The Great Motivators: 14 Reasons to Keep Pushing Play

By Denis Faye and the Beachbody^® Message Boards Community

Exercise is easy. Buy a video, pick up a weight, and you're doing it. Nutrition is easy. Buy good foods, eat them, and you're doing it. So why aren't we a world of the fit and the skinny? We'll tell ya why.

Because motivation is a killer. It's one thing to know how to eat right and exercise. It's another thing entirely to actually do it.

The trick is to find your magic button—that motivator that pushes you to blast out a P90X^® Ab Ripper X session when you'd rather stay in bed, that motivator that makes you eat celery when chocolate cake is so much more delicious.

If you've found your motivator, more power to you, but for those who haven't, we asked the crew members on the Message Boards about their motivators. Answers ranged from wild to wonderful to weepy to just plain weird. If you see one that you like, grab it. It's on the house.

Here are a few of them

1. "What motivates me is the high I feel a couple hours after a really good workout. Nothing can beat that!"—JLYNNFL01
   
   Exercise causes your brain to release endorphins, the body's natural painkillers. A nice side effect of these little hurt-masking hormones is that they can also induce euphoria, even with moderate exercise.
2. "The thought of elastic waist bands keeps me pressing play."—Chelle Bean
   
   This is in no way a judgment, but the simple fact is that when you're fit, you have access to cooler clothes. And once you toss that muumuu away to make room for your skinny jeans, you won't want to go back.
3. "I motivate myself by thinking about how wonderful it will feel to be my husband's trophy wife!"—shellyv
   
   Although your spouse will probably love you either way, it's always nice to make him or her drool a little. Remember, being fit makes you feel good about yourself, and when partners feel good about themselves, it makes it easier to feel good about the relationship.
4. "Looking at my before pictures. If I ever start to feel like I don't want to exercise I just pull those gems out."—RyGuy
   
   Everyone seems to like their "after" picture so much more than their "before" picture. There was a lot of sweat and pain in the transition.
5. "Even though the ex-wife did not leave because I was not ripped, I still can't wait to take my shirt off at the pool for our son's birthday and have her see all the things she is missing out on. His birthday is in August, so I have just enough time."—Puckmaster
   
   Here's an old quote: "Revenge is a dish best served cold." It comes from either Afghanistan or the Klingon language. We're not sure which.
6. "Rock climbing alone isn't a key ingredient to a full life, at least not for me. Climbing with my kids, on the other hand, is another story. Spending time together, being able to keep up, starts to be even more promising. Ultimately, that is my big picture; my family, my kids, and my health are all intertwined."—Fitz62
   
   Being fit opens up a whole world for a parent. And technically, running around with your rugrats counts as exercise, so you get a bonus.
7. "My 2-1/2-year-old son who asks, 'Daddy are you exercising today?' And afterwards puts my shirt in the laundry basket for me. I want to be here as long as possible for my family."—Sgpratt
   
   Here's an even bigger motivator when it come to exercising for the sake of your family. Not only will the quality of family time improve, but also, in the long run, you'll have lots more of it.
8. "My daughter is my motivation. I do not want her to see me struggling with weight as I saw my mom."—Fufi28
   
   Here's the biggest motivator of all. Kids model their parents—the way they eat, the way they live their lives. If you live your life healthily and strongly, your kids will too.
9. "My favorite motivational tool is to use some P90X^® workouts or other exercises to create unique challenges and do them for time."—Coach Marc
   
   Goal-oriented people fire themselves up with, wait for it, goals. If working through 90 days of grueling exercise isn't enough for you, create mini goals during that time. Increase sets or do things faster, whatever fires you up.
10. "I make each workout an appointment . . . and I don't like missing appointments."—Blotman
    
    Most people like to live up to the commitments they've made. If you make a doctor's appointment, you don't miss it, do you? Well, you're just as important as your doctor, so if you make an appointment with yourself, honor it!
11. "WOWY keeps me accountable, I may not know a single soul personally, but just knowing thousands of other people are putting their health first keeps my conviction strong!"—Maii Beloved
    
    Of course, if you're just not willing to give yourself the respect required to keep those appointments, maybe you'll respect the thousands of people who track you when you use the WOWY^® accountability system.
12. "The more you work out, the more you can eat!"—j-ro
    
    This one is a slippery slope, but there's some truth to it. Just keep in mind that exercise isn't a license to pig out on junk because "junk in, junk out."
13. "I enjoy seeing others' reaction when I wear a tank top. I get a kick out of them staring at the veins in my biceps."—Padstack
    
    It's always nice to get checked out and know that your hard work is paying off.
14. "GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS"—VOLTOWN
    
    Well, if you don't want to do it for yourself and you don't want to do it for your family, there's nothing wrong with doing it for the ladies, we suppose, or for the men, of course. Just don't go too crazy, Voltown.