Not a diet but lifestyle change, how do I keep it up?
Mego859
Posts: 1 Member
Like many other people out there I try to be healthier and more mindful. It doesn’t last though! This time I would like for it to be different, I want to change and feel better about myself. How do you stay motivated?
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Replies
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Little changes add up but for them to work we have to be consistent.
I eat all the foods but watch my portion sizes especially calorie dense foods.
You have to want to lose weight badly enough.
Plus the more we move the more we burn, its a fairly easy way to create deficit.
All the best.7 -
You're going to fall off and that is OK this is life and you can't plan for everything, the most important factor in success is how fast you get back to it. Small changes, make a small goal keep at it until it becomes habit, then make another goal. Once you see yourself reaching these goals the changes will hopefully become easier.7
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I have been that yo you dieter most of my life... in 11/2016 I found myself at an all time high weight and worried about mine and my husbands health. I made it about our health and NOT a diet and for us, the mind over matter worked. We made small changes, gave up fast food, anything in a box/package. Our meals consisted of veggies and lean protein. Started meal prepping/planning... We slowly incorporated some type of activity to our day. Its not easy to get started and not easy to stay motivated but as we ate better we started feeling better and that gave us the motivation to keep on going. I lost 72lbs over the last year. Over the last 2 months I have put on 10lbs because I found myself falling back into old habits of "easy". I put the kibosh on that on Friday and now back to our normal routine of eating and exercising. I find that making friends here and participating in the forums is super motivating and helpful when I am in the dumps and want to give up. I have a couple of small facebook groups I am in for daily accountability that have also been very helpful and most of all... I realized any obstacle I came up with were truly just excuses and justification because diets are easy and changing your lifestyle is HARD, WAY HARD... but soo worth it! Good luck to you... feel free to add me if you would like.10
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MyFitnessPal Friends help. It's helpful to have other people post/ comment on your wall and progress.3
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I find the observable results from my weight management very encouraging - when I was cutting down to my leanest I found it rewarding to note how I could climb hills on my bike faster, or improve on my half-marathon times. I remember the first time I went running and realized my pectorals didn't have any fat on them.
Frankly I think a small, self-aware dose of vanity can help too. As my body composition steadily improves I take a measure of quiet satisfaction from my appearance getting more appealing to the eye (and my girlfriend's eye, more to the point).4 -
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Motivation is fleeting. Habits are what really keep you going.
I also agree that taking a bit of pride/enjoyment in the results (as minor as they may be) helps. I *like* seeing the number on the scale go down regularly. I *like* seeing the weight on the barbell increasing. That stuff keeps me going, combined with deeply ingrained habits.7 -
You don't stay motivated. It's as simple as that. People who depend on motivation are more likely to fail.
Find ways to make small incremental changes into habits. Once it's a habit, you don't have to be motivated to do it, it just happens. Are you motivated to brush your teeth in the morning? Do you put inspirational post-it notes on the bathroom mirror to keep you brushing your teeth? Or do you roll out of bed, trudge across the room, and start brushing without even thinking about it?
Start logging and put notes on each day of how your energy was and how difficult or easy your food choices were. After a couple of weeks, start looking back at your log and noticing patterns. Start depending more on foods or meals that made success easy. Avoid making it too difficult for yourself - don't abstain from all your fave foods, don't force yourself to do things or eat things you hate. Not necessary, and not conducive to success.
And don't give up or feel defeated if you have a day that goes off the rails. Everyone does. People who succeed shrug their shoulders and do better tomorrow. Log it, learn from it, and let it go. Good luck :drinker:15 -
I think the key is not going to the extremes. I think it needs to be comfortable enough that you're going to be willing to do it for the rest of your life. Don't go for the highest weight loss per week goal or the lowest calorie intake. Same for exercise. Don't push yourself to run too far on the treadmill or too far on the exercise bike. Just keep it steady and soon your miles will increase along with fitness. Scale wise something that always frustrates me is when you've had a great day working out and eating right and you gain! Don't let it get you because it's probably just part of a cycle and you will continue to trend down if you keep it up.
Good luck with your change! I know you can do it!8 -
Don't make to many changes at once. If you eat out a lot, start eating in with the same food- chicken tenders, fries, burgers, etc. Same for taking your lunch as opposed to eating out. After you are in the bait of eating at home, then try to change your what your meals are made of. I think people try to do to much all at once, and it feels impossible so they just give up.
Same for exercise- start with a 10 minutes walk three times a week. Gradually up the time/intensity but don't try and start out doing an hour right away.
Good luck!3 -
Hello.
When I had to make a huge lifestyle change in another aspect of my behaviour, "one day at a time" was how to do it. The idea of "never doing behaviour X again for the rest of my life" was unfathomable. I'd never known anything different. But I could do it "just for today". I'm trying to take this approach to diet and activity behaviours now.
Okay, so what is it exactly that I'm doing "just for today"? My lifestyle change has to be definable in terms of concrete actions and attitudes. I need boundaries and goals for a day. And that's one place MFP comes in. Those goals of course have to be reasonable and sustainable and will change over time. But I just need to know what I want to do today and put 95% of my concentration into that.
If I don't meet my goals in a day, hey, tomorrow is another day. I can't obsess about yesterday or worry about tomorrow.
Action precedes motivation. Just do it.
Good luck.2 -
Habits as mentioned above. I've been maintaining a few years but I haven't quit paying attention:
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You don't stay motivated. It's as simple as that. People who depend on motivation are more likely to fail.
