How do you keep motivated?

[rhettryder]

It pains me to even write this out. Have been into fitness and aesthetics since I was 15, fast forward 28 I can’t seem to keep myself motivated anymore. Fad diets to get fit again, weeks of working out to crash and burn on a binge. I’m going 2 months now eating like shit and not working out or even doing jiu jitsu any more. How do y’all do it

Edit:
Thanks everyone for all the tips, much appreciated.

 

[godlovesart]

@rhettryder I spent almost 30 years being either overweight or morbidly obese. Every single facet of my life improved when I took control of my health.

At this point I would literally die trying to stay fit before allowing myself to fall back into that life. My motivation was chiseled into me through decades of discomfort.

 

[dc87]

@godlovesart 37 years here. When you bounce back from that rock bottom always feeling like shit, there's no going back. I don't care how socially awkward it is to decline food (people at work love to offer that for some reason?) or eating out at places that don't have anything I want. I'm eating my food on my schedule, and that 5am gym time is the most non-negotiable part of my day.

 

[godlovesart]

@dc87 Preach!

 

[kim5398]

@rhettryder Discipline > motivation.

 

[admiradea]

@kim5398 You just say it outloud,I don’t want to go- but imma go” and you go.

99% of the time glad you did.

 

[blynn520]

@kim5398 As corny as it may be, this video gets me to the gym when I'm not feeling it.

 

[hudson61]

@kim5398 Truth, and based on what they said, the real issue is sustainability.

Consistency always wins.

 

[dhernandez]

@rhettryder Sounds like you’re in a binge/restricting cycle which is not sustainable. Less is more but doing it consistently.

Building a healthy habit needs to be just uncomfortable enough to allow your brain and nervous system to recover from it. Eating a 100% perfectly clean diet is mentally taxing for people because it takes a lot of thought and preparation to get in to it while the restricting of enjoyable foods is also taxing. It ‘s the equivalent to going cold turkey on a drug/medication. It’s probably better to build in to a healthy diet by tapering off junk food and really enjoying it mindfully when eating it while at the same time trying to enjoy the healthy food so the transition is seamless from unhealthy, not a shock to your subconscious brain.

And then the same with exercise; buildup the habit by enjoying it and embracing the consistency, while making sure your body has enough time to recover both mentally and physically, then you’ll get in to the mindset of being able to ignore the voices in your head telling you that you don’t want to go. That’s when discipline over takes motivation.

 

[worshipnico1]

@rhettryder I don’t. Motivation is fickle. Discipline is what carries you. The time where you don’t want put in the work are the most important times to do it.

 

[ionna]

@rhettryder I’m not always motivated but I focus on staying disciplined and just do what I need to do daily to reach my goals

 

[lemoene]

@rhettryder I frequently don't want to go to the gym. My solution: just get in the truck and go. No matter how tired or lazy I'm feeling I just walk my butt to the truck and by the time I'm warming up at the gym I am grateful I went.

 

[living_abundantly]

@rhettryder To repeat what others have said..motivation is overrated. You want to develop a habit.

The analogy I like most is that exercise should be akin to brushing your teeth in the morning.
If you leave home forgetting to brush your teeth, you feel like something is off. That's what your exercise quota for the week should feel like.

A shift in perspective and re-examining then reasons why you're trying to stay fit etc might be in order.

What you're describing in your post doesn't sound sustainable to me. Mentally or physically.

 

[kybim]

@rhettryder Try to get away from the extremes. Plan a looser diet and a lighter workout schedule. It is better to do something small consistently than to do something great inconsistently. Get a less ambitious routine under your belt, forgive yourself when you stray, work from there. No one is perfect, and that includes you!

 

[karenwnc]

@rhettryder Make it part of your "must get done" routine. There are no questions about it.

I don't think I've been motivated in a good month, but this is a priority in life. Sometimes on really bad days I break it up into smaller workouts. It's easier to get through a few smaller workouts some days than one large workout.

 

[dawn16]

@rhettryder In the army I learned the saying “false motivation is better than no motivation”; I basically learned how to force myself to do things I don’t always wanna do, which applies to fitness for me. I don’t always wanna workout, but even more than that I don’t wanna be overweight / unhealthy

 

[lanman87]

@rhettryder Going to go piece by piece of what you've said here.

I do not do fad diets, I don't radically change my diet when I'm cutting. Simply cutting out the worst things are enough for me to go into a deficit.

Then, I guess with age comes the realization that 2 months is nothing. I have periods of time where I miss my goals completely, but I don't let a stumble mean I just throw my hands up and give up completely.

Recognizing that you are off, and trying to make better choices and get back at it, even if slowly is the way. I swear to god I will wrist lock you in front of everyone if you don't get back at it.

 

[sunday823]

@rhettryder I train so I can dance longer and harder when I party. We work hard, we play hard.

 

[desertsun236]

@rhettryder Habits > Motivation

 

[mikeb34]

@rhettryder Nothing trumps motivation, nothing reinforces motivation more than success. Nobody would develop habit or discipline in ANY endeavor, if they didn't possess the confidence that can only come from some measure of success.

What do you want out of fitness? What is it worth to you, what value does it hold? Does your inconsistency stem from an inability to own this thing or do you really not care?

For me it is the impossibility of passively accepting the decline of my health and vitality as I age. I absolutely need to stay strong and capable for my work, or it will very quickly change from challenging and rewarding to extremely unpleasant.

I also expect a certain reflection in the mirror, baked into my self identity from a lifetime of unrealistic but beaconing models. I balance that against my enjoyment of beer, ice cream, and level of "give a damn". I train fairly hard, fairly consistent, change stuff up when it gets boring, experiment along the way so I'm always increasing my fitness lore. I like to learn and I'm the only test subject I currently have on the payroll.