When you start to lose motivation- how do you keep yourself going?

enzosmama

This is my millionth "restart", or I could look at it as I'm picking back up where I left off when I took a break over the last few months. Buying a house, hosting Thanksgiving, holidays, etc. craziness. I'm back now, and I'm motivated. Day five- woot! I have a meal plan for the week. I have been drinking lots of water. I'm been getting in some activity every day since Saturday. I'm logging all my foods and feeling great. I'm doing this for me, I have a long way to go, and I'm being realistic about my expectations. I know it's going to take a long time, and right now I'm motivated to stick with this through the long haul.

But I know at some unknown point in time, for any number of reasons, my motivation will fade. And I will find myself struggling. At some point soon life will get busy, curveballs will be thrown my way, I will find myself being tired, or cranky, or stressed... Maybe I will start a new job. Maybe I will get sick. Maybe there will be a family or relationship issue. Or maybe I'll just start to get complacent... and this motivation bit by bit will slip away.

When you start to falter, how do you keep yourself going? Where do you get your motivation from? Yes, I could look at "before" pictures (which I will take tonight) and think about where I want to be, or I can look at pictures of myself when I was thinner and healthier, but that won't be enough. At some point, the support, the encouragement, it won't be enough. How do you keep on trucking and get through the slump to come out on the upswing again on the other side?

I hate to sound like a negative nelly, but I've been here before. And I want it bad. I want it so fricking bad. And I'm not killing myself- I am trying to be realistic and create new habits that are maintainable. But realistically, I will hit a slump. And in all the years I've been trying to lose weight I've never been able to keep going and keep it off. I guess that's why we're all here- if we had it all figured out we wouldn't need to be here, right? But I'm looking for feedback, motivation, inspiration, and ideas. New things to try. I'm willing to try just about anything- I want to be prepared so when the motivation starts to slip I have a set of tools, a plan of attack, to get me through and out the other side.

janecl

You're not alone! That's why I'm back on here. I'd lost 80 lbs and then instead of going on slowly went back to my bad habits. I know I'm an emotional eater! I know I have a bad relationship with food. So here I am really wanting to lose and feel and look better for me. I'm really going to try hard. One day at a time. Friend me if you like and we can support each other in our journey and maybe use the same advice anyone gives you on this post.

Lasmartchika

For me, what I did, (because it already happened )... Well, I started out great!! :drinker: I was counting calories, drinking my water, doing exercise, losing weight... Then out of the blue, I got lazy and I didn't want to count calories and be eating so little, or exercise. But I read somebody's advice in the forums to keep logging no matter what. And I did. I would eat and log everything, no matter how much I ate. Maybe about once a week I would exercise a bit, I'd log that too. I kept the habit of logging no matter what. That lasted about 2 months or so of not caring. But then, reading the activity of most of the people on my friends list, "so n so did xx min of exercise" or "so n so lost xx lbs.", started to motivate me again. I also followed someone else's advice I read here to start with a loss .5 lb/week (I had started with 1lb/wk before). That works for me. I have a deficit I can work with, I can eat a lot and lose weight. I know I will lose at most 2 lbs a month and that's ok. I know I will have bad days and overeat anyways. And that's ok. Slowly I'm incorporating healthier ways to eat, nothing drastic. I don't have any foods that I say NO to. I find ways to include it into my day. And guess what? I'm exercising again, and I'm starting to lose weight again. And I'm not starving myself to lose the weight. I gained the weight slowly, I will lose it slowly. I'm not in a rush to lose it because I want to make sure this becomes my lifestyle and not just another attempt to lose weight for just a little while. I'm done with that. :flowerforyou:

floridagirl7264

ALWAYS track what you are eating no matter how bad of a day you are having. I find that if I track something BEFORE I eat it, once I see the calories and the damage it will do, 99% of the time I don't eat it. Tracking calories makes you see what you are eating. And keep tracking throughout the day. Don't stop tracking once you reach you caloric intake because even it you don't track them, they still count. I only track calories and not macros or force myself to adhere to any eating plans. I eat what I want and stay within calories. I know this isn't healthy, but once I get the weight off (or maybe at some point on the way down), I'll work on changing my eating habits to other healthier options. Right now, though, I can't do that. I have always failed when I tried to. I know some people don't agree with this, but keep weighing yourself once a week. If you fall off and see that you gaining weight, it'll give you a kick in the butt to get back on track. If you are losing, then it will give you the motivation you'll need to keep going. I've lost 60 lbs doing it this way. I have about another 50 lbs to go and will lose it by the end of this year.

ylor89

I always look at my before pictures because in some of them, you can obviously tell how unhappy I was with myself. Then I tell myself, "Is this who you want to be? Do you want to be miserable your whole life?" Of course, the answer is no. When I first joined MFP, I took pictures every time I lost 5 pounds. What a difference 5 pounds makes! I also took a weekly photo of myself, and at the end of the year, I had about 50 of them that I put into a video. It's amazing to see that change in my body and in my self-esteem!

