Weight loss...Me too movement!

Miariasou716

So the first of the year has come and gone. Plans to go grocery shopping, start my journal, eat healthy, go to the gym, get up early and use the elliptical machine are slowly being pushed to next Sunday the 6th maybe even Monday. I know what I need to do but cannot get a grip on it. Who else having issues getting started?

skstuddard

Me too. its like I almost do not know where to even start. I want to change so much.

puffbrat

You may be putting too pressure on yourself to completely overhaul your habits all at once. I tend to find that focusing on 1 or 2 small goals initially and then building from there works best for me.

I have gotten off track lately, so my goals for January are to log all of my food and stretch daily. I know from past experience that if I just focus on logging all of my food but NOT actually staying within my calorie goal, then I naturally start staying within my calorie goal pretty quickly without the immediate pressure or anxiety associated with going over goal. Stretching daily will be a good habit to ease me back into more regular, intentional exercise.

cmriverside

Just do one thing.

Log your food today.

So many people try to overhaul their whole lives and then give up because it's really hard.

Just don't have that sweetened drink today. Give yourself a pat on the back for that.

Maybe in a couple days, take a walk or do ten minutes on the elliptical. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Keep logging food. Start actually studying your food page and find little things you can change.

This:

Plans to go grocery shopping, start my journal, eat healthy, go to the gym, get up early and use the elliptical machine

...might not happen perfectly ever. Just slowly make better choices.

One day at a time.

lemurcat2

Miariasou716 wrote: »

So the first of the year has come and gone. Plans to go grocery shopping, start my journal, eat healthy, go to the gym, get up early and use the elliptical machine are slowly being pushed to next Sunday the 6th maybe even Monday. I know what I need to do but cannot get a grip on it. Who else having issues getting started?

I'm having issues this year too -- work is stressful and I'm reacting by avoiding everything I should be doing (and procrastinating too much).

My advice, which I am also following! ;-) is to just start, and not decide things must be perfect.

Start logging, start eating as sensibly as you can with what you have on hand. Maybe go to the grocery store tomorrow, maybe get in a workout on Saturday. One small step is better than putting it off until everything is perfect. For me, that everything must be perfect plays into all or nothing thinking so that if I have a few bad days I decide I have to restart (so wait until the next Monday) or if I don't eat as planned for one meal I'll decide that I've already screwed it up so the day won't count. Dealing with that tendency was a major reason I was able to lose weight and put together a healthy lifestyle, so I know I have to fight it now.

concordancia

Pick one of those things and start today. Once you are consistent with that, add another thing from your list. Starting your journal is usually an excellent beginning.

natalie3431

My daughter introduced me to MyFitness Plan. I have so much weight to lose, but I can not focus on the amount I have to loose. I am focusing on one task at a time and becoming healthy. On this program is a 19 day plan and it has helped me tremdously. It helps you start a goal at a time.

2BtheRealMe

I would also echo the suggestion to do one thing at a time ... Last year when I started, I picked the month of January to get my eating under control - to work at eliminating the sugar and the white carbs, to work at adding more vegetables. Once I got all of that in hand, I added meal planning -- taking my new eating habits and making them more organized. Then I added in the exercise.

By taking the time to adjust to each change on its own terms, rather than trying to do everything at once, I was able to learn about what was working and what wasn't. I eased into the changes, rather than overwhelming myself and exhausting myself right out of the gate.

Changing bad habits and becoming a healthier person won't happen overnight ... this a marathon, not a sprint. Take things slowly and you will see results .... (For what its worth, I lost 52 pounds in 8 months by doing things incrementally -- results I had never seen before!)

I wish you so much luck on your journey! You can do this-- just do it one step at a time.

Christinathisyear

Lost 40 lbs in 6 months last year, but have gained about 15 back. Started mfp again yesterday, and going to the gym. Determined to do better this year! Can't figure out how to add anyone... but feel free to add me. Best of luck on your journey. It gets easier after the first week.

