I'm new and this ain't easy for sure!

LolaPlant

Hello to all of you. I've been on fitnesspal before, but never to the message boards, so I'm new "here".

Basically, I'm tired of being tired..............and tired of no longer seeing thin (or thinNER) in the mirror anymore.

I have an office job, so I sit a lot. I'm hungry most of the time, and with all the allergies I have, I'm tired and I have a headache most of the time. As a result, losing weight has not been easy for me. I'm tall and many folks say I look fine, but no I don't. I KNOW I need to lose a few pounds, but now that I'm over 40, it's so NOT easy and I've put on the weight. I never had a weight problem when I was younger, but it's caught up to me now.

Hubby is overweight and less motivated than I am. I'm hoping that if I can get motivated, it will help him also.

HOW do y'all get motivated? Or is it a "just do it anyway" type of attitude we have to have? I wish motivation would just fall on me, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Darn it. *LOL*

Any help and/or advice y'all can share would be appreciated.
Have a great day y'all!
Lola

GinnieC100

I have done My Fitness Pal on and off for years. Just coming back after a long time of not journaling. I have problems with motivation too. I start strong and then after a few weeks I don't care anymore. Trying to find that magic to keep going. It is so hard to lose weight as I age. During younger years when I wanted to lose 10 lbs, I would just do it. Now to take 10 lbs off is a major event!
Weight loss takes place in the kitchen not in the gym. If that were the case I would be super skinny. I work out every day doing something. I run and do strength training. I wish I could just get the eating part under control.
Hang in there. Perhaps this time it will work.
Ginnie

VeryBerryJen

I'm in a similar boat. I sit most of the day, at a medical office job. Recently started back up with journaling. but since the holidays began, I've been over and then I get mad at myself once I'm over my calories. On top of that, because I know the holidays are over, my dad just had open heart surgery this past Wednesday and I have been in that mood where I'll start tracking, but after all the bad choices I stop cause I'm over my calories.

This weekend, I just cleaned out the fridge, and went shopping on Sunday, went shopping and was more mindful buying food. So I'm hoping this week will be a change, even if I go over my calories, I plan on still journaling. Once things calm down at my house with my dad, I'm going back to the gym.

Hang in there ladies. Have a good day.

clioandboy

HI I am returning to MFP, I was a success now I could be in the guinness book of records for weight gain and how to screw up. I am going to make myself motivated, I am not yet, I will suddenly hit the zone and start feeling the benefits then like Ginnie above something will sideswipe me and i will run to the fridge...... I am looking for new friends to do this with, please add me i cannot even work out how to add people with this new fandangled site!

belinda_73

I just recently gave up dairy and was shocked that my allergies went away, along with bloat and other digestive issues. I noticed results within 2 weeks, you may want to give it a try.

LolaPlant

Thank you Ginnie for your reply. You stated that "Weight loss takes place in the kitchen not in the gym."
I've NEVER heard that said, but DUH! <insert a head slap> Of course it does, but I seem to focus more on the lack of physical activity. I do watch what I eat, but I will confess that I don't always watch the amount cuz I'm H-U-N-G-R-Y. *LOL*
I'm hoping it does work this time. I really want it to work, but like you ~ I get to the point where I don't care anymore. UGH! I want to keep caring and remain motivated. I just have to accept that I won't always be motivated, and continue to stick with it regardless.
You hang in there too!

LolaPlant

Thank you MIUJen for your reply.
I'm sorry to hear about your dad, and I pray that he will recover quickly and well.
I'm trying not to get mad at myself because that just discourages me and gives me even LESS motivation.
You hang in there!

LolaPlant

Thank you clioandboy for your reply.
I did add you.........I think.............I hope.
Maybe we can help each other out. I hope I can stick to it this time around and not leave and give up.
Have a great day!

