Starting over!

Every one of us hits a point where we've either lost motivation, our drive, or our reason to eat healthy and exercise. If you've never hit that point, will you please leave a comment of your deepest secrets of how to avoid that? Thank you.
For the rest of us, it comes whether we like it or not. We live in a time (and country) where food is everything. Our entertainment, our pleasure, our moods, and every part of our day is revolved around what time it is simply so we can eat. With so much of our lives being surrounded by food it's hard to avoid the good stuff (unhealthy). Little by little, taste by taste, we lose our drive.

Unfortunetely staying motivated is a life long goal. So it's absolutely normal to fall a little behind and need that boost back up. For some of us, it might be every day or every year. No matter how often we lose our motivation, we all go through it.

I have a few tips that have helped me with food and exercise that I'd love to share in hopes that it will help a little:).

2 things to remember before getting started with eating healthier:

1. Take each day meal by meal. Don't ever get motivated and say you're going to eat healthy for the rest of the year, or even month. Promise yourself you're going to eat healthy for the next meal. That's all you need. Meal by meal.

2. The last bite tastes the exact same as the first. Portion control is a never ending battle, but doable. Definitely doable. Something that helps me with dessert is to keep telling myself that no matter how much I eat of this cake, brownie or doughnut, every bite will taste the same. So 1-2 bites is all I really need. After that I'm just making myself sick and that ruins the whole experience for me.

2 tips that help with having the drive to exercise daily:

1. Exercise doesn't have to be 1 hour of sweat and nausea. It simply has to be 20 minutes of getting that heart rate higher. A walk outside, grocery shopping, cleaning, biking, weight lifts between commercials, rollerblading. Next time you feel like you're not in the mood to take 1-2 hours of working your hardest, stop and tell yourself today is a "half an hour of walking" day. It's as simple as that. People that end up skipping an exercise class or their normal routine end up doing nothing that day. It's not all or nothing. It's all or keeping it simple. If today has to be a simple day, then it's a simple day. Don't forget you're body all together just because you're not in the mood to run. Find something more enjoyable and less straining.

2. Do what you love. If you don't love something that keeps you active, then you haven't found it yet. There are more than a million ways to stay active and exercise. If you've decided that the only way to stay active is running or weights..you are very mistaken my friend. Find something, or a routine that you look forward to. If you don't look forward to it, then I can promise you it won't be a part of your life for that long. Trial and error. Go for a hike in the mountains. Don't like it? Try something else. Learn to swim. By a pair of roller blades. Invest in a new stroller that makes it easier to run/walk with your kid. Save up money and buy 10 new songs that you've been wanting for some time. All these small and simple decisions will lead you to more firm habits that are harder to break and a healthier you. Once you find that something that you love, you will know because it won't be something that you dread, it will be something you can't live without.