Want to lose 5 lbs but not motivated

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  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    When I see my weigh climb out of my ideal range, I hit it hard by dropping 1,000 calories from my diet. It's not that I need to drop the weight that quickly, since a week at a 1,000 calorie deficit should bring it back in range, its just that the challenge of trying to eat at that level makes it easier for me to motivate myself to do it.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,745 Member
    I have been maintaining a healthy weight for about 6 years, but there have been various ups and downs within that range, caused mostly by travel. I have been able to lose weight after a gain without counting calories by 1) increasing my exercise (I'm a runner and training for a race helps motivate me to increase my miles and do more cross training), and 2) cutting back on the high calorie foods that I know have been derailing my weight. I usually gain weight by eating out too often, drinking too much beer, and eating too many sweets. All are easy to control, and I do when I'm paying attention or not on vacation. As long as it's only been a couple of months, so the weight gain is only 5 pounds or so, it is pretty easy to lose what I need to without feeling like I'm on a diet.
  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
    Yep. I've been there before, a few times (e.g. pre-pregnancy, post-pregnancy, post med-change-weight-loss, post-holidays ...). What sometimes is I halfheartedly try for a little while and then something (like wanting to wear my skinny jeans) kicks in and motivates me to actually dig in and stick with it long enough to lose the 5 lbs. I did it most recently in January after the holiday weight gain. It only ended up taking less than a month (1350 cals/day plus exercise calories. I'm 5'7" and now back down to goal range of 130-133) and feels so good to be back there! (I spent much of the past 7 months 1-5 lbs above my goal range.)
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,571 Member
    Yes. It's going/goes horribly for me. I can't get into a deficit to save my life.
  • yapdog
    yapdog Posts: 33 Member
    Following this thread i need to get motivated to lose 5lbs! I feel like my heads in the right place this week to do it!
  • crooked_left_hook
    crooked_left_hook Posts: 364 Member
    victoria_1024 wrote: »
    Thank you all! There's some really good advice here.

    I'm going to see how the 1450 goes for this week and if it feels maintainable. I could definitely just eat at a smaller deficit and lose weight much more slowly. I'm in no hurry to lose it.

    I also could try to increase my activity level again. It's been so hard with the bitter Minnesota cold, plus I've been sick like 3 times since December, and it's just dark and miserable so the motivation isn't there. I also lost my garmin activity tracker which was a bummer. Before I was actively trying to reach 10k steps so I know that was some added motivation.

    I'm doing well with today though! I prelogged most of my day and hopefully can get my workout in during my toddlers naptime!

    Ditto on the suck factor of Minnesota winters. Luckily I work downtown Mpls so I can log steps by walking the skyways during breaks, but getting motivated to go to the gym is H-A-R-D. Hopefully you've been taking advantage of the gorgeous weather this past week!
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
    KT6377 wrote: »
    victoria_1024 wrote: »
    Thank you all! There's some really good advice here.

    I'm going to see how the 1450 goes for this week and if it feels maintainable. I could definitely just eat at a smaller deficit and lose weight much more slowly. I'm in no hurry to lose it.

    I also could try to increase my activity level again. It's been so hard with the bitter Minnesota cold, plus I've been sick like 3 times since December, and it's just dark and miserable so the motivation isn't there. I also lost my garmin activity tracker which was a bummer. Before I was actively trying to reach 10k steps so I know that was some added motivation.

    I'm doing well with today though! I prelogged most of my day and hopefully can get my workout in during my toddlers naptime!

    Ditto on the suck factor of Minnesota winters. Luckily I work downtown Mpls so I can log steps by walking the skyways during breaks, but getting motivated to go to the gym is H-A-R-D. Hopefully you've been taking advantage of the gorgeous weather this past week!

    Yes ma'am!! It's been amazing. Preparing for that Friday snowstorm that is apparently coming. :/
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    victoria_1024 wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Lots of people WANT to play the piano. The SERIOUS ONES are motivated to do it. So if you aren't motivated, then you're just not that serious about wanting to lose the 5lbs. That's where it has to start.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

    Well that definitely is true, but sometimes I gain the motivation after I get started. I really wasn't motivated but once I started increasing my activity level and cutting my calories the motivation started showing up again!

    It's been a good week! I have been more active and keeping right at 1450 calories. My weight had gone up to 128.8 after some Valentine's Day splurges but now after a week I'm down to 125.4. It feels good to be working towards a new goal.

    Yay!

    It's super easy for me to get back into it the week after my period, then PMS hits again... Sigh. I can't even imagine how anyone can eat only 1450 calories.
  • bhwalsh1
    bhwalsh1 Posts: 16 Member
    OP I hope you see this post! The easiest way to lose a ton of weight is by getting in the pool! I've been a competitive swimmer for around 16 years and its by far the most "cutting" exercise. I know i'm at the extreme end of the spectrum but to give you an idea of the potential weight loss I'll throw this at you. I was a student athlete at the university of Alabama and after my freshmen year I took 3 months off swimming to bulk up and put on some muscle. I got up to 208 pounds after the summer of '13 lets say August 1st for argument sake. Before the end of the month i was back to 192. Keep in mind that was 4 hours a day M-F and 2 hours on Saturday, along with eating healthy. People will say "it's unhealthy to lose that much weight so rapidly" but I was healthier than ever and rarely ever got sick, still have a clean bill of health to this day. Long story short, people if you want to SHRED pounds, get in the water. That's just my experience with swimming. (competed against Phelps and Lochte as well as internationally, just incase someone is tryng to call my bluff :) ) Happy shredding folks!
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
    I'm losing weight way too fast and I don't get it! I was maintaining pretty solidly eating 1700 calories a day for many weeks. Like I mentioned before, I had been getting less active but was still exercising on a regular basis so not like I was sedentary.

    It's been less than 2 weeks and I've gone from 128 to 122.6?! I'm eating 1450 calories which should put me at a half pound per week. Yesterday I even ate 1700 and had fast food so I figured my weight might bounce up a bit today but it went down.

    I increased my activity level again so the only thing I can think is it just makes that big of a difference for my body or something. It's so strange.

    Time to increase calories? Don't want to be losing muscle. I've still be strength training as usual. Or is this mostly water weight even after a couple weeks?
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
    edited February 2017
    As a reminder, my goal weight is 120 lbs so I'm not far off from that at 122.6 but I lost those last 5 lbs so quickly it's really throwing me off.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    Wow to lose 5 lbs so quickly when you haven't much to lose ... when I have fast food it always makes the scale go up a few pounds for a few days because of extra sodium/carbs ...
    You must be burning more cals than you think!

    Go back to eating a bit more and monitor your loss over another few weeks as the loss is likely to slow down. 1/2 lb is what you should be aiming for.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    And usually when we increase exercise we hold on to water weight not lose it.
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    And usually when we increase exercise we hold on to water weight not lose it.

    Yes and I've been pretty sore this week from lifting so I usually see an increase on the scale from that. Mostly my intentional exercise hasn't changed much, but I'm trying to walk more at work and be more active outside of exercising.

    I'm wondering if I wasn't tracking accurately before so I was actually eating more than 1700 calories. But still five lbs in 2 weeks seems pretty drastic.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    More careful logging has made a big difference to your deficit obviously.
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