Here are 5 quick tips on how to keep pushing play so that you can achieve that beachbody that you envisioned when you started P90X, Insanity or whatever fitness program or nutritional diet your on.

1. Set a goal

This is obvious right?  There’s a built in goal with a program like P90X. You bought the DVD’s for a reason. Lose weight. Get ripped.  Show off some 6-pack abs at the beach.  Did you right down your goal somewhere to remind yourself?  You may have many reasons to do a fitness routine and all of them are valid. The question is, on those bad days when you just don’t feel like doing the workout, do you remember what that goal was?  Take a sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper and a big magic marker.  Write down your goal in large clear writing. Hang it up where you work, eat, sleep or workout.  Remind yourself daily what your goal is. When you start to lose motivation you’ll see this reminder and maybe that will be enough to get you to push play.

2. Make it Fun

Tony even says this in one of the workouts, I believe it’s Chest and Back.  His particular example is competing with a workout partner.  This might be hard to do if you don’t have a workout partner though.  How can you make it fun solo?

The really obvious example is with Kenpo.  Take out your stress on your worst enemy while you punch and kick through this workout.  Don’t have any enemies?  Surely cold blooded ninja assassins are not your friends right? Use your imagination.  Another possibility is to mix up the workouts and create your own week.  Generally you wouldn’t want to do resistance days back to back but other than that why not be creative here to keep things interesting.  Finally you could find yourself a neighbor, spouse or friend who might benefit from exercise.  Get them to join in and create some fun and competition.

3. Get Social

Get on Facebook and post your progress.  Or just post that you’re doing P90X and each time you do a workout.  Unless your friends are total pricks they will most likely start posting encouraging words.  That will keep you going.  Don’t forget to reciprocate with some of your own comments on their updates as well.  It’s social for a reason.

There’s also Twitter.  Get an account if you don’t already have one and post your first status update: “#P90X day 31 Blah Blah Blah”.  Then do a search for #P90X and watch all the results scroll by.  Find a few to reply to and give them some encouraging words.  Retweet a few.  You’ll start to pick up some followers and you can start to follow some of them.  Pretty soon you’ll have your very own Twitter P90X support group going.

4. Record Your Progress

This should be another obvious one.  A lot of folks don’t bother but there’s a great reason to track your continued progress.  Every week if you need to.  Whatever goals you have in mind you should track the numbers and see how you are slowly but surely making progress towards losing those 40lbs or slimming your waistline by inches.  TeamBeachbody.com has all the tools you need to track your progress online.  It’s like they’ve thought of everything!

Take those before pictures.  Take another set after 30 days.  Then 60 days.  Post em on face book or your blog.  Compare how you started off a little puffy but now you look like an absolute stud or hottie.  How’s that for motivation?

5. Reward Yourself

We spend so much time punishing our bodies with these workout routines and then denying ourselves all the food pleasures we used to enjoy that pretty soon it starts to feel like a punishment.  Well there’s no need to punish yourself.  Ultimately you have a great goal that will probably be a reward in itself but screw that.  It’s 90 days from now!  I want to feel good again now.

How about setting short term rewards for yourself?  Call it a cheat meal.  Call it a cheat snack if you really want to be good about it.  Let yourself enjoy a cheeseburger once a week.  Eat an ice cream cone.  Enjoy a donut one morning.  Just don’t go overboard on the food.  :-)  Maybe it’s not food that motivates you.  If your newly busy schedule of working out has meant giving up something else then do that on Sunday night. Go to a movie.  Buy a new smaller outfit to show off your ultra fit body.  Buy that new PS3 game you’ve been wanting.  Whatever it is, set a small goal of working out every day and then reward yourself for succeeding.

Share your own motivation techniques. What keeps you pushing play every day?

I referenced a great meeting I had earlier today when I made my P90X Day 16 post.  That meeting had to do with Visalus and the Body by Vi Challenge.  My wife and I are both using the Vi-Shape meal replacement shakes for breakfast.  Check out this short video:

You always have to be leary of promotional material.  Obviously the company and the person selling a product having something to gain by putting a positive spin on things.  Well I can tell you from my own experience, my wifes experience and the experiences of the group of people I’m working with that these results are real.

I’ve been on a steady 1-2 lb weight loss doing P90X.  I have been using other MRS’s (Meal Replacement Shake) to make my nutritional plan more convienant.  I started using the Vi-Shape product and this last week I lost 3 lbs.  I’m very happy with that additional pound.  My goal is to not only get stronger and lose the fat but to be cut.  This will help me reach my goal.

