You're so vain, you probably think this post is about you.

Last post I talked about the "why" and today I'm going to talk about the "how".

How do you stay motivated to hit your goals and keep a steady routine of exercise and eating healthy?

Well I can't speak for everyone else, so I'm going to tell you how I got started and how I always kick myself in the butt when I'm slacking.

The simple answer is vanity.

There is no reason to sugarcoat it and in fact it's being honest about vanity that makes going to the gym that much easier.

I'm going to be very open and honest about this because I think people get the wrong side of a lot of these "transformation" stories. I wasn't obese. I was far from healthy, but I never got to that point where a doctor was telling me if I didn't loose weight I'd develop diabetes. I did have high blood pressure problems from stress, but my doctors never told me cardio alone could elevate that. It was all a talk about bad genetics.

The reason I started on my path to fitness was because I thought it would make my boyfriend at the time love me more. This is as plain as I can be on the matter.

I didn't feel good about myself, I was crazy self conscience and hated how I looked in everything I wore. I was ashamed to be with such a cute guy and feel so frumpy next to him. He NEVER said a word about my weight, never criticized me or told me I could lose a few pounds, but I felt he didn't love me as much because I wasn't as beautiful as I could be.

When I started my training with Terri Walsh she made me do something really important and that was admitting why I was there to train.

"To get healthy!" is what I spouted out and to a point that was very true, but it really wasn't the reason I was there.

I remember Terri looking at me and saying "Yeah ok, but why are you really here."

I didn't understand, wasn't wanting to be healthy enough? She forced me to think about it, she forced me to admit it and it was the most freeing thing that happened in my body breakthrough.

"You want to look cute in a pair of skinny jeans, that's why you're here." Terri said.

She was completely and totally right. I wanted to go into a clothing store and love everything I put on. I wanted to look in the mirror at a naked me and not completely cringe. I wanted to look good!

Terri taught me that vanity is probably the greatest motivator for keeping true to your fitness and eating. Mostly importantly that it's okay, vanity with discipline is not a bad thing!

Vanity is a large part of how my decisions are made. Do I want to binge eat or look amazing in a bathing suit? The answer isn't hard to come to when you look at things that way.  I WANT a cute butt, I can forgo pizza for that and do a serious leg workout twice a week. That's why sticking to a plan is easy for me. I'm vain and open about it with myself.

Now health is a big part, but it's almost like the extra awesome bonus. I can't see my heart or my cholesterol. Someone can measure them with a machine and take my blood, but I can't look in the mirror and say "Damn my arteries are fantastic today!"

I can however look in the mirror at how flat my stomach is and how defined my shoulders are getting. Why do you think there are always so many mirrors at the gym? Don't kid yourself, those are not all for form... those are to gawk at progress to pump yourself up!

I don't have the highest self-esteem and that's how I've fallen unto scary places with making food a security blanket, but I've learned from that and now force myself to answer questions about my looks before I slip.

The sooner you admit to wanting to look awesome the easier it will be to stay looking awesome.
Take pictures of yourself often, it will force you to keep yourself in check and accountable!

Next stop for me is a full length mirror, it's been long enough I think I'm over my fear now.

Inspiration from Your Equals

Tonight I got inspired to write a little bit about fitness progress. I realize I LOVE seeing people reach their goals. Something about it not only inspires me but makes me super happy.

I know a lot of women who see or compare themselves other women and instantly feel terrible (I think we all indulge in that pity part every now and then.) The thing is when I want a little boost I always find myself looking at pics of everyday women who have taken charge of their bodies and transformed themselves.

Before and after pics are a little bit of an addiction to me. I can get sucked into reading every story of every person's journey so easily! The thing is it never makes me hate my body or gets me down. I always feel a surge of confidence when I see how far others have come, especially people who've transformed even more then I have.

Seeing others and their progress always puts things into perspective for me. I find myself doing a little mental check list of my goals and asking myself if I'm on track. Also it helps me to stop myself from emotional eating and can even pump me up for my own workouts. I don't look to athletes as much as I look to my own peers!