Find ways to make small incremental changes into habits. Once it's a habit, you don't have to be motivated to do it, it just happens. Are you motivated to brush your teeth in the morning? Do you put inspirational post-it notes on the bathroom mirror to keep you brushing your teeth? Or do you roll out of bed, trudge across the room, and start brushing without even thinking about it?
Start logging and put notes on each day of how your energy was and how difficult or easy your food choices were. After a couple of weeks, start looking back at your log and noticing patterns. Start depending more on foods or meals that made success easy. Avoid making it too difficult for yourself - don't abstain from all your fave foods, don't force yourself to do things or eat things you hate. Not necessary, and not conducive to success.
And don't give up or feel defeated if you have a day that goes off the rails. Everyone does. People who succeed shrug their shoulders and do better tomorrow. Log it, learn from it, and let it go. Good luck :drinker:
Where's the awesome button when you need it?
This is the basic message I've been sharing with new ones. Make it as easy for yourself as is humanly possible. A *modest* calorie deficit, a balanced diet that includes the foods you love, and no huge exercise commitments. If the process is not so demanding, it doesn't require constant motivation to adhere to it (and it still works).6 -
Be kind to yourself. It can be gradual. Consistency. An off day doesn't have to be an off week. You are ultimately in control. Find healthy habits you actually enjoy--meals you like to cook and eat, exercise that doesn't feel like torture, maybe a friend who help encourage you to get out of the house and get moving. This new lifestyle doesn't have to be privation. See it as a new opportunity. And just keep trucking.3
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Own the healthy habits. I’m a weight lifter. It sounded ridiculous when I first started saying it, but I did anyway bc being a lifter means having a plan to lift x times a week and doing it every week, and eating to fuel my lifting and further my goals. That makes it part of my identity, of just “what I do”, not an extra add on that maybe I get to if I have time (like “I like to scrapbook”. I haven’t had time to do that in forever, it’s just a fun thing I sometimes do, but I can leave it out). I did the same when running was my main activity, and went from huffing through the occasional mile to feeling like 13 miles wasn’t that big a deal.
And the more the “healthy you” becomes your identity, the more natural it feels and the less work (meaning mental work to make it happen, you still put in the effort, it just doesn’t feel as onerous) it takes. And others identify you as the athletic one/runner/healthy eater/whatever, and that only helps cement that habit as part of you.3 -
I do a few things, sometimes I cycle diet so I'll reduce a bit extra for a week or 2 and then back to stable what im used to (thats if iv really had a lot of junk on multiple days sorta like a reset), I track here so if I want junk food I fit it within my calories ex. I want hot cocoa so my breakfast and lunch are low cal so tn I'll have lots left for dinner and a hot cocoa. Generally I try to stay on the low side calorie wise mon-fri and then more lenient on weekends.1
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I wholeheartedly agree with the suggestions above. I want to add the suggestion to take a picture of yourself, front and side (more angles as you wish). You may not feel you want to be reminded of that now, but later you look back to it with pride of what you have achieved and will want to continue further to your goal. It can be very motivating to have the visual too.
I don't know if you live with anyone, but if they have something tasty like chips, just steal a couple if you really want to have them, say 3. I always do that and it gives me the satisfying taste without wanting to munch down an entire bowl later on because I didn't give in to that craving earlier. Same with pizza. I always ask for a really tiny miniature slice (3 bites or so) to enjoy the taste.
Now, that may of course not work for everyone. You have to find what works for you. You will fall off the wagon a couple of times while finding out what that is, but as long as you hop back on it as soon as you can, that really doesn't matter in the long run.2 -
GoldenEye_ wrote: »
I don't know if you live with anyone, but if they have something tasty like chips, just steal a couple if you really want to have them, say 3. I always do that and it gives me the satisfying taste without wanting to munch down an entire bowl later on because I didn't give in to that craving earlier. Same with pizza. I always ask for a really tiny miniature slice (3 bites or so) to enjoy the taste.
That's fine if it works for you, but as a caution, a person would want to log those calories. I used to do that with my kids (a few chips, the couple of bites of something they didn't finish), and it adds up really quickly. And if you overestimate to compensate, then you end up cheating yourself.2 -
I think because I have a more powerful "why" now. In the past my goals were "lose 15lbs" or "wear a size 4." If it got hard and I was discouraged? Meh, I had size 10s I could wear, no big deal. Now my goal is a little bigger. I'm going to be 30 this year and i want to be someone that to the best of my ability ages well with the highest quality of life into old age...but at 29 I am pre-hypertensive and I have high cholesterol. I have family history of high pressure/cholesterol, coronary artery disease, stroke, heart attacks, etc. I don't want that to be me. So while I am not "that overweight" (BMI 26) obviously I need changes. THOSE goals are big ones. I don't want to die a day sooner than I need to so I am working as hard as I can to get strong to live a great life.0
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Hey all!
I too, am getting back on the0 -
it has to come from within you0
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I started my journey here just after Christmas. Have been seeing a nutritionist for about 6 months. I have found little steps are sustainable. Although I enjoyed lots of Christmas food goodies I started my journey fucasing on my diet making small changes so I would stick to it. I still enjoy a glass of wine sometimes and a chocolate every now and then. I changed the focus of my goals after Christmas to moving. I am currently walking twice a day and feeling better for it. I am not loosing weight fast but my changes mean I am usually loosing a little every week, heading in the right direction. Have patience and make small changes that are sustainable. Good luck! People are a great support here. It is a lovely place to be a part of.
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One day at a time.0
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