Motivation: Igniting your Inner Drive

Motivation, you probably have it if you are setting out to change your body. Have you really stopped and thought about the WHY? Why are you committing to changing your body? Looks? Health? Money? Family? An interesting fact that I took away from this article written by a fellow Adonis is that you should always figure out the why before you set out on your goal. Another article written by an Adonis explains how you will stay more motivated if you are doing it for someone other than yourself.  The WHY for me- it is about being a healthy, strong role-model for my 2 children, being attractive for my husband, and for my personal confidence- I want to feel like I look good.

Those without written goals are less likely to achieve what they have set out to accomplish. It has been researched and proven time and time again. If you have not written out your goals (typed or by hand) then you are selling yourself short! You need to keep your goal somewhere that you will see it frequently.  I find that the best place to keep my goals is to type them out right above the speadsheet that I track my weekly metrics on. That way I can have a re-look each week! Be specific! Is your goal a set of metrics? To get to a goal weight? Fit into that old pair of jeans? 

Now we have a why and a goal. You should now give it a deadline. The deadline should be urgent but not impossible. I like to have a far out goal- my current one is March 2013 and then a set of mini-goals to get there.  By the end of November, I want to be back at VI. By the end of 2012, I want to be at VI for someone who is 5'7". I want to maintain that through March 2013 which is when I will compete in the bikini category of the 2013 NPC Ronnie Coleman Classic in DFW, TX!

Alright, we have checked off the why, the goal, and the deadline. Now we need to set our criteria, or our action plan!  This is a set of actions that you will focus on meeting each week. It might include a calorie goal, workout goals, fasting goals, and/or accountibility goals. (Notice it does not contain a weight goal, that is my personal choice and here is why- I can control my calories, workouts, blogging, etc. My weight loss is dependent on those, but is not directly linear (meaning if I eat 1000 cal less this week I should lose .33 of a pound, but it does not always work out that way.) That drives me crazy to not meet my plan... and if I cannot control it, why stress?! Sometimes our weight loss stalls for a week or so even though you have done everything right. Just know it will come as long as you are doing what you are supposed to!) Here is my action plan for my upcoming goal:

March 2013 NPC Ronnie Coleman Classic

End of 2012 Goals

1) Hit (or get as close as possible to) 5'7" VI metrics sh: 41.41 wa:25.59 hips: 36.34
2) Get in a minimum of 3 (4 IF possible) VI workouts per week.
3) Get in a minimum of 2x1 hour cardio sessions per week. (IF I get a 3rd day in, give permission to myself to make it leisurely... like a nice run/walk)
4) Hit within weekly calorie range of 5700-8350 every week. Must make up the next week IF I go over.
5) Log food, THEN eat. Planning ahead always works better for me, I just need to accept that fact. I am already good about logging weight/metrics/daily calories, just have to keep that part up.
6) 72 hours of fasting per week. 2x36 h fasts or 3x24, just be consistent on whichever is working.
7) Post on blog for accountability.

Be sure to place your action plan somewhere that you will see it often too. I like to put mine above my spreadsheet along with my goal and deadline. Also, your weekly tracking should include an area to track the items on your action plan if you can. So here is my weekly tracking spreadsheet (I included some old data so you can see where I came from over the last year!). You can see how it matches up with my action plan:

Age: 28 Height 5’9”	Weight F=fasted	Shoulders	Bi	Ribs	Waist	Navel	Hips	Thigh	Calf	Weekly Cals	Weekly WO	Fasting Hours
8/13/2011	159.6		11.38	34.13	31.50	36.00	40.00	20.75
2/19/2012	156.6	41.25	11.00	32.50	30.50	34.50	39.50	20.75		8,782		24
Start VT5 5/21/12	155.0	41.13	10.75	32.50	29.00	32.00	39.00	20.50		12,644	3VI2C	48
End VT5 PIX 10/6/12	141.2 F	41.5	10.625	31	26.5	30.5	37.25	20	13.625	8,658	5VI1C	96
Start 11/4/12 DAYS 303-3309	146.0 F	41.50	10.50	31.50	27.50	30.00	37.50	20.25	13.50	9,605	4VI3C	88
GOAL	136F	41.41			25.59		36.34			max 8,000	3 VI 2 C	36+

Visuals of your goal are good to have too. I found these two pics of bikini competitors online and they are helpful to look at for motivation! The girl above is Meredith Long. She is 5'9" too and completes at 135. She looks amazing! The girl below is Kelsie Bergin. She is 5'8" and competes at 124. She won the 2012 Ronnie Coleman Classic bikini class, it was her first show and she beat out 117 competitors! WOW.

Inspirational Story of the Week:

Meet Kimberly (AKA Kimmits) Dransfield, one of the first ever Venus Open contest champions in early 2011. She is a rocket scientist by training, and a business consultant and everyday Venus by day. She has tried it all (trying out and sticking with over 26 programs in the span of 5 years) before finding Venus and she has loyally been with VI every since then- maintaining her physique and even improving it! Her podcast is great, you can download it here and hear her story.