My Motivation

For those who follow me on Twitter and here on my blog, you know that over the last three months I have exercising and leading a healthier lifestyle. As a result I have lost over 20 pounds. Several people have requested that I share what keeps me motivated. Here are some the basic things that I have been doing.

• If I exercise I can eat 1700 calories (I use myfitnesspal.com to track every bite I eat), but I do not exercise I only allow myself 1200 calories. That is a huge motivational factor in my eating and exercising patterns.
• As for my motivation to run, that is pretty easy. I burn more calories in a shorter period of time than I do by just walking. Plus I can be smug and runnery, so that helps.
• When I started running, I set some goals for myself. Goal number one was to run a mile without vomiting. You should not expect too much at first and allow for the fact that your body needs to adjust to anything that is new. After goal number one came the goal to run 2 miles without vomiting and then 3 miles. Once I got to the point were I could easily run 3.1 miles (a 5K), then I started working on running that distance in a shorter period of time. When I started I was averaging 17 minutes per mile and now I average about 13 minutes per mile.
• When you feel temptation coming on, like say at a kids birthday party, just imagine all the time you will have to spend working out to get rid of that cake and suddenly the cake looks pretty yucky.
• Another motivating factor in weight loss. Looking better than that asshole who pisses you off. For real nothing is better than that!

I am on myfitnesspal.com and if anyone wants to be my friend over their just send me a email at green0monkeeatgmaildotcom.