Motivation won't keep you going but your WHY will - here's how to discover it

Motivation will fail you. Every. Single. Time.

If fat loss were easy, everyone would do it. But it's not and the people who actually reach their goals aren't the ones who stay motivated. They're the ones who know exactly why they started.

In this episode, we're talking about how to find your WHY - the real one. Not "I want to look better" or "I want more energy." Those answers won't carry you through the hard days. We're going deeper.

Your WHY has to be emotionally charged enough that when motivation disappears (and it will), you can tap into something stronger than a feeling.

We'll cover:
• Why surface-level goals keep you stuck
• How to uncover a WHY that actually moves you
• How to define your 1, 3, and 5-year vision so your day-to-day has direction

Fat loss requires consistency and consistency requires a reason bigger than the hard days. Let's find yours.

If this episode hit home and you're ready to finally reach your fat loss goal in a way that supports your life as a mom, I want to invite you to join Strong as a Mother - my signature group coaching program built for moms who are done with quick fixes and ready to build something that actually lasts. Enrollment is open now. Head to my website christiemagri.com to learn more and grab your spot (lock your spot in before April 23rd to get the special founders rate!)

Want to connect with Christie?

Make sure to follow Stronger Within so you never miss an episode. New episodes drop weekly with practical tools for sustainable fat loss, mindset shifts, and habits that fit your life.

If you want to learn how to make consistent fat loss progress while balancing mom life (or you identified your struggles in this episode and want help) join my 3 day LIVE event Ditch The Diet: Mom Edition for free on June 9th-11th! Register for free here!

Ready to go ALL in on your goals with high touch, personalized coaching and strategy so you can lose fat consistently without restricting yourself or spending hours in the gym? Apply for 1:1 Coaching!

Looking for a low commitment way to get direct access to me and my expertise? Join my group coaching program, Strong as a Mother!