LolaPlant

Thank you for your reply belfle.
I've had allergies all my life. I'm labelled as "being allergic to the environment". Oh great! Like I can get away from that. *LOL*
So you gave up dairy huh? Hmm..............all dairy? Or specific things such as milk? Did you replace it with anything? It might be worth a try that's for sure. I'll have to look into that. Thank you for the tip.
Happy Monday to you!

lilawolf

Motivation does not fall out of the sky or grow on trees (unfortunately). You have to find it in yourself. I finally hit my breaking point when I saw 3 very large women waiting on an elevator to go up one floor. I'd been gaining 10lbs a year for a while, and when I saw them, something just clicked. If I didn't change, soon enough, that would be me. AH! What helped to keep me motivated was non-scale in addition to scale goals. I wanted to be stronger so my lift numbers were motivation. I wanted to do mud runs, and I love the Zombies!Run app, so that got me running. Martial arts makes me feel strong and bad *kitten*. All of these things were fun, made me feel good and energetic (actually helps with my mild depression/seasonal blues), and LET me eat more while still losing! WIN WIN WIN!

Try to get out of the "ugh, I have to eat this. Crap, I ate that so I HAVE to torture myself in the gym" down, down, down. No wonder people give up and eat a donut.

At a certain point, you just have to make the decision to just do it no matter what. You go to work every day right? Mondays suck, but you are still there. This is the same thing. Just say: I WILL make lunches for the week on Sundays. I WILL take a 20 minute walk every day at lunch. I WILL go to the gym M,W,F. I will only drink alcohol on Friday and Saturday (these were mine).... Or whatever you need to do. Waiting until you are motivated means waiting a long time and quitting quickly.

GinnieC100

Sometimes what we perceive as hunger is really thirst. Try maybe drinking more water. I'll try that first before I dig into a snack. Normally snacks, in my case, aren't necessarily healthy. I am developing the habit of carrying a water bottle around with me where ever I go. It wouldn't hurt to try. Please feel free to friend me. We maybe can encourage each other.
Clioandboy, I friended you too.

Rdsgoal16

I really can relate, being confined to my desk most of the day and over 40 it packed on, I hate getting up early but was so sick of where I was I started forcing myself to wake up and do 30 minutes on a recumbent bike, after dropping 25 pounds its a habit and I have 2x the energy. I stopped drinking mil and changed my protein shakes to water, my headaches and allergies have really dropped off. you can do it, push through the times when it is difficult to work out and it gets easier.

atiana19

I am consistently inconsistent on here but it helped me lose a lot in the beginning so I always find my way back..Ihave my last 25-30 to lose and its been very very hard but I will stay the course I have always had a struggle with food. I love it and truth is you have to get a little obsessed about fitness for it to work it takes focus in my experience when you have the tendency to overeat. But we can do this lots of luck to you ..feel free to friend if youd like

jacklifts

motivation is tough consistently. habit formation is much easier. you only need enough motivation to form a habit, then that will take care of itself. so start small and pick a habit you want to have - for example, exercise. exercise just two days a week for 20 minutes. make sure you do it every week. after 6-8 weeks, it'll be a lot easier to keep it going because you'll have started a habit. then add a third day (or whatever you want to do). or if it's logging, pick one meal to log, for example, like dinner. eat whatever you want the whole day, but only log dinner calories. the try to pick a target - like half of your daily alloted calories, and hit that every time with your dinner. once you've done that consistently for a few weeks, next try logging the rest of the day and see how it goes. habit>>motivation

bellkat31

I am working on this and would never be considered a role model. From my experience it is all about the planning. I plan meals, snack (just in case) workout times, etc in my calendar. So I have that schedule to keep me on track in life things happen so I have a few emergency meals frozen. I spend 3 to 4 hours every Sunday on planning and meal prep. It is 80% nutrition and 20% workout. When I focus on that I do great when I don't I gain weight. Truly comes down to my choice

LolaPlant

Hi lilawolf. Thank you for your reply.
I know, darn it ~ I wish motivation did fall out of the sky. *LOL* I'm just having a hard time finding it I guess.

