I told you last week that I started a 3-month journey of weight loss and increased fitness with diabetes. I successfully have logged my food intake for 8 days and I have joined the YWCA Maintain Your Weight program. I have lowered my basal rate by almost 15% and I am keeping my blood sugars in range over 90% of the time! I am happy to report that last week I exercised slightly more than 7 hours over 7 days.
The bummer is that I keep hitting the NO MOTIVATION WALL. It’s not that I want to eat more or exercise less. It’s just that logging every single thing I eat along with tracking my insulin intake and blood sugar results is a big pain in the patootie. It’s VERY difficult to stay motivated and engaged. I find that I imagine giving up as much as I imagine dropping 21 pounds by January 31, 2017.
To move myself through my NO MOTIVATION WALL, I have implemented a short-term motivation technique. Turns out my top three Love Languages are Words of Affirmation, Receiving Gifts and Physical Touch. I am going to use these three love languages to reward myself for sticking to my goals.
I started by making a list of rewards that would motivate me. Here’s a short version of my list:
- Massage
- Give myself a cool coloring book journal
- Get a haircut
- Buy myself a new swimsuit
- Ask 5 friends to send me a handwritten card
I got rather excited as I brainstormed the list!
Then I decided to figure out a reward system.
Here it is:
| Date | Days into the Plan | Reward |
| November 12 | 12 days | Get a massage |
| November 26 | 26 days | Give myself a coloring book journal |
| December 1 | 31 days | Schedule another massage |
| December 19 | 49 days | Get a new swimsuit |
| January 15 | 76 days | Ask 5 friends to mail me a handwritten card of encouragement |
| January 31 | 92 days THE END! | Schedule a haircut and a massage |
The agreement I have with myself is that if I do the following things, I get the reward.
The things I have agreed to do are:
- Every day write down everything I eat and all my exercise on MyFitnessPal.
- Get at least 7 hours of exercise every week.
That’s it. Just TWO things!!!!
The thing is, not 50% of the time, not 80% of the time. For three months, the goal, which I CAN achieve, is to do these two things 100% of the time!!!
That’s how I shall stay motivated! Rewards here I come!
Please leave a comment! I love hearing from you!
Hi Mari. Sounds like your on a really Awesome Planner. That sounds VERY Awesome. And your doing really well with Maintaining your Blood sugars. GO! RED! RIDER!!!! 😀 😀 🙂 🙂 ♡♡♡♡ 🙂 🙂
David,
Thanks for your vote of confidence!
Mari
Your very welcome. Your friend And Red Rider. David Arst. 🙂 🙂