Re-Motivation and Focus

Usually, I wait until a little further into the competition to do another "motivation" post, especially because it seems like those are the only type of posts I've been doing, and I really want to get to learning about strategies.

However, am I the only one who's felt like these past few weeks since starting the Challenge have just been....weird?? I'm SO, SO sorry for the lack of contact and motivation from me! You are all still doing AWESOME hanging in there! Even if you feel like you're not doing very well, just being conscious of making healthy choices and keeping of track of points tells me that you're headed in the right direction! Plan on some more intense "pushing" from me from here on out!

I read back on some of the posts that I'd made in previous challenges to try to get myself amped up again to get on a good roll, and I found this one and updated it a little. Hopefully it helps!

"One of God's greatest gifts to us is the joy of trying again, for no failure ever need be final". -President Thomas S. Monson

I've heard from several of you, and I myself have felt some frustration in how I've been doing. I want this week to feel like a fresh start! I don't want anyone to feel like they're "behind" or that the challenge has gone too far without them. Since we're now about halfway through the challenge, I want this week to be a week of re-commitment and motivation.

I know I've gotten distracted with trying to be perfect, then failing and getting frustrated and throwing my hands up in the air. When I really looked back on WHY I'm doing the challenge, and started it, a big majority of my motivation came back.  I had gestational hypertension and preeclampsia at the end of my pregnancy with Sawyer. It was scary to not feel in control my body and not know what was going to happen during his labor. I was frustrated with myself, feeling like it was too late to do anything to change my situation. One of the only things that's been proven to prevent both of those issues is a healthy diet. After he was born and I'd recovered from some of the complications that did end up happening during his labor, I made a goal to get in the best shape of my life. Not only do I want to prevent either of those issues from happening again if I ever have another baby, but I want to be FULL OF LIFE to be able to enjoy the babies I have! I want to feel strong and teach my kids to have a healthy lifestyle! And yes, a little vanity, I want to fit into my clothes and feel good about how they look! I want to I know I can do it, and I want to prove that I can this time around, and once I remembered to focus on that instead of my little setbacks, I found motivation to start fresh.

So, I'm changing things up a little this week, starting with points. If you've been "behind" on your points, this week, you have a chance to catch up! So here's the changes:

Earn an extra point this week for sharing with the group (or just me if you're shy, but please, DON'T BE! We all feed off each others' motivation) WHY you joined the group. What motivates you? What discourages you? How do you overcome your setbacks, and most importantly, your VISION and PLAN to get where you want to be! Then if you do well every day for the rest of the week, earn THREE extra points for implementing it! And share it with us! I love that a few of you have been sharing your temptations and successes! The pictures of your walks, healthy meals and workouts have been so motivating!

Now, here's where you can catch up if you feel like you've been lagging for a while.
If you earn all the rest of the points this week, starting today, your points for this week will be doubled. So, for example, there are 3 points left for exercise, 6 for MFP, 6 for healthy eating, 6 for water, and you can still earn the two points for your weekly goals if you do them starting today.
Brainstorm back to the reason you decided to join the challenge. Think about what your motivations, successes, failures and frustrations are. FOCUS on correcting or improving on that this week. This would be a GREAT week to incorporate hanging motivational quotes or your goals in a place where you can see them frequently, and share them with us!.

Make today your fresh start too! I want everyone to go all in, starting today! You can do it! Start fresh! Remember why you're doing this, find your motivation and aim higher!  Don't let yourself get discouraged because you had a bad day or caved on a craving, we're starting over and that's in the past now! Stay upbeat and push yourself to get to where you know you want to be. Life will ALWAYS bring setbacks and legitimate reasons to make excuses, so I'm not going to let myself do it, and I know EVERY one of you can too!

If you're feeling frustrated or discouraged because of something else, let me know! I want everyone to feel confident and like you're getting somewhere, NOT like you're plateauing or treading water.

I wanted to continue this week with success stories. Those are always SO motivating to me! If you have one, even if it's that you're finally sticking to goals for the first time or something else you've accomplished that you never thought you'd do, either post it on FB or message me about it and I'll make a post about it. You never know what type of insight you have that might be the light turning on in someone else's head to get them on a roll!