I think it's a really fantastic way to look at fitness too. An athlete or anyone in a fitness magazine is paid to look amazing. Their whole life revolves on strict diet and exercise, they should look incredible! But the single mom, the overworked college student, the married couple that decides to motivate each other, these are the people I look to for most of my inspiration. These people have a life filled with all the complications and headaches we all face and they aren't paid to look awesome. I always find myself saying "If they can reach their goals so can I!"

My life will always be stressful. I'll probably always be operating on just not enough sleep. I'm almost always sore and yes I will always love chocolate, but these things don't have to be the reasons I can't take care of myself.

Fitness is a part of life, it shouldn't be viewed as a luxury. You don't need a fancy gym to workout and you don't need a nutritionist to eat clean whole foods. Sure you might need a motivation boost every now and then and for that I say look to all the other people out there who at one point said, "I'm done looking and feel terrible I'm changing." It's that simple and seriously always get's me going with a smile.

Open Minded Goals - The Scale is NOT the End All be All

I want you all to know I am writing some posts about food. I haven't posted anything truly diet related yet because talking about food is complicated (not in general, just sometimes explaining it can be). I'm trying to be very thoughtful of the content of the posts so for right now they are still unfinished.

I mention this because I've gotten some inquires on my diet and I think it's just as important to talk about eating in general before going into what is working for me. So I just want to say, I'm in the process of writing some diet entries, just sit tight :)

************

Today's post is about goal setting.

Goals are something we use to measure success and failure in our lives. In fitness, however, as long as you are still participating, you really can't fail. It's the great thing about it. The only way you can fail at fitness goals is to stop being active.

That might sound strange, because most people's fitness goals are related to body image, which has stronger roots in nutrition. They think if they can't lose 10lbs in a month they've failed a fitness goal. Because of the instantaneous nature of everything in our lives, people will take time out the equation to reaching their accomplishments.

Our bodies are not instant. It took your mother 9 months alone just to create you, changing yourself takes time too!

The other thing about body related fitness goals, specifically weight related ones, are they are temporary. No matter how long it takes you, once you've lost your X amount of weight you've reached that goal. What else is there? This is why once you start an exercise regiment it's important to be more open minded about your goals then just reaching a certain weight.

I had tunnel vision when I started my new lifestyle. The scale was all that mattered to me. I wasn't even thinking about all the other things I was accomplishing. Then once I started losing weight I realized the scale wasn't always parallel to how I felt. Most women would tell you 140lbs is huge, but here I was fitting into a size 4 pair of jeans that was loose in the waist!

I really started changing my fitness goals after I lost 20lbs. I realized body fat % was more important then what the scale said. I started wanting to be stronger and wanting to accomplish harder exercises.

The great thing about fitness is while you get healthier and stronger, you might be accomplishing feats you're not even aware of. Mostly because you don't know you can do them until you try!

Perfect example: I am not a runner, in fact I dislike it. I find it boring in comparison to forms of exercise and I've never been very good at it. When I first started to exercise I could maybe, on a good day, run non-stop at a decent pace for 10 mins. About a month ago I was really tired, it was a week where I had hit the gym once. That night when I got home I felt terrible, but was going to force my body to do some cardio. I stepped on the treadmill for the 1st time probably 5 months and was shocked. Not only could I run at almost 6 mph, I did it for 40 mins without stopping.

That is a goal I never had, but because of my training in general it's something I know I can do now.

This is probably the most exciting thing about fitness. You become less afraid. I've gained so much confidence just from training I'm less afraid to try new things. I started to want to try things I could never do.

When I meet people's who only fitness goal is to lose weight for a certain time of year or a special event I worry they won't keep  it up. It's not like once you lose weight it's gone forever, keeping up with nutrition & exercise means you don't have to go through that grueling first month ever again. Your life will have ups & downs, but if you work to at least try to keep your body stable when nothing else in your life is, getting through those times will be so much less stressful.

