How I Get Motivated by the MFP Forums

OyGeeBiv

I posted this in my blog, and wanted to share it here, too. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/64crayons

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I love the MFP forums. I've gotten a lot of support from people who were strangers just a few weeks ago, and I'm so grateful to all of them. I love that I've been able to ask questions and get answers from people who are ahead of me on the path. I love that people are cheering me on when I make even the smallest headway. I love that people encourage me when I falter.

There's another group of people on MFP who motivate me, too. They're people who are so un-motivated themselves. They post about all the reasons they can't do this and can't do that. About how the slightest little thing is a reason to eat too much, eat garbage food, not exercise, etc.

That used to be me. I didn't post about it, but I've certainly made more than enough excuses to do what I knew wasn't good for me. I didn't get to be more than 100 lbs overweight by doing the right things for my body, that's for sure. I don't want to be like that anymore, and I'm using the Whining Post People (WPP) as my inspiration for change.

I'm talking about the people who say “I don't know why I do ____”. To them, I'd like to say it doesn't matter if you “know why”. Just know it's the wrong thing to do and try to stop doing it.

I'm talking about the people who are so hell-bent on keeping their self image of being a failure that they ask for help and then find any reason to respond to the help with “but....”, then add another failure to their long list.

I used to be a little frustrated with the whining posts. For a little while I couldn't even get to the end of one because it was such a turn off. But now I read them as motivation for myself. The whining posts make me think “just get up and do what you need to do and stop whining!” And then I turn that thought inwards. I get up, and go do what I know I should be doing.

This is how I wound up going out for walks late at night in the rain and cold to get my steps in. This is how I took a risk and jogged in place yesterday for the first time ever. This is how I stayed up late last night reading about C25K, researching which program to use, and choosing the start date for my own C25K training to begin.

Please don't think I'm being “holier than thou”, because I'm not. I know I'm going to have plenty of times I want to whine and give up and just sit around eating cheez-it's all day. I'm hoping when those times come, I can hold fast and not actually go out and buy a box of cheez-it's. I may even post a good whiny rant about it. And when I do post the whine, I hope it motivates someone else to NOT be like me in that moment, and to get up and do what they know they should be doing.

LaceyBirds

Good post. I agree, and am finding myself now responding to the people who are giving up or are frustrated, as I was there not too long ago (and am still there occasionally when I hit a stall). It's not feeling better than others, it's about those posts making me realize how much I have changed and how that changed thinking has helped me continue on and progress.

Wishing you well in your weight-loss goals.