How to stay motivated?

marihurley216

Advice on staying motivated, Please. I do so well then it's like every 3 day's I want to break down & binge eat everything. I look at these posts every night & the pictures.. Makes me hopeful seeing other's lose. I feel like it'll never happen for me!

OsricTheKnight

I find looking at my chart daily motivating. I use trendweight.com for charting and it's a simple game: diamond below the line = victory. A bad day leads immediately to a bad weigh in. When the feedback is this consistent it's easier to stay on track and committed for me!

Osric

plaffo378

I hear ya! Logging keeps me accountable and if I've been off and eaten my weight in chocolate I remind myself tomorrow you start again, beating yourself up actually I've found if I get really really down the binging will go on longer

Lizzy622

You do not need to be perfect. Some days I go over by 100 calories and others I am under my goal. My week works out fairly close to what I want in the end. Your motivation is right in your picture. What kind of example do you want to give them to follow? My kids are older and I can tell you they learn much more from watching than from what you tell them.

keelybird57

OP, I understand. I've been doing well for a couple weeks. Now I feel the enthusiasm fading away. I'm thinking more about the old way of eating -- how comfortable it was. I miss it. Yet when I start to move, even just from my desk, I feel the heaviness and the knee pain. I have been giving myself pep talks and stern lectures all day. It will pass, this day will end, my log will be complete, I'll have successfully survived the craving. One day at a time, I think. Over time, when we see the accumulated success of all these days that we got thru, Motivation may go up. Or the habit of doing this will be more ingrained. I don't know what else to say. Thanks for posting what I was thinking.

marihurley216

I definitely beat myself up for day's when I over eat. I didn't even know until recently you could message people or view other people's stuff on here. It is motivating to see other people's success. It is hard to change your life eating when others around you are eating everything you are trying to stay away from, Ya know? So, I could definitely use some people who know what I am going through! I agree with you, Lizzy, About the picture! Great way of putting it.

ttfnweight

Mayhurley216 THATS exactly how I'm feelin tonight. I've been tryin since October. I'm tired of tryin. I just want to lose it already!!! Today I ate waaaaay too many cookies because I was upset and bored. I feel depressed and want to give up, but I can't.

jmoya0405

I always allow myself one cheat day a week just to reward myself for the hard work that I put in. However I make sure that I don't go overboard. On my cheat days I normally drink 8-10 oz of water just prior to me eating and that has helped me out a lot. So far it's working out for me, I've dropped a decent amount of weight the last 8 weeks. You can add me if you like, I'll be more then happy to answer any questions that you may have.

marihurley216

Ttfnweight, Yes!!! I did soooo good today with calories and just ruined it all by pretty much eating everything in the kitchen. Ugh!!!

How do you stay on track, Jmoya?? 34 pounds is great!! I tried a cheat day before and it did okay but I don't know if it will work for me. I need to completely change my eating for good. Not just to lose. Everyone is like, "It's just food." But, It isn't. It is hard to lose weight.. Stay on track.. Pay attention!!

jmoya0405

Everyone's body reacts differently with dietary changes. Just like exercising, if you don't change it up a bit your body will get used to what you're doing. Eating a balanced or somewhat balanced diet along with a little exercise you'll notice changes. One mistake that I made earlier on MFP is that I ate the exact calories that was recommended including the calories that I burned during exercise. I usually eat around 1000 to 1200 calories on my normal days. My cheat days if I eat PIZZA I avg 1600 calories. But really once you find what works best for you, you'll see the weight come off.. The main thing is don't base you journey off what the scale says. If you need any help with your diet and or exercise, I'll be more then happy to help.

middlehaitch

It is hard changing your eating habits, and lowering your calories.

Take it one step at a time:

Learn to log correctly. Just your regular day to day eating.

Then have MFP work out a reasonable deficit for you. In general it is .5 lb per week for every 25lb you are over your goal weight.

Eat to your deficit, any food you wish.

Once you are used to eating at a deficit, start looking at how you can get the most nutrition out of your daily allowance.

Add in exercise, eat back 50-75% of those calories.

You need to eat your allotted calories to fuel your body and mind.


Perfection is not required, if you over eat, start again the next day and aim for your calorie goal.

This forum can sometimes sound a bit bossy, but it is only because most of us care. We really want you to lose weight in a safe manner.

Cheers, h.