Losing my motivation

miaelissa

I'm currently in week 6. Last week I stayed the same and yesterday was horrible. I ate double my calories. Could really use some motivation or tips and stories about how you stay motivated. I recognize that I eat when I am feeling stressed or sad. don't wanna give up this time!

Liftng4Lis

Just a suggestion, but have you tried eating your breakfast instead of drinking it? If you cut up all that fruit and added it to some Greek yogurt, plus toss in a few nuts, you will find that you stay sated longer. Additionally, make room for some snacks each day (pre-log your diary). This way you're not feeling deprived.

TavistockToad

Weight loss isn't linear...

Presumably you didn't gain all the weight in 6 weeks, so it's going to take longer than that to lose it!

SomeGirlSomewhere

I'm the opposite of you in that I actually tend to LOSE my appetite when I'm depressed/stressed, but as a person who has lost close to 200 lbs in 500 days I do have some advice for you. And that is to STOP weighing yourself so often if not seeing a loss stresses you out and makes you lose your motivation. If you can't resist the urge to weigh yourself then get rid of your scale. I no longer own a scale and now weigh myself at my doctor's office about once a month or so. If you weigh yourself that infrequently while keeping track of what you eat you are GUARANTEED to see a significant loss each time and for me that is VERY motivating. I focus on how my clothes feel instead of a number that can fluctuate, often times for reasons that have NOTHING to do with whether one is losing fat or not.

Liftng4Lis

SomeGirlSomewhere wrote: »

I'm the opposite of you in that I actually tend to LOSE my appetite when I'm depressed/stressed, but as a person who has lost close to 200 lbs in 500 days I do have some advice for you. And that is to STOP weighing yourself so often if not seeing a loss stresses you out and makes you lose your motivation. If you can't resist the urge to weigh yourself then get rid of your scale. I no longer own a scale and now weigh myself at my doctor's office about once a month or so. If you weigh yourself that infrequently while keeping track of what you eat you are GUARANTEED to see a significant loss each time and for me that is VERY motivating. I focus on how my clothes feel instead of a number that can fluctuate, often times for reasons that have NOTHING to do with whether one is losing fat or not.

Awesome work!

miaelissa

Not stressed from the scale...stressed from work:(. But some good advice. Thanks!

SomeGirlSomewhere

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

SomeGirlSomewhere wrote: »

I'm the opposite of you in that I actually tend to LOSE my appetite when I'm depressed/stressed, but as a person who has lost close to 200 lbs in 500 days I do have some advice for you. And that is to STOP weighing yourself so often if not seeing a loss stresses you out and makes you lose your motivation. If you can't resist the urge to weigh yourself then get rid of your scale. I no longer own a scale and now weigh myself at my doctor's office about once a month or so. If you weigh yourself that infrequently while keeping track of what you eat you are GUARANTEED to see a significant loss each time and for me that is VERY motivating. I focus on how my clothes feel instead of a number that can fluctuate, often times for reasons that have NOTHING to do with whether one is losing fat or not.

Awesome work!

Thank you!

SomeGirlSomewhere

miaelissa wrote: »

Not stressed from the scale...stressed from work:(. But some good advice. Thanks!

Ah OK, I didn't realize that the issue was work stress rather than scale stress! I haven't worked outside the home in about 10 years, but one of my friends who has lost about 150 lbs. has the same issue with wanting to eat because of stress from her job. She has learned to cope with this successfully by 1) budgeting her calories IN ADVANCE so that she eats the majority of her daily allowance during her working hours and 2) finding things she likes to eat that are lower calories so that she can eat a larger volume of food while still coming in under her calorie goal each day.

wizzybeth

Few things:

1. Are you logging exercise points ...and if so are you using the ones auto generated by MFP? If so you may be overestimating your actual calorie burn. I only log about 50% of what I'm told I burn, sometimes less because MFP is very over - generous in their calories burned estimations.
2. Are you logging all of your food...every single thing you eat or drink (including condiments and cooking oils)...every single day? You MUST be religious about this!
3. If you are logging everything are you verifying the nutrition info with 100% accuracy? MFP database can be incomplete and inaccurate with user generated entries.
4. Are you using measuring cups and spoons...or a food scale? Measuring cups/spoons can be very inaccurate. Use a food scale and weigh ALL your solid foods. Use measuring cups/spoons ONLY for liquids.
5. Are you drinking enough water /fluids?

A few calories here or there adds up. Make sure you are meeting your nutrition macros for protein iron potassium and not overloading on sodium..too much sodium will make you retain water.

One reason I prefer MFP over the WW Points system is that it helps me track all my important vitamins and minerals. It's only set up to display 5 items in your diary on the PC. On the phone app it shows them all under "Nutrition". Since I have no worries about fiber or carb intake I have switched up what displays so I can see iron, potassium, and protein along with fat and calories.

If you eat more nutrient dense foods you will feel better. You will not be as prone to fatigue which for me makes me more prone to succumbing to stress and depressive emotions.