In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I’m trotting out my favorite thing – yes – you know it: lists! Today’s list is my top five weight loss motivators. These are pretty personal motivators for me and they may work for you or they may not. It’s important to recognize that and in fact, not only do I recognize it, I would love to hear from those of you who read my posts what are your top motivators, you can post them here in the comments or drop me a private note. If I can get enough of them, I’ll publish them up here and credit them to their author!
Weight Loss is a Community Effort
I truly believe that we sometimes hamstring ourselves by making weight loss a personal battle against ourselves. First of all, we are not the enemy. You are not the enemy. Food is not the enemy. Secondly, we are social creatures by nature, when our weight loss is a community effort we receive support, understanding and in many cases reduced temptation. You might even be surprised by how much sharing your weight loss with others can help to motivate them. It takes a village to raise a child, why shouldn’t it take a village to lose weight?
My Daughter is My Muse
A few years ago, when my daughter was just under a year old, I submitted an essay to a writing contest entitled My Daughter, My Muse. My daughter is still my muse, because she motivates my weight loss, my healthier habits, and my ability to have fun and because of her I am encouraged to stay on track. (And as Lisa told me once – the shame factor doesn’t hurt either). Like her son, my daughter wants to spend a lot of the time at the pool this summer – I want to feel comfortable with how I look when we are there.
My Grandmother
My Grandmother, may she rest in peace, was a very special woman to me. She grew up in Britain, she lived there during World War II and she survived the Blitz. She raised two children. She raised my brother and me along with my mother. She worked hard, long hours – but she was never the most physically fit of people no matter how capable she was. She survived uterine cancer. She survived two heart attacks. She survived four strokes. But each time she was felled by one of these conditions, a little bit more of who she was – was whittled away. She died seven years ago. She never got to see me get married. She never got to see my daughter. I miss her every single day. Yet, I carry with me the strength and the perseverance she taught me – if she didn’t give up in the face of all that – what’s a few pounds to me?
Lists
As I’ve said before, lists are my favorite thing. I make lists for everything. I make lists for how I will feel when I have accomplished my goals. I make lists for how to attain my goals. I make lists just to get through my day. My lists motivate me because I take exceptional pleasure in crossing something off the list and knowing that it’s done.
Writing
I’ve been writing since I was old enough to hold a pencil. I’ve been telling stories and sharing my ideas since before I left elementary school. But in the last six months, I’ve found tremendous inspiration and motivation just writing here at Families.com. This is the new one for my top five motivators – but I find that motivation in reading the posts of my fellow bloggers, in reading the comments from our members and from reading our message boards. So this is a shout out to all of you – pat yourself on the back – you inspire me and you motivate me.
Happy Cinco de Mayo! And thank you, everyone.