When I first started, I wanted to lose 20 pounds...like in a month. That's not doable. I really had to educate myself and face the fact that I didn't gain the extra 20 in a month so it wasn't going away that fast. A pound (or a half a pound) a week adds up! I like looking at my reports on MFP and seeing the line go down. Progress in the making!

I also gave myself incentives. At my heaviest, I was 145. One of my incentives was if I hit 130, I'd buy myself a new dress. When I hit 125, I was going to get myself a takoyaki maker. Your incentives can be anything, as long as it motivates you! Take pictures of what you want and hang it on your fridge or put it on your computer screen as reminders.

Also, make sure you find the right exercise for you. I love zumba because I love dancing so it doesn't even feel like a workout. It's just fun! My husband, on the other hand, is a bit more clumsy, and he doesn't like zumba. For him, biking is the way to go. I don't bike because my knee clicks, and although it doesn't hurt, it annoys me. Who wants to be annoyed by their workout?? I've also taken on running and found it to be quite meditative. Find something that works for you!

At my lowest last year, I was 123. I'm currently about 130, and I'd like to see myself at 110. Luckily this year, my husband is joining me! Doing it alone was a challenge (but very doable!). Having a partner makes it a little easier because we can both keep each other accountable.

Best of luck to you! You can do it!

susanbronson2

It is said having a diet buddy is the number one way to keep motivated to stay on track. Tracking /journaling was in the top 10 too. It is hard to stay focused. 40% is who u hang with also. If your friends like to stop here n there for food eventually u may start slipping too. I try n stay away from real sugar. I crave more when I eat it. I m a sugar addict. Sometimes I wonder y can't I get my head into losing. Dr Travis Stork said focus on eliminating sugar if u r an addict. Bingo it worked for me. I took up ballroom dancing so many friends dance 4X a week now. So busy having fun dancing n not eating with friends.

lilRicki

I'm where you are right now. I know what I'm supposed to be doing, I've been on MFP for 3 years now. And haven't lost a damn thing. I did lose almost 30lbs, but I gained it all back. I don't really know what I'm doing, I don't know how to stay motivated and "love" working out. I'm just trying my best for the 10th time and hoping it sticks this time around. Different work out plan, new food ideas, a motivation picture board. Those are all the things I'm doing slightly different.

toofatnomore

I keep a pair of pants, one waste size small, around all the time.
When I feel complacient, or unmotivated, I try them on...

ItsVJ

I started on a fitness journey in 2013 and lost 50 pounds. I never knew anything so difficult and yet so exhilarating. Then I had an unbelievably stressful 2014 and gained back every ounce. So, I hear you.

My life is back on track, and now I'm determined to get my health back on track. A few things that help keep me motivated:

I have to read about fitness EVERY DAY. I mean EVERY DAY. I especially love to read inspiring stories of people just like me. Reading about it keeps it at the forefront of my mind and inspires me.

The second thing that made a world of difference for me was this website:

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/quotes.asp

That link will take you to a collection of hundreds of motivating quotes and photos. I visit this page a lot, and often print out a new quote or two to keep on my desk at work, where I can read and re-read it throughout my work day. The site also has lots of other great tools to help keep yourself motivated. Take a look!

Good luck to you!

And feel free to friend me!

-Vic

dopeysmelly

A few things helped me keep going.

I looked at the weight loss phase as training for the real phase, which was maintaining the weight loss and improving my health. Losing weight wasn't even the beginning, it was before the beginning. I think that made it feel OK to have days or moments which weren't that great, as long as I felt I was learning from that. Now I've lost the weight, I'm now at the beginning of learning to maintain it, and I use all the same tools and habits I did to lose the weight.

I learned to pre-log and plan my meals meticulously. I plan my meals the day before or immediately after breakfast (although I usually have a few ideas sketched out), and I use the MFP diary to plan my meals, so I can make little adjustments to fit my calories/protein/fiber/fat AND make them rounded, delicious meals which the whole family can enjoy. If I know I'm going to be eating something specific in a few days (or even weeks), then I go ahead and get it in there. Pre-planning means that meal preparation becomes automatic. It doesn't matter if I'm tired or hungry or demotivated - I just open MFP app, open the fridge and pull out what I need and just get on with it. This helps a huge amount since willpower is a finite thing, but having a plan takes away the need to think at all.

I weigh myself every day when I'm at home. Doesn't matter how much I ate the night before, how guilty I feel about scarfing those potato chips, or how over my calories I was, I get on that scale and log my weight. I understand it fluctuates, and it's just one data point, but for me, it's the ultimate honesty. You can't argue with weight trends compiled from lots of data points.

And, most importantly, I never once, not once, ever thought I couldn't do it. I just knew I would do it. And I did it. Grit your teeth, and go for it!! Friend me if you want.