5 things that motivate me to keep going..
So what is it exactly that keeps me going to the gym and sticking to a diet? There’s hella that keeps me motivated but I’ll keep it to five or this post will get out of control.
1. Dieting will only do so much
If I were to only diet and not step into a gym I would still lose weight but at a much lower pace. I saw a few blogs that said that the more muscle you have; the more calories your burn and it made sense after thinking about it. So hitting the gym 2-3 times a week and stressing out your muscles keeps your body rolling in dropping the lbs. I figure if I workout enough and get stronger, I can actually work less at trying to lose weight because my watermelon sized biceps will do the job for me. hehe
2. Keep your skinny clothes
I’ve read many articles saying NOT to buy or keep clothes that don’t fit you to “psych” yourself into losing weight. I say funk dat, I KEEP the clothes that USED to fit me. I have clothes from 2000 and earlier that used to fit me and I stopped wearing them because my tire was showing too much.
So that’s how I gauge my progress, I have some clothes that are kinda tight and I try them on maybe once every two weeks to see if there’s any improvement. Standing on a scale sometimes isn’t the best indicator of your progress because your weight fluctuates daily and you tend to get frustrated when your weight jumps up 5 to 6 lbs in one day.
Along with the skinny clothes - I also use my belt to gauge my weight loss. I’ve had this one belt for a few years and I’ve always been on the last or the second to the last notch of 6 notches, now I’m on the first or second notch. Sweet - the day I try on the belt and it doesn’t fit me anymore (when I don’t hit any notches) I’m hitting up Express for a new one.
3. Support from family & friends
I have to give it up to my family for keeping me in check regarding my weight. My sibilings have called me a mole, football player, and other lovely names. My relatives in Chi-town kept getting on my case because I was carrying a keg under my shirt.
Seeing my relatives in 4 months makes me work harder both in the gym and at the diet. Sometimes when I’m on the treadmill about to give up, I picture myself AT the wedding and think about how I’ll look - then I look down at my stomach and I keep running.
4. Health
My Mom has Diabetes (the diet kind, not the insulin kind) and she always made it a point to include, “You better start working out, you’ll get Diabetes like me if you don’t, ” in pretty much every converstation we’ve had. So that got me thinking and I went ahead and got a physical just to see where I stood. The results weren’t the best, it showed that I had a high glucose count (might be sign of Diabetes), my cholesterol (good and bad) were both bad, and apparently I have a little liver damage (thanks Doc for just writing it on the results and not trying to follow up with me)
As of right now though, I feel that my health has really improved over the past month and a half. I’m actually looking forward to my next physical to see how my chemistry has changed. I can walk a flight of stairs without having to rest (you remember that commercial with the fat kid playing video games and started yelling and jumping and then got all tired? ya, that was me) Overall I feel alot better during the day, it surprises me that two months ago I would go to work and just go home and veg on the couch. If I did that now it just wouldn’t feel right.
5. Upcoming Weddings
This reason is actually probably the biggest reason why I keep going. I’ve got three weddings coming up:
Sept 8th : Wayne and Amorelle
Sept 22nd: My Sister and Girold
Nov 3rd: Marc and Agnes
No I’m not the one getting married BUT I want to look decent in a tux/suit/barong and not worry about my relatives cornering me and talking about how I need to lose weight. The last wedding I went to (My Uncle Nestor’s) the gentleman measuring me at the suit place said, “Don’t worry son, it’s only a number.” He was referring to the ginormous jacket I needed for my tux. Oh and my stupid cousin, Marc, called up the place we were at WHILE we were there and told the gentleman that I needed something like a size 44 - damn him. For these weddings the only thing I want to concentrate on is drinking and not yaking at the end of the night and NOT how my fat ass stomach folds over my pants when I sit down.
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