How I Stay Motivated During the Winter
One question I get all the time is how I stay motivated, especially during the cold winter months when the thought of getting out of bed to do anything but go to work is just so challenging (and even that is a struggle). I am a creature of habit so all it takes is a few days for me of ignoring my alarm to get myself completely out of my routines. That's why as soon as my alarm goes off in the morning I never snooze I just wake up, get ready and head to the gym. I have found that if you give yourself too much time in the morning to think about your day there is a better chance of giving in to laziness. If I don’t workout in the morning my whole day is thrown. Exercise gives me structure and routine - two principles that I don’t function well without. My motivation is knowing that once I get my workout over with I can continue on with my day feeling strong which allows me to do my best in my job because I've already exerted energy during my workout so I can just focus on work.
Motivation to eat healthy is another story and one that I feel can be much harder to tackle. Sometimes a person needs a wake up call like a health scare, become overweight or develop an allergy to begin eating healthier, which is sad because truly that is how A LOT of people begin their health journey. I am guilty of this myself. My celiac diagnosis catapulted me into living a healthier lifestyle and I am so thankful for that but wish I knew how green the grass was on the other side sooner! My motivation to eat healthy stems from enjoying the feeling of eating clean and organic as well as feeling good from the inside out. Happiness to me has a lot to do with feeling good about what I am putting in my body. That doesn’t mean I eat healthy ALL of the time, I absolutely don’t and am a big believer in YOLO and enjoying life to the fullest.
If my fiancé takes me out to an Italian restaurant you can bet your bottom dollar that I am getting the gluten-free pasta. However, making sure everything is done in moderation is important so your body has time to adjust. This is crucial to living a healthy lifestyle. By this I mean that if I go out for an Italian dinner, the next night I am probably going to take it easy and cook myself some healthy protein and greens to balance my body back out from all of the carbs.