To anyone seeking motivation or "accountability"

Damien_Scott

No one on here can be your motivation or hold you accountable. You have to want to do this yourself, FOR yourself.

If you want some real motivation, go look at some of these before and after pics of people that have lost weight.

https://www.reddit.com/r/progresspics

OneHundredToLose

I absolutely agree. Ultimately, I'm doing this because I want to, not because I'm trying to live up to someone else's standards. I need to do this for my health, not to look good with my shirt off. I will succeed or fail on my own merit.

Damien_Scott

I didn't want to sound too harsh but I think people need to understand this. If they don't have a strong foundation within their self they may get discouraged when all of the friends on their list stop logging in.

My motivation and turning point came from spending a couple hours going through that subreddit. Seeing guy after guy bigger than I was losing 100-200 lbs and how they looked. Reading about their success stories on r/loseit and slowly realizing that I could do it too.

I never had the urge to lose weight until I got a wild hair and found those subreddits. That morning I started using MFP and never considered looking back. Now I couldn't imagine not counting calories. It's not a one time diet, it's a complete overhaul of your life and how you eat.

mikeb34695

Thanks for posting, this is awesome.

OneHundredToLose

My decision came a while back when something I always told myself would never happen, happened. I always told myself I'd never hit 350, that I couldn't possibly get that big. Then one day I stepped on the scale and boom...there it was. I felt like *kitten* for a long time after that and quickly dropped about 20lbs, mostly out of self-loathing.

Now I'm doing this the sustainable, healthy way. I will never hit 350 again. I will lose the 100lbs I want to lose.

Damien_Scott

I'm glad people are enjoying the pics.

Yeah, I have a couple friends that talk about stupid body wraps (wrapping yourself with plastic wrap will not make you lose weight you !#$%^&* Idiots) and diet pills. None of that $@#% is sustainable. If you don't learn how to eat properly you will never keep any weight off. Most people that gain it all back tend to gain even more than before. People that have surgery to lose weight also tend to gain it back because it doesn't teach them how to eat properly.

I'm having great success eating whatever I want for the most part. I just watch my calorie intake and fast through meals to eat nice stuff once and a while. I don't try to do any paleo or keto diet. I don't completely cut carbs. I just limit empty calories and find lower cal alternatives to things that I enjoy. I don't pay much attention to my macros other than trying to hit my 90g of protein and trying to keep my sodium under 200% daily value.

I really hope everyone sticks with it. the first couple weeks are meh but you get used to it after less than a month. If you have a sweet craving look for low cal popsicles such as the outshine brand. they are only 30-45 calories for the small ones so you can sit there and have 2-3 and not feel bad about it.

Dray222

I couldn't agree more! Encouragement and offering advice when requested is great, but at the end of the day, we are responsible for our own choices and our own results. If we have to depend on other people to motivate us to make the choice to be healthy, I feel any results achieved won't last. I just rejoined MFP a few weeks ago and am determined to prove to myself I can meet my goals.

GaijinAdrian

I think people actually want to make friends here maybe? I don't have friends who are into running and eating healthy but it would be nice to friend someone who likes working out and have a bitof ccompetition with each other.

Dray222

Having friends that share your same interests is always a great idea! I'm just agreeing that we shouldn't depend on them for our own motivation.

lynn_glenmont

I've often had similar thoughts when reading posts from people who seem to want someone else to motivate them or make them stick to their goals. Support and advice can obviously be helpful, but if you don't have the motivation and commitment/determination inside yourself, I don't think another person can give it to you. If it were that easy, we'd all lose weight when our doctors told us our weight was a health concern or our mothers told us it was a shame we were so heavy because we have such pretty faces.

My motivation was a blood test during a work-insurance health screening that came back with a blood sugar level on the high end of the pre-diabetic range. I've known people who lost limbs or their vision and even their lives to diabetes, so it scared me enough to take action. Fortunately, the weight loss counselor available as a follow-up to the health screening recommended MFP, and straight-forward calorie counting with the resources of the Internet to check database entries worked for me. (I did read about carb counting for pre-diabetics, but I never actually applied it. I suppose trying to be sure to get enough protein, fiber, and healthy fats within my calorie limit did indirectly limit my carbs, but I average a bit more than 200 g of carb a day. Calorie control, weight loss, and regular exercise were enough to bring my blood sugar down.)

chundra76

Damien_Scott wrote: »

No one on here can be your motivation or hold you accountable. You have to want to do this yourself, FOR yourself.

If you want some real motivation, go look at some of these before and after pics of people that have lost weight.

https://www.reddit.com/r/progresspics

chundra76

I agree. You have to make it up in mind that you are going to make this life change and have discipline. It has taking me a while but I'm on a roll now! Come everyone we can do this!

EmmaFitzwilliam

Damien_Scott wrote: »

I didn't want to sound too harsh but I think people need to understand this. If they don't have a strong foundation within their self they may get discouraged when all of the friends on their list stop logging in.

(snip)

It's not a one time diet, it's a complete overhaul of your life and how you eat.

^^^^
Excellent insight. The diet industry wants us to believe we can apply a short term fix and then go back to what we did before. In truth, most of us need to change something fundamental in how we approach meal planning and eating, as well as activity levels.

ccrdragon

Of course the diet industry wants us to believe this ^^^ - that's how they get their money on return customers (again and again and ...).

Motivation comes from desire and desire comes from within - always! If you don't want this, it ain't gonna happen.

My motivation was getting on the scale for a physical 18 months ago... I was embarrassed by the number that showed up and decided then and there it was time for a change and I have made that change and I will continue to make that change for as long as I am physically able to do so - not for anyone else but myself!!

Dray222

ccrdragon wrote: »

Motivation comes from desire and desire comes from within - always! If you don't want this, it ain't gonna happen.

Yes!!