also helps tone your muscles.

The trick here is, no matter what happens, you have to start with "some" exercise and not necessary all of it.

Another weight loss tip that you should know is the most important thing that actually help obese people stay in the weight loss state of mind is CHANGE... make changes to your exercise: They will help you lose weight

Most at times, people find a particular type of fat burning exercise to lose fat that they can do with just a little effort. And since they are successful with that particular fat loss exercise, they keep doing it.

I am not saying there is something wrong with that.

But the point here is they end up doing it and doing it more and more. Finally what happens is that due to the continuous participating in such exercise, their bodies get so addicted to that exercise that they can even do it in their sleep.

And that one exercise becomes so simple for them, to the extent that it cannot even help them in reducing weight anymore no matter how much of it they do, they do not benefit much from it.

What I will suggest is to change your exercise for maximum results. Go swimming for one day. Go jogging for one day. Take a walk for one day. Keep it interesting, Keep it fresh, and keep it going. Doing this is what brings the benefits from an exercise plan.

There are lots of weight reduction exercises you can carry out to help you lose weight. Remember to begin your exercises bit by bit and when you get more skilled at exercising, you then change your routine. Those small things you do will bring you much more sustainable weight loss and make you successful at slimming down.

I believe this article has pointed out some useful weight loss tips you can follow to lose pounds, keep it off and maintain your ideal weight. Got any fat loss tips of your own to share? What things help you lose weight? Share in the comments. Don't forget to share this post with your friends.


©Copyright 2014 Josh Manuel

Josh Manuel is a weight loss and fitness enthusiast who helps men and women reach their full potential and gain greater self-confidence. He inspires people by writing articles on things, situations and problems they face in their everyday life.

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Your Two Part Exercise Plan For Developing Lean, Flat Abs

If you are looking to build ab muscles that are the envy of your friends or if you have tried to accomplish this in the past but have not been successful then this article will help you get off to a fresh start.

Developing firm abs is not rocket science but it does require two things. The first is the right exercises and the second is consistency. Without either of these you're wasting your time.

The two part exercise plan.

One of the most common misconceptions among those who want to develop eye popping abs is that if they just do enough crunches for a long enough time the abs will magically appear. For those who are carrying excess belly fat they might think that if they work on developing their abs the belly fat will disappear in the process. But that's not how it works.

If you're sporting too much fat around your mid section those abs that you'll work hard to develop will never shine through the blubber. This means you need an exercise plan to get rid of the belly fat and an exercise plan to build your abs. Along with the exercise for eliminating the fat you'll also need to change your eating habits.

Start with looking at what you eat and when. Is your idea of breakfast a donut and coffee or even no breakfast at all? That's like putting water in your car's gas tank. Breakfast is the most important meal in the day and if you short change your body you'll be looking to make up for it later in the morning or at lunch when you may overeat to make up for the lack of fuel you should have started with earlier.

When you miss a meal or don't eat a proper meal your body thinks it's being starved and goes into preservation mode. When you finally do eat your body will store more calories as fat in preparation for the next period of starvation. The answer is to eat food that is high in protein and low in calories. Protein shakes for breakfast are a good way to fill your tank as they are low in calories and high in protein, but there are other choices as well.

Part one of the exercise plan.

Once you've started controlling the calorie intake the next step is to get rid of the belly fat. Your best bet is to do cardio exercises that involve the whole body. These exercises include biking, swimming, jogging (or running), and even rope jumping. Always remember to keep your body well hydrated by drinking lots of water or sports drink. This will also help to flush out the toxins in your system. Belly fat can be hard to get rid of but if you follow this regimen consistently you'll find that fat disappearing before you know it and will allow those abs to shine through when they finally develop.

Part two of the exercise plan

While you're working on your belly fat you can also work on building those abs. Keep in mind that even the best ab exercises, if done wrong, will not produce the results you're looking for. Do not rush through the workout. As you do these as well as your cardio exercises remember to pull your stomach in as if you were trying to squeeze through a tight place. Tightening the stomach muscles will help to give them definition.

Proper breathing is also important as you go through your workouts. Inhale as you begin a body motion and gradually let it out on completion. Do not hold your breath during any part of the cycle.

You should do your ab exercises on alternate days to give your muscles time to recoup. In the interim you can work on your cardio exercises.


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Losing Weight When You Have No Time To Exercise

Losing weight is never an easy task. It certainly takes effort and time. Unfortunately, the latter is something the average person just doesn't have enough of. Whether you have children to tend to, a job, household chores, maybe even school, extra time is hard to come by. Reserves of energy aren't exactly readily available either. By the end of the day, most of us simply desire a good nights rest. This was me in college, but I also wanted to lose weight. How was that supposed to work?

Good news is, I devised a way to lose weight while avoiding exercise. Now, don't get me wrong here. If you HAVE the time to exercise, DON'T SKIP IT. Seriously, exercise has way more benefit than the method I will teach you. However, as I said, many people just don't have the time. If this is you, definitely try the strategy I used. It worked for me, and can certainly work for you.

Moving on to the goods: what is my secret method?! Okay, so it isn't a huge secret, and I'm sure you've already considered it. It's a diet. But before you get angry and abandon my articles forever, keep this in mind: there are a lot of diets out there. A lot of lousy diets. I have tried a lot of these miracle diets, and most of them left me ravenous and chubby. I am telling you now, you do not need to waste your money on one of those meal plans that sends you a box of dinners that wouldn't fill up a 5 year old, let alone you.

My mantra for dieting goes something like "it isn't how MUCH you eat, it's WHAT you eat. " Learn this well when you embark on your diet. It really is important. The second thing I want you to know is that calories do really count. You don't need to entirely obsess about your calorie intake, but you should have a fair idea of how much you are consuming. I know it's terrible to compare yourself to your dog, but think of it this way; you're dog maintains a healthy weight because you feed him/her a set amount of food twice or three times a day, right? Well no different for us.

Myth number 1: I can't do that, I'm always starving when I try to diet.

Response: Yes you can. Why? Two reasons: One, the foods I will tell you to eat are extremely low calorie. I call them fillers. You can pretty much eat these any time you are hungry as snacks to keep down on that hunger. Second, your body learns. Cut back slowly. Your body will eventually adjust and your hunger will decrease. I can no longer eat as much as I used to, simply because my body has changed.

Your Diet Plan:

First, you should do some research on what your daily calorie intake should be for your gender, height, and weight. Take that number and add at least 300 to it. Why? Because this number is what you need to survive if you laid on a couch all day. You're going to have to up it if you are working, or moving around a lot during the day. If you do exercise, up it even more, since you are burning a lot of the calories you're taking in. Second, learn to eat small, frequent meals. And ALWAYS eat breakfast. If you are one of those people that thinks they are losing more weight by not eating breakfast, I'm sorry but you are wrong. Third, count your calories. Chicken and fish are really lean and low calorie. Turn to using them in place of beef for most of your meals. (Beef is good for you in moderation, but keep in mind you have to eat less of it.) Fourth, use your fillers when you get hungry and it isn't meal time. Fillers consist of veggies and fruit. These foods, especially veggies, don't even really need to be counted due to their calories being so low. Fifth and finally, avoid eating close to bed time. Your metabolism isn't really doing much when you sleep, so this food can easily pack on the pounds before you know it.

As simple as it is, this method really does work. I give my word that it did for me. Good luck with your weight loss, and let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know!


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