In an effort to ensure that these efforts didn't go to my hips, I tried to put an extra effort into maintaining my work out schedule. With the help of my trainer to keep the focus, the hope was to burn off the calories as quickly as I ate them. Although it wasn't easy, luckily for me...it worked, and there would end up being no weight gain during this planning process. Thank goodness for that.
But now that the event is over and things went well, it time to bet back to the grind. Trying to find your motivation after a crazy schedule has wrecked havoc on life can be a daunting task, but a recent Weight Watchers article pointed me in the right direction and provided a few tips worth sharing...
First, they suggested that you RESET YOUR GOALS-
Setting small, short-term goals that are readily achievable can allow you to feel accomplished immediately. Short-term goals such as simply extending the length of your workout by a minute or two each day or walking on the treadmill at a higher resistance level for a few minutes can make all the difference in getting that motivation back.
Next, START SLOW-
Now that you’ve decided that it’s time to get back to the grind, you may be tempted to simply dive back into the deep end of the pool. Bad idea. “When you stop exercising for a significant period of time, your body slows down — this means metabolism, cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength and endurance, and flexibility,” says Sara Haley, a Los Angeles-based global master trainer and creative consultant for Reebok. “When [clients] go on vacation, or have a baby or just take a break for a while and do not exercise, they come back weaker.” This means that it’s best to take a few steps back before jumping forward with your fitness routine. “Take whatever you were doing before your hiatus and start back at a moderate level,” continues Haley. “If you jump back in too quickly you risk overdoing it, injury and burning out.”
DO WHAT YOU LOVE-
Keeping your motivation high needs to include choosing activities that you can actually look forward to doing every day. “You may hear that a spin class plus circuit training is fantastic for fitness, but if you dread both of those activities, it’s doubtful you’ll stick with them for long,” says Aaron Snyder, a certified trainer and nutritional consultant in San Diego. “The less willpower it takes to workout, the better.”
Snyder found his own way back to a healthy workout routine by finding an activity that exhilarated him. “After living a year abroad, I had completely gotten out of my usual rigorous workout schedule,” says Snyder. “So I began doing wind sprints on the beach three or four times per week. This felt more like fun to me than work [and] I began to lose some of the extra fat I had accumulated during my hiatus.”
Lastly, GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK-
“The emotions with which people cope when returning to exercise are varied,” says Dr. Vicci Hill-Lombardi, associate professor in the department of athletic training at Seton Hall University’s School of Health and Medical Sciences in South Orange, New Jersey. She concludes that the emotions run the gamut from frustration to anger to fear to guilt. “Frustration at having to start from square one; anger that it is difficult to find time...to exercise; guilt at allowing exercise and fitness to take a back seat to everything else; fear if the cessation of exercise is due to injury. Overcoming these emotions can be difficult,” says Hill-Lombardi. These obstacles, however, are not insurmountable. Making time during the day to exercise is hard for lots of people — “experienced athletes and beginners alike,” continues Hill-Lombardi. And if the veterans can drop the exercise ball and return to their healthy routines without beating themselves up, so can you.
Thanks to Weight Watchers for providing the motivation to get back to the grind. It is my hope that I have shared something to help you get back to your grind too!
