Need help with motivation to lose weight

janjunie

What about a women's only gym?

Francl27

I agree that he seems controlling to me. That being said, we can't help you with motivation... it has to come from yourself.

Treadmill being useless? Log your food, log your work out, you'll notice that you get to eat more... it's far from useless. One hour on the treadmill gives me an extra 300 calories to eat and it definitely helps when you have a hard time getting your diet in control. You absolutely don't need a gym membership, especially when you're at home all day with all that equipment... stop using it as an excuse not to exercise.

That being said, if you're really lazy and don't want to exercise, you don't have to, just log your food and eat less than you burn (it's just much easier to do when you're active).

For what it's worth, I'm a stay at home mom with kids at school for another 2 weeks, and I spend at least 2 hours a day on the treadmill and/or walking around every day. It does help with my mood and I feel like I'm actually doing something positive with my time, instead of just browsing the web or watching tv (although I watch tv shows on the treadmill too).

But the healthiest thing you can do right now is stop smoking.

Silentpadna

Hi Missy. I can't tell you whether a gym membership is the answer for you or not, but it doesn't have to be. But in any case, I would recommend something easy to start. Walk! It is truly a wonder exercise. I'm 54 and always had trouble losing weight. When I incorporated walking, it was like magic - not specifically for weight loss, but for other benefits - including mood. I do other things too, but if there is nothing else, I just move. It does 2 very important things: 1) It works wonders for for calorie burn if you elevate your heart rate even a little while doing it and 2) when you move more, it raises your metabolism to help you move even more.

That alone won't lose weight for you if you are not in a caloric deficit. Neither would gym membership or exercising until you're exhausted. So the other big recommendation is to find out how much you eat currently and how much you burn (your TDEE) and find out where you stand. If you burn more energy than you eat, you will lose weight. Or, you can input your stats into MFP and they will give you a goal to eat based on your weight loss goal. I highly recommend you do not go with the most aggressive goal - even if your body can handle it. With the self-esteem issues you mention, that may be too aggressive for you. It's a recipe for crashing and burning. That's only my friendly opinion and I could be wrong. Only you can decide, but starting off with goals you can reach and handle is a big deal. Also, if and when you start working on the weight loss, don't make any decisions based on scale weight for at least 4-6 weeks. Your weight will fluctuate and the scale is not a true representation of what's happening in the short term.

DEBOO7

The desire to change comes from within. It's not about what a partner does or doesn't want... it's about you, how you feel about yourself, it's your journey. If you want it bad enough you'll do what's needed - it's a lifestyle change, don't treat it as a diet as that's really a temporary change of eating.
There's plenty of support on MFP and there are also Facebook groups.
Make small changes that you can stick to, and keep adding the changes.
It takes quite a while to build new habits.
Good luck with your journey.

EmbeeKay

Ok, a few things-

I don't have (nor do I plan to get) a gym membership. It's easier, cheaper, more convenient for me to work out at home, and on top of that, you don't even need to exercise to lose weight. If you do want to exercise, there are countless free/paid options for working out at home, and walking outside can be so enjoyable this time of year.

I like these (free) 13 YouTube workouts a LOT- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j4v7vnw-E7M

Secondly, your husband telling you that you're beautiful, and that he loves you just the way you are, is not an excuse "to be more lazy." Now, I don't know if he's controlling or if you need counseling or whatever, but (and I say this with kindness and support having been here most of my adult life) it sounds like you are placing blame and making excuses when the only place to find motivation is within yourself.

You are a beautiful and valuable human being no matter what you weigh, but if you want to lose weight, start tracking your calories and eating less than you burn using this app. It's not always easy but it is simple. Good luck to you!

JeromeBarry1

My 20-yo daughter says "Get a job at Arby's, I lost 15 lb with all that running around."