Did you know that 80 percent of people fail to achieve their health goals, mostly in part
because they lack motivation. I'm gonna teach you how I bulletproof my motivation to exercise,
eat right, and take action steps towards better health every day.
But before we get started, I'm Dr. Zyrowski, and welcome to the channel. I'm here to help
you transform your health naturally because true health only comes naturally.
The other day I was working with an individual. They woke up in the morning 50 pounds overweight,
suffering from two chronic conditions, taking five different medications. And they looked
at themselves in the mirror feeling totally defeated.
Now one of the things that she said to herself was, "No more." She put a stake a ground and
said, "I am not living like this anymore." She reached out to me, and one of the things
that she said that really resonated with the way I feel sometimes, but also the way that
a lot of people feel, is that, "Even though I'm craving change, I lack the motivation
to do so."
So here's how I stay motivated on a day to day basis to exercise, eat right, and constantly
take action in my health. You see, we tend to really not be honest with ourselves when
it comes to our health. We tend to, kind of, kick our health problems down the road, and
really, we do that so that we don't have to take action on it.
So the first thing that we need to do is we need to be real, and be real, and understand
that if we're doing the same things that the average person is doing, then we're gonna
suffer from the same problems that the average person is facing.
And when we look at the average person, 80 percent of adults are suffering from a chronic
condition; 50 percent of people on four or more medications. It's not looking too good.
And also for me, what I do, is I see patients every single day that have severe health challenges
as a result of not taking action with their health throughout their entire life.
And I look at that, and I go, "I do not want to be in those shoes." I can see a 6-year-old
who is vibrant and full of life; and then I can see a 6-year-old that is broken, and
having a lot of challenges and their quality of life is not good.
I would say that you also, not only want to have a good quantity of life, but a quality
of life, too. So when we look around at the people around us, of course, you're not taking
care of patients.
But when you look around, and you see your family, and they're suffering dementia and
they're suffering from strokes, and cancer, and heart disease, we can see that, and have
it motivate us to take action with our health so that we don't end up in those same shoes.
Now another thing to take into consideration is that most of us have had some pretty poor
role models when it came to taking care of our health; learning how to exercise, eat
right, and also take care of our bodies naturally. We weren't taught those things growing up,
and I know that I wasn't.
And I hope, if my parents are watching this video, they can forgive me for this; but a
lot of people blame their problems on genetics. Well, my parents had heart disease and cancer,
so you know what? That's why I have heart disease and cancer.
Or is it maybe that your parents had a really bad lifestyle that you took with you and lived
the same way, and now you have the same problems that they have? That's a little bit more factual.
And so for me, a huge motivating factor is that I can actually be a good example to my
kids. If they see dad exercising every day, if they see dad eating correctly, and not
eating a bunch of sugar, and not stuffing my face with foods that I shouldn't be eating,
and foods that aren't gonna help me improve my health –
“Dad, what are you eating?” “A candy bar.”
“But that's unhealthy for you.”
Then 90 percent of the education is already there and done. Here is another problem that
many people face – is that we don't have a purpose
as to why we're eating healthy, or why we're trying to maintain a certain level of fitness.
A lot of people know that it's the right thing to do. But in the same hand, that's going
to wear off, and so we have to challenge ourselves. We have to really set up some challenges that
are going to help us hold the bar high.
Here's an example of how I do that with fitness: Today's Spartan training was nine miles with
60 burpees focused on endurance. And let me tell you, it was a killer.
So challenge yourself, challenge yourself to a Spartan race, challenge yourself to a
5K, challenge yourself to a marathon, or maybe even a triathlon, whatever it is that you're
able to accomplish, whatever it is that, as a feat for you, challenge yourself to do it.
Maybe a feat for you is simply walking a 5K and finishing it.
If that's where you are going to be challenged, then set that up. Once you pay for it, you're
gonna show up, and you're not gonna want to show up and get just ambushed on race day.
So you're going to hold yourself at a higher standard. And you're going to have a purpose
for your exercise. So set up a purpose.
Now the other thing I want to mention is that exercise doesn't just come in the way of grinding
it out in the gym, exercise comes in the way of going on bike rides with your family, and
going on walks with friends, going hiking. It comes in so many different ways.
So set up a challenge for yourself and it will keep you honest when it comes to eating.
And it'll also help you maintain a certain level of fitness. And it also makes it a lot
more fun.
Here's another thing that people do that's a total buzzkill, and it crushes your motivation.
Let's say this, let's say that you decide you want to start exercising, so you go out,
and you go for a run. And then after that, day after day, you run, run, and run some
more.
Or maybe it's you decide that you want to weightlift, and that's all you do. People
tend to isolate themselves in these categories when it comes to exercise or eating right.
When it comes to eating right, people will do this thing where it's like,"Well, I heard
if I want to lose and I want to be healthy, I should eat chicken and broccoli."
So every day for lunch, what do they pack themselves, chicken and broccoli. And let
me tell you, I'm somebody who is probably the opposite of a creature of habit. Like
I have to have a lot of variety otherwise I completely, like, go off the rails, or get
bored with whatever I'm doing.
When I exercise, I do yoga, I box, I do martial arts, I run, I bike. I even weightlift, and
so I do a lot of variety in my exercise routine. The same thing goes when eating healthy, I
like a lot of variety.
A lot of people think that, like, because you eat healthy, you have to follow the strict,
stringent diet that doesn't allow anything that you love. And that's not true and it's
not sustainable. So you have to make sure you have lots of variety in your healthy routine
so that you can stick with it and enjoy it for a long period of time.
And here's a big motivation killer that I have to mention. This was me to the T a few
years ago. If I missed my workout or I went off my diet a little bit, essentially I would
beat myself up so bad, and it would kill my motivation.
And so now, being that I've done this for many years, and I'm a little bit more experienced
in it, I don't do that anymore. If I miss my workout, I go, "Life happens, life is good,
reset, re-establish motivation, go for it the next day."
The same thing with my diet, sometimes I'm not real proud, I go off my diet a little
bit. Guess what, you know what? It happens, we're all human. We're gonna mess up, so just
make sure that you reset, and move forward.
And don't beat yourself up, it's not worth it. And it's not sustainable if you're doing
that to yourself every single day. Because mentally you're gonna – it's just gonna
wear on you and tear you down.
The other thing that you can do to motivate yourself is follow people who motivate you.
If there's an online fitness influencer, and you want to look like they do, and they motivate
you, follow them and do what they do. If you're somebody who is looking to eat healthy, and
you want to just improve your overall bodily health every single day, follow somebody who
teaches you that.
Let them be your motivation, success leaves clues. So make sure that you're finding other
people, whether it's friends, family, whoever to motivate you. So to stay motivated this
is what you do: You be real with yourself, you be a shining example to your kids, to
your family, to your peers.
Let that motivation that you give them motivate you back. Challenge yourself to a race to
keep your fitness levels up. Change up your routine, okay, don't do the same routine,
and don't eat the same things every day.
And then finally, find motivation on the people that have found the success that you're looking
to achieve. And then lastly, don't beat yourself. And check out this video right over here.
Now I wish I could say something along the lines where my whole family is doctors, and
I wanted to fall in their footsteps, so I decided to become a doctor, save the world,
and live happily ever after.
But unfortunately, my story isn't quite that easy, and I'll be honest, I don't tell it
often. Because to this day, it's still very painful for me to talk about.