I wrote before that I don't think losing weight is about motivation or at least not only about motivation. So, if it's not about motivation, what is it about? For me, it has been about believing. BELIEVING THAT I COULD DO IT! Believing that you can do it means that when you do fail, because it happens, you can get back in the game and try something different until you figure out what works, until you figure out what makes you fail. For example, last week was not a good week for me. I can say that I failed because I had French fries three days in a row...this has not happened in a very long time. But this week it did for a variety of reasons : opportunity (I had to go out to restaurants a lot), pre-period cravings that lasted too long, loneliness, not writing what I eat and allowing myself to stuff myself on things I wouldn't normally eat and feeling bad about having to skip workouts.
I have a funny story about that last one. It's actually not funny, but it is. A few weeks ago, I was getting ready for a run on the treadmill. I had 5 minutes of quick walk done and I decided to drink a bit of water before I started to run. I was holding the bottle in my right hand and trying to open the top with my left hand and...all of a sudden...I have no freaking idea how it happened...but the treadmill started going faster and faster and faster. I had something in both my hands and I was at a loss to figure out how to stop the treadmill. Eventually, I managed to stop the machine, but not before I fell on it. I scratched my knee and had quite a few bruises to show off for it. It seemed to be just that for a bit. But then I started to have all sorts of pain and funny feelings in my leg during the week, so I reduced the exercise a bit. That being said, I'm happy to report that I ran my second 5k yesterday and there was no problems with the legs!
Back to believing. Any behavior modification requires believing that you can do it. That's the first step. I just heard a quote this week which says it all : If you believe you can do it, you will. If you believe you can't do it, you won't. It's as simple as that! Well not quite...Anyways, I think that behavior modification requires a lot of fighting with your brain. When your brain is telling you that you can't do something, you have to fight back and tell it to shut up (in a manner of speaking of course!). When your brain is throwing excuses at you for not doing something, you have to figure out a way to get rid of those excuses.
It's about believing that you're worth it, you're worth the energy that it will take you to change your behavior. It's about doing it too, but before you can do it, you have to be convinced that you can. Think of things that you were able to change in the past. Remember that you are strong and that when all is said and done, you can stop eating those French fries and get back to exercise (or stop smoking or stop using drugs or whichever behavior you want to change).
