Kick in the Pants

samsterhamster66

Hey Guys,

My name is Samantha and I am desperately trying to lose weight, but I haven't been able to break my bad habits. Suggestions?

Also I seem to have "no motivation" to do this. I put it in quotes because I think about losing weight a lot, getting fit and wanting to be fit, but every time I do so my roommate comes in to interrupt my workout. I've tried working out at different times, different places, and he always seems to figure out a way to screw it up. Thankfully I am moving and he is not coming with me so that shouldn't be an issue much longer, but I know I need a good swift kick in the pants and someone to hold me accountable to this. Or someone to create a challenge with me. The only time I ever stopped drinking soda was when my mom bet me 50 dollars that I would crack before her. We were off soda for 2 weeks before she caved.

HELP! Thank you so much in advance. Please feel free to friend me as well!

L1zardQueen

I love this link.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818701/the-myth-of-motivation-and-what-you-need-instead/p1

JaydedMiss

i kicked my cat in the face once when trying to workout and she wanted cuddles. I felt so bad. So i went and found something to do that worked better for me. Was walking for me. Simple basic walking.

1. All you need for weight loss is a calorie deficit, Exercise is bonus

2. Dont rely on motivation it will go away rather quickly, Dedication is what your looking for to get your butt up and to it anyway. Learn to love the feeling after a good healthy meal or a kick *kitten* workout. Focus on the good feelings you feel strong and successful after a great diet/exercise day. Feel strong and healthy for fueling your body properly. Just do it dont wait for motivation. Once you get up and going you make the momentum, Momentum doesnt just come.

3. Sort of similar, Dont rely on anyone but you. Recipe for failure every time. Im all for friends and support, But you need to build up yourself. Rely on yourself. Only you can do what needs to be done to get where you want to be. Be your own support pillar.

Also pop is yummy. Just swap to diet pop, Easy fix and no its not a deadly poison that will kill you. Research if youd like but solid research studies show diet pop is fine.

edit for a blunt addition: Your allowing your roomate to "ruin" your workouts. Your using that as an excuse. Im sorry thats just what it is. Stop. Your a grownup, You make what you want to happen happen. If you dont want to work out its very easy to grasp at excuses and blame others. The human brain is stupidly smart that way. Dont allow yourself to do that. Excuses only keep you from your goals, Acknowledge your excuses and find a way to not let them win. If you cant do that now, When your roomate isnt around you WILL find another excuse.

rsclause

Pop is not worth drinking and that goes for diet pop too. Just give it up and drink water, you will be glad you did and its cheaper too. Get a Hydroflask and keep it at hand to stop buying bottled water. Choose a exercise that forces you to complete it like walking or running out and back from a landmark.

88olds

Bad habits aren’t so easy to break but can be superseded by good habits. Just an example, carrying a water bottle around might get you away from the soda. Soda’s hard to get away from. I just do with less soda now, a lot less.

Motivation is overrated. It comes and goes. Good habits will see you through the rough spots. If you are trying to lose weight, the best habit is a food diary. Just start logging in your food. When ready, start crunching numbers and counting calories. Get a food scale, it’s the most reliable way to measure your portions. Calculate a calorie deficit for a modest rate of loss and try to hit your number. Spend some time thinking about how you will deal with the time it takes to lose weight. Lots of folks here wrecked by time issue. Don’t be one of them.

Keep your diary going no matter what. If you lose focus, make mistakes or make a bad plan, log everything into diary and keep going. If your plan doesn’t work, make a better one.

Weight loss is a solitary pursuit. There’s no mom to bet you $50, no one to hold you accountable if you don’t want to account. Summon some determination, it will take you farther than motivation. Good luck.

h1udd

I failed for a while until I changed my state of mind.

Stop looking at it as "My name is Samantha and I am desperately trying to lose weight, but I haven't been able to break my bad habits" ... of course you are failing, you are Samantha and desperately trying to lose weight.

Fit lean Badass warriors are not trying to be badass, they are not trying to be lean and hard bodied, they are this way because its who they are and the life they live.

so stop saying you are trying and just become the sort of person that you want to be ... your body will follow, it might take a few months or a years to catch up, but it will catch up.

Try saying

"I am Samantha, I work out every day .. I am Samantha, I am not a dog, dont reward me with food .. I am Samantha if my roommate gets in the way I dismiss them"

I am not going to Friend you or try and motivate you ,, but if you want to walk with the Badass' then you can Friend me and I'll accept you

Surround yourself with people you want to be and you will become one of them ... its human nature.

mulecanter

You don't have to perfect yourself all at once. Soda addiction is stupid. Work on that and a lot of other good things will follow your success on that (like applying your $ savings from no soda to new exercise gear).

xbowhunter

What I did was make a list of what I considered a bad habit that made me over-weight.
A few on my list.
Eating anything & everything with-out even considering the affects to my body.
Zero exercise.
Snacking heavily before dinner.
Drinking 2 -3 regular beers a day.
eating too much bread.
eating junk food often.
Zero portion control @ dinner.

I cleaned up all my habits one at a time by reducing the bad habit frequency.

My wake-up call was 30 extra pounds, lack of energy, napping often & generally feeling like a bag of turd!

Now I am down 25lbs & feeling like a 20 year old at the age of 49.

You can do this!!!!!!!

samsterhamster66

I appreciate the slaps in the face guys.

You're totally right I am blaming others for my mistakes and I don't have any excuses for that. I start on my fitness plan (kid you not I went to the gym from Jan 15th to March 1st 6 days a week for an hour doing cardio) and didn't see any changes. Now I realize it was because I only made the change with exercise NOT my nutrition. So I've started packing my lunches (except yesterday oops) and making sure that I read the labels.

I guess I want this, but I haven't wanted it enough like I did when I started losing weight (my mother had a heart attach and I realized I was on the same pathway). So I have to gain my new momentum.

I think I was really just looking for someone to chat about with this instead of kick my butt. Thank you!!

rj0150684

Well, it’s about finding something that will help you stay on track. That could be health concerns (like you mentioned). It could be a future state (a year from now I promise you won’t look back and say “I’m really glad I had that extra serving of fries”, but you would say “I’m really glad I lost that weight”) or it could be more immediate (“I’m going to average 12,000 steps this week” or “stick to my calorie goal today”)

For some people, it’s structure. Weighing, logging everything, having a routine for exercise, have preset preportioned snacks at the ready, or some combination thereof.

It can’t be “motivation” because that will come and go, but it needs to be some combination of things that you have in place to provide enough structure (whether through goal oriented action or routine or some combination) for you to eat fewer calories and/or get more physical activity on a regular basis. Also, perfect is the enemy of good. Don’t worry about being perfect, just worry about doing more than you are today.