Is the “Motivation Killer” Derailing Your Fitness Progress? One Addition to Your Morning Might Help

"I could have never imagined that a switch as simple as this could improve everything from my motivation to my skin."

“I think I’m gonna skip the gym today,” I texted my best friend. “I’m just feeling a little run down.”

“Again?!” came the ding as she texted back. “This is the third time this week. That doesn't really sound like you - you sure you’re ok?”

I grimaced; she was right. It was the third time this week…and last week I dipped twice.

Deep down I knew it wasn’t like me, and she was right. I’ve always been motivated, to the extent that my friends literally make fun of me for being too energetic.

But in the past few months, I’d been feeling more lethargic than usual. At first I chalked it up to overwork; I’d started working at a new job and my screen time had significantly increased due to prolonged hours in front of the computer—sometimes stretching up to 5 hours without breaks.

Then I chalked it up to the weather; it was summer, and the heat had been oppressive to say the least. But none of the above had bothered me before - not even growing up in a hot climate, or when I was a student studying in college.

I worked through it, determined as ever…for the first few months.

But I felt more and more run-down, and by the end of each week, my motivation would hit rock bottom. Even for a naturally energetic person like me, it was getting hard to drum up the energy to go to the gym.

So I made an appointment with my doctor. Visit by visit, we tried everything to figure out what was wrong: bloodwork, x-rays, physicals…

And we couldn’t find the answer.

But then, a few weeks later, she called me with some unexpected results.

And ding ding ding!

It was not what I was expecting…

“Yup, just as I thought. It’s too common these days and we actually call it the motivation killer,” she said. “You have a hormonal imbalance.”

I was floored, but also relieved that I finally found out what’s been going on with my body. Over the weeks that followed, I explored every avenue under the sun to boost my motivation levels. All of the usual things that had always pulled me through tough times - my favorite motivational speakers, guided meditations, hanging out with friends, even journaling about my goals - nothing made a difference for me.

When I inevitably failed to motivate myself to be more energized, I’d go the manual route. I would chug coffee like my life depended on it - and it kind of did. (Well, my fitness journey and social life sure did.)

The verdict: My motivation remained the same, but I got super jittery and anxious.

Finally, one day while I was laying on the couch scrolling TikTok after skipping my fourth gym session and second girls’ date of the week wishing I had the energy and spark all these picture-perfect influencers have…I saw the video.

It was an influencer I loved following, and had for many years. What she said about her lack of motivation - and how she fixed it - shouted right in my face.

“One cup per morning helped me finally get out of the clutches of the “motivation killer,” she said. “And god, no more acid tummy aches from coffee! Def recommend.”

One cup…of what? I’d never clicked through the comments so fast.

And there, in the pinned comments, she’d linked it:

And since I’m writing this from the other side of escaping the clutches of my own “motivation killer,” let me just say - seeing that TikTok was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Let’s talk about how RYZE got me back on track to my old levels of motivation - and beyond.