Finding Positive Fitness Motivation

It's Wednesday and you know what that means. Time for another Workout Wednesday (WOW) linkup.

Today's theme is: "Your Fitness Motivation." I've actually been thinking about this a lot since running the She.is.beautiful 10K on Sunday. I've always enjoyed being active, and especially playing sports, but like many women I started my fitness journey with the main goal of losing weight and changing my body on the outside. And, for awhile, it worked! I was in the best shape of my life and I felt strong, healthy, and really happy about how I looked. 

Then I took a new job and moved cross country, leaving all my friends and my boyfriend of 4 years behind. And I gained 15 pounds.

Even though I was still super active, it didn't feel as good and exercise sometimes felt more like a punishment for those extra pounds than a way to improve my body's performance. 

But ROCKING my first 10K the day after winning my first California Beach Volleyball Association tournament really made me appreciate how amazing my body really is. Yea my abs didn't look as amazing in my bathing suit on on Saturday as they did a year ago, but they were still strong enough to stretch out for crazy dives and to power swings that won us a tournament. Yes my thighs are a little bigger, but they carried me up every hill and through every mile of that race on Sunday with very little training. How can I not love my body when it does so many great things for me? 

(Image Source)

So I'm attempting an attitude adjustment to focus on how exercise improves what my body can do instead of how it appears. Sure, I like the way my arms muscles look in selfies, but I also love that they are now (finally!) strong enough to do proper chaturangas in yoga class. And when I do cardio I want to focus more on getting faster and increasing my lung capacity than burning calories.

This is definitely still a work in progress, and I would love to fit into my skinny jeans from last year (hey, they're super cute!) but I'm committing to find positive fitness motivation that comes from a place of love, not hate.

"I will work out because I love my body, not because I hate it." 

Q: What about you? What's your fitness motivation? Please share in the comments or linkup below.

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