HisStrengthCounselor

You are not alone. I too am struggling with getting back motivated. But don't give up, each day make a choice to do positive things to get back fully taking care of what you need to.

steveko89

As others have said, trying to flip a switch and make a wholesale shift in how you go about your daily life is why so many users struggle with consistency (or getting started in the first place). Don't chase this idea of an optimal scenario over incremental improvements. You don't have to be perfect (it's highly likely you won't be all the time), just try to continuously improve. When you feel like you've failed at an aspect, don't mindlessly hit the reset button, examine what went wrong and figure out what to do differently so you fail better the next time. I've found the most success ditching the mindset of a binary path (on/off, good/bad, behaving/misbehaving, etc.) and think of it as an iterative, continuous process; there's no start or finish, only continuous improvement. Taking this approach does remove the glistening promise of completing a goal, but it also removes the pressure of being "on"/"good" etc. Each choice either does or doesn't contribute to improvement and ultimate success, make more choices that have positive impacts than not and you'll eventually get to where you want to be.

Don't wait for an arbitrary date or day, by that logic you missed out on starting your new years' resolutions so you might as well just wait until next year... or 2025, that's a nice round number... see? It doesn't make sense to do that.

FreeeMJ

I asked for a gym membership do Christmas and got one from my oldest son! I was so excited to go but then got sick. I haven’t been yet. Today is the first day I am well enough to go.

Since I couldn’t start I made small changes at home. I have been working on them for a month. No coffee (think 1/3 creamer), no hot cocoa, switches to decaf hot tea (if needed for my throat), and no soda. I decided that was a good enough change for now.

Today I am going to the gym. It maybe 5 mins or 3 hours whatever I can manage but I’m gonna go. That’s the first step. I decided my gym time is 1030 am. I will be there tomorrow and every day after. After that we will see what happens next

vetvicki

I posted about something similar a few days ago (Motivation forum- Day 1 and all I've done is binge). I had lots of good advice telling me to go slow and not try to change everything all at once. So Day 1 I just logged everything I ate. I was a good 1000 calories over my limit- no wonder I'd been gaining weight! So Day 2 I was very conscious of my choices. I just used the food I had at home and googled recipes if I had to. I haven't exercised, done a meal plan etc yet and I've lost weight already.
Just start logging today, the rest will follow, you don't need to wait so you can do it all perfectly as that's not sustainable long term.

WilmaValley

Great support!!!!!

saraereyes

I kinda dived back into the gym on the 1st of January. All of November and December I kept saying I’ll go to the gym tomorrow... next day I’ll go tomorrow. Next thing u know it’s New Years and I went maybe once in December. So I dived in. Didn’t think about it just packed my gym back and went. Today is day 3 for me and I feel great. I want everyone to have that feeling of success 🥰 “yesss I did it and in going to be a rock star”. You got this love.

Just ini mini mint moe.

Slider678

Today is Day 1 for me....Could use the support! So far so good...Heading to the park to walk!

Miariasou716

Thank you all for your help and awesome suggestions! I appreciate you taking the time to give me some insight about this challenge I am having. We can do this together!

memebrowns

Hi, I’m new here & also in need of motivation. I also jumped on the bandwagon of new year = eat healthy, loose weight, go gym, spend less, stop smoking! Finding it hard but am taking 1 day at a time. Have never ‘logged food/calories before so am giving it a try and forced myself to go gym today after saying ‘I’ll go tomorrow’ for the last 4 months! 🤦🏽‍♀️ but yeah I think to start with just choose 1 thing to accomplish per day, weather it’s going to gym/exercise or just choosing a healthier option to eat. Feel free to add me, I’m not sure how to.

Squish815

I echo the other comments of 'one thing at a time'. If you try changing too much at once chances are you'll get overwhelmed.

I started by logging my food. Then added some meal planning. Then trying to walk some more etc. Little steps until it becomes part of your usual routine so you don't have to think about it as much.