Hello,  

Fun, Facts & Fitness from Mary Morris MSc.

How are you getting on with your Autumn Challenge?

If you have stuck to it and are already seeing results, then very well done!  The feeling you get from taking action and seeing your progress on the scales and in the way you look and feel is immense! Your self-esteem is on a high and there is no better feeling than that.  Well done you!

But not everyone is able to find the motivation they need. Sometimes we have great intentions but sadly they just don’t translate into action. So let’s see why that can happen.

I have always been fascinated by what motivates people to do something that is exceedingly challenging and which takes them out of their comfort zone.

Why is it that one person can say they are determined to do something and then simply go ahead and get it done, and another appears to have exactly the same level of desire but really struggles to do it?  They may say 'I just don't seem to have the motivation to change, even though I really want to'.  I cannot tell you how often I have heard someone say they were desperate to 'lose weight' or 'get fitter' only to fall at the first hurdle, finding the changes necessary to reach their goal just too hard.

This week seems an appropriate time to broach the important subject of motivation, as we are now halfway through our Autumn Challenge. It may be going swimmingly and you don't need this little pep talk at all but, for some, as experience has taught me, it may be that you have found it really difficult to stick to the plan to give you the result you so desperately want.  Fulfilling those ‘changes’ you decided you wanted to make last week has just proved to be too hard... and all that initial motivation just seems to have melted away leaving you feeling very disappointed with yourself.  But don’t despair! We’ve all been there!

Let's try and re-capture your best efforts for this final week so that you can restore your faith in yourself. I am certain you can do it if you can just drive up your motivation for these seven days. Here’s how:

Ask yourself ‘Why did I decide to do the Challenge?’

When you decided to join this Challenge, the chances are you were sitting comfortably in your favourite chair reading our weekly Newsletter, with a cup of tea in hand and saying to yourself, 'I can do that!'  But once you get started you find obstacles being thrown across your path that you were not expecting and you grow disheartened and the motivation to carry on drops dramatically. 

But, and most importantly, you must also ask yourself what the risks and costs are of in-action? Answer: you will just simply stay the same. When you decided to participate in this Challenge there has to have been something about yourself you are unhappy about.  Is it your weight?  Is it your lack of energy?  Do you look in the mirror and want to see a slimmer, fitter you?  Then you need to ask yourself: ‘How badly do I desire it and am I genuinely prepared to make some changes?

The word 'desire' is key here.  Every one of us knows all the basic principles of what we need to do - to eat more healthily and to take regular exercise - but it is our desire to do it that is so often lacking.  Motivation is really no more than persuading yourself to do what takes you in the right direction.  To do this you have to make what you want to be so compelling that you want to get on with it NOW and abandon all those habits that have brought you to this point. That is why looking in the mirror is really important, and talking to yourself in a way that increases your desire and motivation to just get on with the job.

Yes, it's hard. Yes, you will have setbacks. Yes, the path is never smooth – but to succeed, it will be your determination and commitment that will give you the success you seek. And you will be so pleased you did!

So, from today...

• Pick yourself up and dust yourself off and commit to do this for just one week.
• Remind yourself of all the things you were hoping to do (but didn't) and try to do them this week.
• Talk positively to yourself. You are going to do well this week.
• Fill in your diary sheet every day – irrespective of how well you are doing. Writing it down will help. It is well known that to keep motivation high it really helps to have written evidence of how well you are doing!

Recipe of the Week

Method Using a Soup Maker

1. Fry the onions and crushed garlic in a large non-stick pan sprayed with rapeseed oil and cook until soft, then set aside.
2. Roughly chop the tomatoes and remove any hard central cores. Place all the ingredients, except the basil, into the soup-maker and season well with freshly-ground black pepper. Cook for 20 minutes on ‘High’.
3. When cooked, pulse for 30 seconds. Add the basil and pulse for another 30 seconds. Season to taste.
4. Place a sieve on top of a large jug or bowl and pour the soup, a little at a time, into the sieve and work it through the mesh with the back of a wooden spoon. With a metal spoon, scrape the thick pulp from underneath the sieve allowing it to fall into the soup below. When you have worked every bit of pulp through the mesh that you can, discard the remaining skin and seeds.

Method Using a Pan

1. Place the chopped onions and crushed garlic in a large non-stick frying pan or saucepan sprayed with rapeseed oil and cook until soft, then set aside.
2. Roughly chop the tomatoes and remove any hard central cores. Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan with the onions and garlic and add the stock, tomato puree, and chopped chilli (if using). Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and season well with freshly-ground black pepper.
3. When cooked, allow to cool a little before placing in a liquidiser. Liquidise for 30 seconds. Now add the basil leaves and liquidise for a further 30 seconds or until completely smooth.
4. Place a sieve on top of a large jug or bowl and pour the soup a little at a time into the sieve and work it through the mesh with the back of a wooden spoon. With a metal spoon, scrape the thick pulp from underneath the sieve allowing it to fall into the soup below. When you have worked every bit of pulp through the mesh that you can, discard the remaining skin and seeds.