I had to look up "non-scale goals" as I've not heard that term before. I guess the fact that I still have favorite clothes that no longer fit me would be my non-scale goals. I would really like to fit into those clothes cuz I have some really nice things. I want to be stronger and I used to be. One of my non-scale goals I think would be that I would really like to do a marathon. I don't know why, but I've just always wanted to do one. You know, like a 5k run or something, and right now I'm not sure I could do an "around the block K". I'll have to search and see if they list future marathons for my area and maybe I could strive for that. Maybe having that as a goal could help me. Hmmm..........

I have often thought about taking martial arts. I took a class in college YEARS ago, when I was in pretty good shape, and that instructor was psycho. I mean I literally got sick and had to leave after one of his "before class begins" work-outs. And I think that kinda made him smile, but I didn't care ~ I left. If it satisfied him and helped the rest of the class get beyond that portion, then so be it. I did pass his class though, but it wasn't a good experience at all. However, I'm sure that not all instructors are like that, and I could probably find a class now that would be geared more for my age..........not that I'm old, but I'm not 20 anymore that's for sure.

You are so right. I have to go to work and I do it............good thing I like my job, so that's not an "ugh" situation. However, people always say they feel better after getting into the habit of working out, so hopefully it won't take that long for me to hit that point as well. No one likes an "ugh" situation that's for sure. I will think POSITIVE though and get myself moving! I gotta at least START!

Thank you for sharing your wisdom!

LolaPlant

That's a really good point about the water and being thirsty Ginnie. I will give that a try. I admit that I do not like drinking a lot of water for the simple reason that I do not like getting up 3, 4, 5 times a night to visit the bathroom. I would rather sleep and get some rest. That's part of the reason I'm tired a lot.

I sent you a friend request. Thank you so much.
Have a great day!

LolaPlant

Thank you Rdsgoal16 for sharing what worked for you.
I like protein shakes, so I will try taking out milk and using water..........or maybe juice instead. I usually use milk, but I bet the change would help.

And you're right ~ I just gotta push thru it!

try2again

My motivation was how much better I felt... but of course, that doesn't happen until you start. I was grumbling when I made my MFP account- "This is going to be hard", "I'm not going to be able to eat anything I want anymore", "my joints hurt too much so I won't be able to exercise", etc. I'm 47 and I expected to have a harder time, too. But I just started logging what I ate and mostly kept to my calorie goal. Made some minor changes to my diet so I could accomplish that. Didn't seem too hard. Tried my stationary bike and realized it was easier on my ankles & knees, so I'd do that for 10 or 15 minutes and some gentle calisthenics. I was feeling pretty good about that, and then started to see a little weight loss. Cool! That made me want to try a couple more changes. Starting going outside for *short* walks. Lost more weight. Etc, etc. You get the idea. It's ridiculous how much better I feel and I don't feel "old" anymore. I have bad days, even bad weeks, but I know now there's no reason for me to quit because it's just not that hard for all the huge benefits I'm reaping. I bet you've got it in you to log what you eat... and then just see what might follow.

LolaPlant

Thank you atiana19 for your reply. I didn't have a weight problem when I was younger, but I've always liked to eat and now it's catching up with me. My mother has a sweet tooth and when I was a kid, it was nothing for me to come home from school and have a piece of cake (or even 2 pieces if I was REALLY hungry) or some other kind of junk. Even now when I visit her, she's got cake, cookies or even Little Debbie's out on the table. So I grew up with that and never thought a thing about it until later when I started putting on weight.

I have had to really change my thinking over the years and stop looking at sugar foods as a snack or even a reward. THAT has not been easy for sure.

LolaPlant

Thank you jacklifts for your reply. You make a great point about exercise. Many times I start all gung-ho and do it everyday, then I get tired or I hurt myself and have to stop. I think I just need to chill out and be slow and steady like the turtle.

As for the logging, I was here a long time ago and I did the logging. I found that it did help because even though I'm the only one that sees the log (I'm not ready to make that public yet. *LOL*), I would stop sometimes before I ate something and ask myself "do I really want to log that?" and sometimes I wouldn't eat it because I was being very honest in my logging and I just didn't want to log that. Thank you for mentioning that because I had forgotten about that, so I'll get back to that again.