Motivation

If you're a teacher, or if you know a teacher, as you know, as the school year wraps up, there is an abundance of tasks that need to be completed. Closing program, final parent conferences, staff meetings, 4th quarter grades, final grades, cleaning/reorganizing/packing up the room, adding information to each student's cumulative folder, end-of-year evaluation stress... Squash that together and, by the time you get home, there's often about 2% motivation to go hard at the gym.

Yesterday was one of those days for me. Now, since I've gotten into my regular workout routine where it's truly become a near-daily habit, I've been pretty motivated. Steadily losing weight - as of today -  around 40 pounds since January - has been a HUGE motivator for me to keep going. But there are just some days when I feel like I could care less. Yesterday, I was exhausted. I had a marathon cleaning/reorganizing/packing the classroom spree and when I got home, all I wanted to do was sit in front of the TV, binge-watch the last 2 episodes of Orange Is the New Black and veg out.

Yes, friends. I do give myself rest days. Yes, I did just run 10 miles on Saturday AND went to Bikram yoga on Monday... Buuuuut, I also didn't go to the gym/workout/hit yoga at ALL last week from Tuesday to Friday. Rest days, sure, but they were also pretty bingey days as well. As a "reward" for winning both of my DietBets (holla $201!!!), I decided to let myself be super lazy and eat/drink pretty much what I wanted for a few days.

<Let me insert here, that I am really trying to avoid "rewarding" myself with food. That's what got me fat in the first place!!>

Anyway, so I had my 4-day lazy binge-fest last week. So making sure I get a rest day wasn't yesterday's problem. I just lacked motivation.

So, what's a girl to do? I hit up a couple friends and basically asked for a virtual kick in the ass. I've found that if I'm being held more accountable, I'll throw on my gym clothes and head out the door. Just making that promise to text my friend back after I get out of the gym is enough to get me moving on those days where I just don't feel like it. I went to the gym yesterday with the intention of running an easy 5k on the treadmill, and ended up running that (faster than an "easy" pace, but whatever) plus about 30 minutes more since I watched an episode of OITNB. All in all, a good gym sesh.

Another strategy for motivation when you just can't muster it on your own: plan a workout date with a friend! I've got to finish packing my room, hit a staff meeting and drive to pick up my Baltimore 10-Miler packet this evening, so knowing that I'll be meeting a friend at Bikram yoga later will give me that extra bit of push that I need to get it done today.

What do you do when you just don't have the motivation?