Determination and Motivation – Your Most Important Allies in Change

We hear it a lot – Someone takes a gym membership and then lets it die without a whimper. Someone takes up a diet and then returns to
gluttony the next weekend. Someone does a great deal of expensive shopping from big-name brands for morning routines and then wears
the filthily expensive tracksuit for lounging around at home. This bug is all around us – People make grandiose plans to start health and
fitness programs and then let go of them at the drop of a hat. What goes wrong?

When we hear about the failure of diets or gym programs all around us, usually it isn’t their fault. Usually it is the fault of the people who
started with much hoo-ha about going through these programs, telling all their friends and colleagues about it, and then did not follow those
programs through to the end. The people who leave midway do not see the benefits, of course, and the commercial fitness enterprises lose
their face.

What the world needs today isn’t a new health or fitness program, but it needs motivation. It needs the right kind of mindset to follow
through with whatever program they have chosen to the very end. If they can do that, most of the health problems that are related to
lifestyle situations will become passé. And we don’t have to travel to the corners of the earth to find this motivation. The motivation lies
right here, within us; we only need to search it and use it. And this we need to do before even thinking of joining a health program.

So the next time you see that a program has failed or is receiving a lot of criticism, remember that the criticism isn’t probably because the
program stands on shaky ground. In most cases, it is because people began with great intentions and then did not follow the program as
they should have.

The most important thing that you need to keep your health and fitness program alive – even more important than an instructor or a
doctor – is your own motivation. You have to be determined to take stock of the situation. So, you are overweight and are looking at
shedding some pounds. No gym instructor from anywhere in the world will help you if you don’t take adequate measures to have the right
diet and to stick with your routine exercise. Even if you are sick and are looking at treatment, no doctor will help if you aren’t determined
in following the treatment program, whether it is taking the medication at the right time or abstaining from some foods.

So, before even thinking of going ahead with a fitness or a health program, the one thing you need to be sure of is your own
determination for it. You have to make sure you will be motivated to carry on the program
till the end. The best way to do it, of course, is to think about the end result. If you are planning to enter into a weight loss program, you
could think about the great body you will have if you follow the program for a few weeks. In fact, you could go right ahead and shop
for some jeans or even a bikini which is five sizes smaller than you are presently. The people who sell you that will think you are nuts, but you
know what you are trying to achieve. Actually, stand up and tell them that this is what size you will be when you enter their shop again!
The same applies for every health and fitness program. If you have some cardiac ailment right now, think about how sticking to the right
medical program will make you after a few weeks. You will be able to do things as before; your life will be richer.

The best way to keep yourself motivated is always to think about what is to come. Think about the result of your efforts. The efforts you need
to put in won’t seem so very difficult then.  For me personally the biggest motivator has been realizing the danger of developing type 2 diabetes.  That has motivated me to regular intermittent fasting (since 2016), lower carb eating, and accountability to keep on track.  And it has worked.  I am further away from diabetes than when I started working on things.  It isn’t easy, but it is worth it.