Motivation in a stressful/busy world

aussiecoffee007

I'm a medical student and I totally understand the health risks of being overweight. I also want to lose weight to help my patients better in the future. But I can't seem to make any permanent changes. This ends up making me feel even more guilty that no matter how hard i try I don't lose weight. I also get embarrassed eating "diet" food in front of people who seem to be able to eat whatever they want when we go out, because I don't want to bring attention to my weight. How do I "get" willpower? What keeps you motivated in stressful times (which is basically my whole life)?

Need2Exerc1se

What do you mean by eating "diet" food? You don't have to eat different foods to lose weight, though certainly it will be easier if all your foods are not calorie dense.

Health is my primary motivation. When I was younger, it was being a good role model for my children. And even younger than that, vanity. You have to find your own motivation. If you want it, you'll achieve it. But it's up to you to want it badly enough.

ElleMarieRose

I completely relate to trying to lose weight in a stressful environment.
Motivation is fickle. It's there one day gone the next. You need a habit/lifestyle change not motivation. I would Google habit change techniques, there is a lot out there. I always recommend the book "change or die" because its what got me started on my weight loss journey.

kshama2001

I don't really eat diet food out. If it's hot and I feel like a salad, I'll have a salad. For entrees I only eat half, which many of my female dining companions do as well.

Will address motivation when I get back from the library. Not motivated to go there as it's raining, but I need to do it so I am. I also hate to floss, but it's got to be done regularly if I want to avoid getting my teeth scaled again, ugh.

WBB55

"diet" food at a restaurant? Like the salads (that probably aren't low cal any way)? Went out with friends a couple weeks ago, ordered deep fried zucchini appetizer as my meal with my beer. Like 600 cal total for the meal. TOTALLY worth it. No one looked at me weird. Are you imagining it?

EmmaFitzwilliam

I don't use "motivation" or "willpower". I use determination and information. I want to achieve a healthy BMI, and maintain a healthy body fat percentage. My food choices support that goal, or they do not. Sometimes they do not, and that's okay. Life is more than BMI or body fat. But BMI and body fat are important to me, so they guide my usual practices.

For me, pre-prep is key. Also, watch out for the calorie trade-offs. Liquid calories add up astonishingly fast. So do the calories in dried fruit.

I don't eat packaged diet foods. I make time every week to make a giant cucumber/tomato/peppers/onions salad (it stays crisp for about a week, if I make the time to seed the tomatoes), then portion the salad into 5 servings to bring with me to work. (At work, I add the contents of a tuna pouch and 1.5 servings of feta to my daily salad portion.)

I pre-bake chicken breasts for two or three meals at a time, then portion the chicken to stir together with an Indian simmer sauce, or a can of diced tomatoes and some sauteed onions.

I buy large containers of yogurt, and portion it out into single (6 oz) servings, with one serving of muesli and 1 cup of fresh blueberries stirred in.

Calliope610

Where do you get the motivation and willpower to continue your medical studies? Where do you get the drive to study for that exam tomorrow or work on that big project, esp when your friends are going to that party?

Well, that is where you will find the discipline and dedication necessary for successful weight loss. And just as staying up all night cramming for an exam is counter productive, overly restrictive diets and fad weight loss plans are also counter productive. Good, healthful eating habits are just as important as good study habits for your success.

CSARdiver

aussiecoffee007 wrote: »

I'm a medical student and I totally understand the health risks of being overweight. I also want to lose weight to help my patients better in the future. But I can't seem to make any permanent changes. This ends up making me feel even more guilty that no matter how hard i try I don't lose weight. I also get embarrassed eating "diet" food in front of people who seem to be able to eat whatever they want when we go out, because I don't want to bring attention to my weight. How do I "get" willpower? What keeps you motivated in stressful times (which is basically my whole life)?

I was shadowing a surgeon working 80+hrs/week and we worked out constantly. His motivation was to be prepared for the next mass casualty, to run up 6 flights of stairs in case the elevators were out, to set an example for his patients, etc. Bottom line you need to personalize your motivation - to find a higher goal that weight loss itself. Identify a purpose for your weight loss.

beamer0821

i don't eat "diet" food. just eat "normal" food you enjoy in your calorie range.

if you are stressed you need to learn to manage your stress or reduce it or both!
eating because your stressed or eating poorly because you are stressed does not resolve the stress.

you need to find other healthy outlets for stress when you can't reduce it.

also stress on the body can manifest itself and feel like a famine. famine = hunger. even when you don't really need to eat.

so moral of the story is figure out this stress business which is your root cause and you don't even need to worry about willpower and motivation which is fleeting anyways. don't focus on that.

ASKyle

Define the "diet" food you're eating while you're out, please.

rhtexasgal

My opinion, which some may find harsh, is that if you have to question how to get motivated, then it is not important to you, not yet. Many people talk a good game but when it times to step up, they fold. Weight loss and a healthier lifestyle has to be important to you, like earning a paycheck so you can pay the light bill. If you don't put it up to that level, it's not going to happen.

I will say that this weight loss go around is my third and it is the one that seems to be sticking. Why? I actually had this conversation with my husband not that long ago. I put myself first. I realized that I cannot be a good wife and mom if I was fat, tired and constantly making excuses so I just followed that wild hair I got and signed up for a gym and for personal training. I paid in advance so I could not weasel out of it. I KNEW that if I paid money, I wanted to get the best return on that investment. Now, after almost 2 years and maintaining my weight at 119-121 for almost 6 months, it is clear to see ... not my motivation but rather my determination. I like what Emma above said about it not being motivation but rather determination and information.

Everyone is busy and has many responsibilities. Sometimes, it is a matter of determining which of those responsibilities can be put on hold so that you can work on you. Me? I get up at 4:50 a.m., drink my protein supplement and head to the gym and am back at the house by 6:30 a.m. so I can get ready for work. What did I give up? Actually not much at all in hindsight.

dubird

Don't go on a diet. What you need to do is change your eating habits, which is a slow process to make it stick. Start with changing one thing at a time and give yourself time to get used to it. If you slowly lessen the amount you eat and start substituting healthier choices for some of the empty calorie choices (that's some, not all! don't cut it all out or you'll feel like you're depriving yourself of stuff you like and you won't want to do it anymore), then you retrain your mind and body to what a proper portion of food SHOULD look like, and your body will adapt to it. What I did was log for a couple of weeks without changes to give me a baseline and see where I could make changes, then started one at a time. By doing so, I gave myself time to get used to the changes and it sticks with me a lot better that way. 3 years later, it now takes much less food to feel full, to the point where I almost never finish a meal in a restaurant anymore. I can't, I'm simply getting full before I'm done, and have learned to put down the fork and leave it when that happens. (honestly, it still bugs me to do that because there's a little voice saying 'don't waste food!', but i've learned to ignore it!) So it is totally doable, but you have to keep reminding yourself that it's a slow process. It takes something like 1-2 months for an action to become habit, and if you try re-establish to many at once, it's harder to make it stick.

Also, you have to find your own motivation, not what other people tell you. I use 'motivation' loosely, because it's really finding your own REASON for losing weight. It's not always to be healthy, either. It can be something simple, like wanting to wear a certain size. For me, it was that I looked fat in wedding pictures and that bothered me. I know one girl that wanted to have better sex. But whatever the reason, it has to be your own, something that you can remind yourself of when you're feeling down. As in, "yeah, I could have the extra cake, but I'll end up back where I was, do I really want that?" And usually, the answer is no. I screw up and go over from time to time, everyone does. When you do, simply log it and start over the next day.