So if you're thinking the only thing that matters to you right now is what the scale is it's ok. It's natural (especially for us ladies) to try to fit our bodies it to this perception of perfect. All I can tell you is that the scale does not tell you how far you can run, or how much weight you can curl. It doesn't tell you what size jeans you are fitting into or how healthy you are. So don't place all your hopes and dreams into it.

Every day you decided to take care of yourself, you are coming closer to being a person you may never imagined you could be. I know, I still amaze myself every day :)

Haters gonna hate, walk proud

You can't always rely on others to motivate you or give you confidence. If you've made the decision to change your ways and start building a healthy lifestyle it has to be a personal choice. It's always great to know you have family and friends supporting you, even trying to help you reach the goals you set for yourself, but in the end you are the only person who can reach them.

Not all people are truly confident in themselves, it's hard because sometimes we feel it's being vain or boastful. Were taught not to be prideful, but there is a clear distinction between being proud of who you are and thinking you're some sort of god.

I've really had to learn to be proud of myself and not compare myself to others accomplishments. There is only one of me, therefore I can only compare achievements against what I've already done. If people stopped comparing themselves to others I think we'd all have a little more self confidence, especially when it comes to fitness!

Even I'm guilty of wanting to look like certain fitness models and I aspire to reach a point where I can bare all with a smile being completely happy in my skin. It's work and every day I get closer to NOT hating my body.

The reason I bring up self confidence today is because I've gotten my share or two of haters hating. Guys at the gym hassling me about weightlifting, people I work with telling me I'm crazy for getting up as early as I do to workout. Even friends who are generally interested in what I'm doing and how I'm changing my body are very quick to tell me that trying to get a six-pack is a pipe dream and I should just be happy that I'm not obese.

I want those washboard abs, that's something I want and if I actually listened to everyone who told me it was impossible or how miserable I was going to be not eating chocolate I'd never be as far as I am.

People are naturally resentful. Sounds a bit pessimistic, I agree, but I've found this to be fairly accurate. While others will be happy for you (or say so), they always compare to what they have or don't have. This is why some of my friends find it hard to stick with a workout routine or nutrition plan. Peer pressure drives them to think wanting to be healthy and look amazing and fit is vain. That you're not fun if you don't want to go binge drinking or lame for going to bed at 10pm.

I've turned down many things I knew might either lead me to unnecessary temptation OR put me in a position to be ridiculed. Reaching your goals is inspiring to most people, but the path is filled with rough spots.

You have to believe in yourself to be truly happy and healthy. It takes more time with some people and I've learned that it's okay to want to look good and feel great. Everyone on this planet should want that for themselves. It's pure choice, for most of us, that makes things otherwise.

So don't get discouraged if you can't bench as much as another member of your gym or if someone tells you you're crazy for giving up lattes. It's also really important to keep track of the mini milestones as well! Knowing you've gone 2 weeks without caffeine, or that you can do 3 more push-ups is just as important as finally losing that first 10lbs.

Never ever ever let anyone tell you, you CAN'T do something. Whatever it is. This doesn't just go for fitness, but everything in your life. If you listen to everyone (even yourself) say "you can't" you never will. That's why even though I can't do a pull-up on my own, I can do many assisted ones. The more I practice the closer I get. I know if I keep trying eventually I will, that's why I never give up.

Always try, the most important things are worth working for. And while I might have to remind myself every now and again, that I'm doing a good job I'll never lie and say it's easy.

Something to practice is for every flaw you think you have, counter your thought with a positive attribute about yourself. If I'm hating on my legs I try to think about how much I love my shoulders and then I try to have the best lower body workout and feel 1000 times better about everything.

You can't change everything about yourself in a split second, but with perseverance and confidence in yourself you will see change. This is coming from someone that had no self-esteem about a year ago. The more you work the better you feel and the stronger you become the more you want to achieve.

Take each day one at a time and try to do something that makes you feel good about yourself. Trust me, it gets easier :)