Incentives and Motivation

jacknyland258

Hello All,

Right, so where do I start? When trying to lose weight or gain muscle mass or even put on weight, sometimes people hit a point where they've come so far and now are just stuck and bored or the same old! Last summer I lost 3 / 4 stone, I dropped for 17 stone to 13 stone 7 lbs roughly. My plan now is to gain muscle mass by increasing my calories into a calorie surplus and working with a weight training program at the gym. Recently I've been a bit off and tired of the same old thing; going to the gym and doing the same program (although I'm going in next Friday to get a new one), weighing foods to input into MFP, saying no to nights out and meals out with friends because I read all these posts about if you don't eat fully clean you'll put your goals on hold, and it just gets to me as I am still quite young, I want to still have a social life and live, but I'm also determined to reach my goal but I just can't seem to stay on track lately and have been craving all these unhealthy foods, and have also been consuming them too which has made me feel like utter s***!

Has anyone got any advice on what nice, healthy snacks I can eat whilst trying to put on mass so I don't crave these chocolates or donuts, got any advice on how I can still have a social life without jeopardising my diet and gym lifestyle?

kommodevaran

jacknyland258 wrote: »

When trying to lose weight or gain muscle mass or even put on weight, sometimes people hit a point where they've come so far and now are just stuck and bored or the same old!

My plan now is to gain muscle mass by increasing my calories into a calorie surplus and working with a weight training program at the gym. Recently I've been a bit off and tired of the same old thing; going to the gym and doing the same program, weighing foods to input into MFP, saying no to nights out and meals out with friends because I read all these posts about if you don't eat fully clean you'll put your goals on hold, and it just gets to me as I am still quite young, I want to still have a social life and live, but I'm also determined to reach my goal but I just can't seem to stay on track lately and have been craving all these unhealthy foods, and have also been consuming them too which has made me feel like utter s***!

Has anyone got any advice on what nice, healthy snacks I can eat whilst trying to put on mass so I don't crave these chocolates or donuts, got any advice on how I can still have a social life without jeopardising my diet and gym lifestyle?

I have advice, and it will go totally against what you believe to be true now.

You shouldn't, and don't have to, put your life on hold while you're working towards your goals. As you've alredy noticed (well done at such a young age), trying to stick to "healthy eating" and "eating clean" is boring, it's even so difficult that you can't do it. Dividing foods into "good" and "bad" - quite arbitrarily, because you don't really know what it is that makes a food "good" or "bad" (hint: no foods are good or bad; your diet as a whole can be more or less optimal for you) - gives the foods you deem "bad" a halo of forbidden glory that they don't deserve. And that makes you overeat, when you can't stand the "clean"/"healthy" food any longer. Don't do that. Eat what you like, and enjoy it, alone and with your friends. It's just food, but food is supposed to be good.

goldenday

kommodevaran wrote: »

I have advice, and it will go totally against what you believe to be true now.

You shouldn't, and don't have to, put your life on hold while you're working towards your goals. As you've alredy noticed (well done at such a young age), trying to stick to "healthy eating" and "eating clean" is boring, it's even so difficult that you can't do it. Dividing foods into "good" and "bad" - quite arbitrarily, because you don't really know what it is that makes a food "good" or "bad" (hint: no foods are good or bad; your diet as a whole can be more or less optimal for you) - gives the foods you deem "bad" a halo of forbidden glory that they don't deserve. And that makes you overeat, when you can't stand the "clean"/"healthy" food any longer. Don't do that. Eat what you like, and enjoy it, alone and with your friends. It's just food, but food is supposed to be good.

I would agree with this. The more you try to deny yourself something the more you end up craving it more. It's just about finding a balance.