Robyn Spurr

Personal Health and Weight Loss Coaching For Women

Awareness

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What’s Your Motivation Type?

motivation type

Why do some people achieve their goals while others give up?

Understanding your type of motivation is critical to achieving your goals. Which is why Weight Watchers never worked for me. It all makes perfect sense now.

This super informative Lifehack post explains the 6 different types of motivation. And to be perfectly honest, I had no idea they existed until a few days ago. Yay Internet.

But now that I do, I plan to approach my goals in a completely different way.

Here’s a quick rundown of the six different motivation types (and how they might relate to weight loss):

1. Rewards/Incentive: You’re driven by the knowledge that you’ll receive an award or money or recognition for achieving your goal.

“I want to lose weight so I can win the Biggest Loser pool at work.”

“I want to lose weight so people will notice + compliment my body.”

2. Fear: Punishment or negative consequences motivate you.

“I want to lose weight because I don’t want to get diabetes or die of a heart attack.”

“I want to lose weight so it’s not so hard to walk up the stairs.”

3. Achievement: Similar to rewards/incentives, this form of motivation is driven by a desire to achieve + improve skills + prove your competency.

“I want to lose weight so I can prove that I can!”

“I want to lose weight so I can run a marathon.”

4. Growth: You’re motivated by self-improvement + a desire to increase knowledge + grow as an individual.

“I want to lose weight because I want to be continually bettering myself.”

5. Power: You’re motivated by a desire to affect others.

“I want to lose weight so I can be a role model for other people.”

6. Social: You’re motivated by a desire to belong + feel accepted.

“I want to lose weight in order to be accepted by society (or my fit friends).”

I’m 100% hands down motivated by growth. In fact, my weight loss journey began after reading a book about creating a more fulfilling life. I saw my weight loss journey as a path to improving myself – inside and out.

To sum it up…

  1. Know your type
  2. Design a plan accordingly
  3. Anything is possible!

XO ~Robyn

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Why Your Story Matters

story1
When things are going well in our lives…We’ve lost 20 pounds.
Our new job is awesome.
We‘re dating a keeper.

…we often sabotage our success + happiness.

Why?

Two words – our story.

Embracing positive change can be challenging if the story you’re telling yourself sounds something like…

I don’t deserve to be happy.
People always disappoint me.
This is too good to be true.
I always gain the weight back.

I don’t like change.I could go on.

When you’re unable to identify + transform your story, you’ll continue to create the same outcome.

And then you’ll say – see, I was right.

Can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve done this myself.If there is one thing I’ve learned over the past few years, it’s that we have WAY more power to create our lives than we realize.

So take a little time to look at the story you’re telling yourself.

And if your story is more tragedy than inspiring autobiography, it might be time to sit down and do some editing. Pen to paper. Get on it!

XO ~Robyn

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How Often Should I Weigh Myself?

How often should I weight myself

How often should you weight yourself?

If you asked me this question a few years ago, I might have said once a week or quite possibly – toss that evil scale in the trash. But I’ve changed my tune when it comes weighing in.

My current recommendation is to weigh yourself daily at the same time of day.

I can hear the moans and groans. Stay with me.

Here’s why…

Daily fluctuations in body weight (plus extra monthly fluctuations for women) are normal. Some days I hop on the scale and weigh two or even three pounds less (or more) than the day before. And I don’t vary my caloric intake all that much on daily basis – even on weekends. It’s just that it’s NORMAL to have daily weight fluctuations.

Now let’s say you weigh in once a week – on Thursday. The week before the scale said 167.

You step on the following Thursday and it’s STILL 167. Now it’s quite possible the number was 165 or even 164 on Wednesday – but you’ll never know. All you know is that your weight stayed the same – even though you exercised and ate according to your hunger and passed on that slice of cake at the party.

Consequently, your brain goes haywire…

  • I can’t believe I didn’t lose any weight this week.
  • I’ve been working so hard, it’s not fair.
  • There must be something wrong with my body.
  • This just isn’t worth it.
  • Screw it; I’m having pizza today – and cake.

If you weigh yourself every day and take the average at the end of the week, you’ll get the most accurate figure. This approach eliminates the possibility of a daily fluctuation throwing everything off (and subsequently messing with your head).

As long as you’re aware that daily fluctuations are normal and you don’t let them get you down, then I highly recommend trying this approach.

So WHEN should you weigh in?

The best time to weigh yourself is always first thing in the morning – before eating or drinking anything. Our weight can vary throughout the day based on what we eat, drink and how much exercise we do.

Please don’t weigh yourself in the morning one day and before bed the following day.

Same time, every day. Make it part of your daily routine, like brushing your teeth.

Just as a person with diabetes needs to check his or her blood sugar, those of us who have struggled with our weight need to monitor it frequently.

And once you reach your goal weight, consider setting a “take action” weight.

It’s almost inevitable that you’ll regain some of your weight – life happens. Decide ahead of time to reexamine your eating and exercise when the scale reads about 4-5 pounds above the weight you’d like to maintain. This will help you keep 5 pounds from becoming 15 or 20 — or 50.

PS: I originally planned to use this food + exercise tracking tool for two weeks – but I’m having way too much fun! So I’m gonna keep on tracking – indefinitely. Oh – and I lost 2.5 pounds since using it – even though I wasn’t trying to lose weight. Keeping a food journal (even without counting calories) works!

If you join, feel free to follow me @rspurr and I’ll follow you back.

XO ~Robyn

I’m currently all booked up. My next opening for one on one coaching will be in late May/early June.

To find out more about how to work with me and to schedule a Discovery Session (so you can get on the waitlist), please hit reply or email me directly at robyn@chickadeeweightloss.com.

In the meantime, click here to listen to my free Weight Loss Coaching webinar. I’d love to work with you. Let’s make it happen.

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The Wanting Mentality

wanting

“A lot of people get so hung up on what they can’t have that they don’t think for a second about whether they really want it.” ~Lionel Shriver

Last week, I popped into my local Whole Foods to pick up a few things.

It’s a rare event these days because, well – it’s ridiculously overpriced and I can get high quality groceries at my local supermarket or Trader Joe’s (thank you for finally coming to Colorado).

Five or so years ago, when I was starting my coaching business and had a heap of debt to pay off, I can remember thinking how unfair it was that I couldn’t shop at Whole Foods (or get massages or buy a zillion books on amazon). So I continued to spend and stayed in debt for years.

Now that the credit card is paid off and my business is established, I don’t “want” in the same way. In fact, I probably spend less now than I did all those years ago when I should have been more careful about spending.

My point – it’s the same with food. When we’re trying to lose weight, we sometimes find ourselves in this place of “wanting” because we think we can’t have it. So we go and overeat (because it’s not fair) and keep ourselves stuck in our overweight bodies.

A few days ago, a client asked if I ever feel deprived because I can’t eat whatever I want. My answer was absolutely not.

Just a little something to think about.

xo ~Robyn

I’m currently booked up, but will be taking new clients starting in mid-March. To find out more about how to work with me one-on-one and to schedule a Discovery Session, please click here or email me directly at robyn@chickadeeweightloss.com.

I’d love to work with you. Let’s make it happen.