Transcript

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Hey friend, welcome back to Stronger Within, the podcast for women who are done chasing quick fixes and are ready to build real strength and lasting change from the inside out. I'm your host, Christy Magry, and here we talk about becoming stronger within in your body, your mindset, and the daily habits that shape your life. If you're ready to build a body in life you feel confident in for good, you're in the right place. Alright, raise your hand if you have ever started your weight loss journey only to lose steam after the first week. This is so common. I see it all the time. I experienced it in my own journey where in the beginning, the first few days, maybe even you can maintain for a f a few weeks of motivation, but then eventually you you struggle to keep going. Something comes up, there's a sick kid, you give in to your cravings, whatever happens, and you're like, this is just too hard. You kind of throw up your hands and quit. I understand that life, and it sucks because it's not that you don't want to reach your goal, it is genuinely that it just feels kind of all-consuming, kind of overwhelming. It's a lot of work. I'm not gonna sugar sugarcoat it. Fat loss is simple, but doing the daily work every single day, day after day, it can feel a little bit hard. And so the problem with motivation, and I talk to so many women on a daily basis who, I mean, I'll ask them, what do you think is really holding you back from achieving the goals that you're telling me you want to reach? And I will tell you that at least half the time, if not more, it is I just don't have motivation. Motivation is very fleeting and unreliable. So we cannot rely on it to reach our health and fitness goals. And if we are, we're gonna st be stuck in this cycle of never actually reaching our goal. And so I'm gonna chat with you today about one of the very important steps in the very beginning of your journey that you have to take if you want to be successful, not just now, but long term. And this is a step I find that so many women skip because we say, Okay, well, I want to lose the weight, just give me the strategy, just give me the macros, just give me the workout plan, and I'll follow it. But we don't slow down enough to even consider why is this so important to you? And then another really common mistake I see is that we're just relying on very surface level reasons or goals. So I want to look better, I want to feel confident, I want to have more energy. And these are super vague, they're not specific, they're really easy to ignore when life gets busy because like if I'm saying I want to look better, well, like at the end of the day, that's not really an emotional pull for me. Like, if I'm having a hard day looking better is not gonna keep me going. And so the key to finding success and finding motivation, or not just motivation, but finding a reason to keep you going no matter what the day looks like, is finding that deeper why, a why that hits you so emotionally that you like not showing up is just not an option. And so I think back to when I was struggling with my weight and I really didn't have that strong why. It was very surface level. It was like, well, I want to be a lower number on the scale, and I want to fit better in these clothes, and I want to look better, and whatever. In the moment I had Carter, my first baby, my son, who's not a baby anymore. But when I had him, that became my why. I'm breaking the cycle that was not broken for me. I did not have healthy examples growing up, and so then in life I really struggled with my own relationship with food and exercise. I wanted to break that cycle for my kids, and so not only that, but I also wanted to be really healthy for my kids. I didn't want to be the mom that was sluggish or the mom who picked herself apart or the mom that really just struggled to show up fully for them because I wasn't filling my own cup. I want to be around for my kids for a long, long time. If I can do anything to make that happen, I will do it. And that's a really strong emotional why to me. Even if we think back to like the physical appearance things, like I want to look better, like that's not super motivating. But instead, if I think like I really want to feel present and confident in pictures with my kids, like I want to be able to do the family photo shoots and share those pictures on Facebook or Instagram without feeling shame, without picking myself apart. I remember when I was um a few months postpartum with Chloe and we had Carter's, I believe it was his fourth birthday party. And keep in mind I was only a few months postpartum, so I was being a little bit hard on myself, but I just want to share this example. I remember taking a family picture at his birthday party, looking at the picture and thinking, oh my god, there is no way I'm posting that. Like, I am so ashamed of what I see. I'm embarrassed, I look gross, uh, like just a lot of a lot of self-hatred. And that's a terrible feeling. And I remember, well, first thing I said to my husband was like, this is gonna be my before picture watch. And now it is. Um, and the the second thing I was thinking in my head is like, I never want to live a life where I can't post the picture with my family because I'm too embarrassed of what I look like. Literally, fuck that. Excuse my language, hopefully you don't have kids around. But that is such like life is so short in these moments, in these this time with our kids, and I'll be damned if I let my lack of self-confidence or what I look like holding hold me back from posting the picture with my kids. I want to be able to feel proud of what I see and be like, damn, I look amazing. I'm so excited to post that picture. I look good. Like you deserve to live that life too. Isn't that more motivating than I want to look better? Or another surface level why could be like I want to have more energy. Okay, that's not motivating. Let's take it deeper. I really want my body to feel strong instead of feeling exhausted all day. I feel like my kids come home from school and I just sit around on the couch because I don't have any energy. I'm like snapping at them because I'm tired and I'm fatigued and my back hurts and my joints ink and I can let ache ink and I can this is one one flow all the way through. I'm not cutting that. Um, or I really struggle to, you know, I struggle to get through the day. I hit this 2 p.m. slump every day where I have no energy and I'm just constantly like struggling to get through the day, and I want to live a present life where like I can truly be there with my kids and play with my kids and get down on the ground for them and have energy to do everything that I need to do and not struggle to get through the day. That's so much more motivating than I want to have more energy. Oh, also on that deeper why, like I want to be able to look back in 20 years and be like, I was fully present with my kids. So this type of emotion, really eliciting this emotion, is what's gonna keep you going when motivation fades, and that really strong why becomes your anchor during those challenging days. So something I encourage you to do is really take your time when you slow down and you think about your goal. I want you to really stop and visualize like why does this even matter to me? Write it down, really take it a step further every single time. So literally treat yourself like a toddler or like the book, if you give a mouse a cookie, right? There's always the one thing coming next, or the why. Like you meant you say your goal, like why it's important to you, and then ask yourself why, and then literally why, why, why, why, why until you can't go anymore. And really think about like where do you want to be in a year? Where do you want to be in three years, in five years, in twenty years? What does life look like? How is your day-to-day different? How are your habits different? How do you speak differently to yourself? Are you even slowing down enough to ask yourself these things? Because I bet you're not. I bet you're just like, I want to lose weight and be a lower number on the scale. Just give me the strategy, give me the meal plan, give me the macros, the workouts. That's not gonna be enough. Because when you have a hard day, your why is not strong enough for you to continue showing up. So, my challenge to you today is to take 10 minutes to sit down, write your why, and really visualize your life one or five years from now. Keep it somewhere you're gonna see every day, or even better, do this practice maybe on a weekly basis or a monthly basis because we have to keep this at the forefront of your mind. We have to stop being vague, we have to stop speaking surface level about our goals. We really, really have to get deep and intentional with it. With that said, I am so excited to announce my brand new revamped Strong as a Mother group program, which is designed for the busy moms who are ready to lose fat, gain energy, finally feel in control without relying on that motivation that is not very reliable. So, in the program, I'll guide you through step by step on exactly how to identify your emotionally charged why so you can stay consistent even on your hardest days. I'm gonna walk you through my goal setting framework so that you can set goals that stick with a very clear roadmap for the next year, how to build habits that feel automatic, not forced, so you're not having to depend on motivation forever, and really how to navigate the real life challenges like birthdays, vacations, travel, all the fun things coming up while still making progress. Presale is officially open. You can lock in your founder's rate before it closes on May 7th. We officially kick off May 11th, but this is your chance to finally stop spinning your wheels and start seeing the results that you deserve to see like long ago. So, more information can be found at my website christymacri.com on Instagram ChristyFit underscore, all linked in the show notes here. Let me know if you have any questions. But until next time, thank you for joining me. If this episode resonated, I'd love for you to share it or leave a review. It helps this message reach even more women who need it. Until next time, keep becoming stronger with it.