My wife has been stuck on a 2 week total weight loss of 1 lb doing P90X.  She started using the shakes in the morning for breakfast and she lost 3 lbs.  She is ecstatic!  On top of that she told me that her hunger has been more manageable since starting on the shakes.  She used to fight to get to lunch even with a snack thrown in after breakfast and now she barely notices.

One woman in our group tonight has lost 24 lbs in just over a month.  Those are incredible numbers.  She looks good and says she feels great.  She’s not even exercising.  She is using 2 shakes a day for the weight loss plan.  Another women described the same problem as my wife. She had been stuck for several weeks and once she started using the Vi-Shape shake she started losing weight again.

Sound too good to be true?  This isn’t a magic potion or pill.  There’s no trickery or smoke and mirrors.  Simple and effective meal replacements is all this is.  These shakes are nutritious and taste good to boot.  My wife hated all the whey protein shakes and other MRS’s I would use.  She loves the taste of these Vi-Shape shakes.

Find out more at http://avid.myvi.net.  They do a Body by Vi 90 Day Challenge.  Check out the results for yourself.

An article in Readers Digest has gotten me thinking a lot about multivitamins.  I’ve been taking a multivitamin as part of my supplement regime for P90X.  When I did Body For Life years ago, I did the same thing.  When not doing Body For Life, my nutrition slipped, as did my use of a multivitamin.  Seems like a multivitamin is a no brainer right?  It helps to make sure you are getting all the nutrients you need and might be missing from your diet. You are working hard on your body, putting it through the paces, making big changes.  The multivitamin guarantees that your body is getting what it needs to recover from workouts and stay healthy while you push it to new limits. Or does it?

Much of the article from Readers Digest covered major disease prevention like cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Another myth it takes on is whether vitamin C prevents or fights colds.  Readers Digest sites studies in 2007 that discovered this is not the case.  The article even addresses the “Can’t Hurt” mentality.  Apparently it could hurt.  Several more studies are cited as showing increased risk of some diseases due to high doses of certain vitamins or minerals.

The readers digest article does not actually have links to these studies which I find frustrating.  It’s easy enough to say “a 2007 study showed” without actually producing a citation for the study.  I’m not saying the article’s author would make it up, but I like to be able to see these things for myself and not just take the word of a writer who is trying to make a specific argument.

Wikipedia does a better job of citing in its entry on multivitamins.  This entry has both an “Evidence in Favor” and “Evidence Against” section with citations for the studies, including some web links.  Seems like much of the same against material is cited here.

I can’t argue with the RD writer’s basic premise that a good balanced diet will provide our bodies with the vitamins and minerals we need to be healthy.  However, is this for adults with normal amount of activity in their lives?  What about someone trying to lose weight and cutting calories?  What about someone cutting calories and adding an exercise program into their daily routine?  These are scenarios in which a person might find themselves eating healthier, but not necessarily balanced enough to get every vitamin and mineral needed.  Add to this the new strain on the body that an exercise program places and I’m left wondering if it’s not necessary to supplement our vitamin intake.

I’m certainly not a nutritionist or physician, so I can’t get into specifics about what the body needs and doesn’t. In other words, I’m no expert.  For adults who are taking on an exercise program like P90X and who are changing their caloric intake, it seems like a multivitamin makes sense as a supplement.  What do you think?

Apparently reality television, Hollywood and advertisements all lie.  Breaking news!

Just finished reading this article “Skinny Dreams burst by weight loss reality” on MSNBC.  It discusses how many people who loss weight are expecting some dream fantasy of a happy life to suddenly emerge and are disappointed when it does not happen.  The article references how people are sold this Dream of a happy life through different media.  I’m always surprised that people let themselves buy so fully into the Un-reality of television and movies.

This is a good time to put things into clearer focus.  There is one primary benefit of losing weight and that is good health.  Good health allows your body and mind to better cope with the stresses of our every day lives. It certainly doesn’t solve those problems but we’re better equipped to deal with them if our overall health and fitness is good.

It’s alos a reminder that we all need to use our minds to form our own reasoned opinions and conclusions. Don’t let yourself be bamboozled by salesman.  When you see an infomertial for the next best weight loss fad, don’t get on the phone to order.  Get on the internet and start digging up some more information.  Hopefully you’ll find that it’s more like a P90X and less of a Hollywood Detox Body Wrap.