Motivation tips ?

coolcoolman1980

Any tips for keeping motivated .
I keep pinging between diets when I fall off of the wagon (wheel)
I have spotted the pattern of snacking at night watching tv , so going to try wean myself off of that for next few nights using the Zero fast app.

I feel like I am putting on & losing the same stone for a while now . At my heaviest I was almost 15 stone but got it down to 12.5. Lightest I have been in last 9 years (of mfp data) is 12st 3 .
Just can’t get past the 12stone . Ideal weight for me is 11.5 stone .

I seem to go in 3 week cycles of trying my best .. then just splurging , buying a takeaway etc & not exercising ... then I feel guilty & it starts again.

Out of all the diets WW seems to be my most successful in losing but hardest to stick to .
SW is my favourite as I have a big appetite & MFP is the most flexible but the danger with it is I start eating anything just because I can . Eg McDonald’s latte in the morning always creeps back in on MFP

I just don’t know what to do to stay on track & keep the motivation

I was using the see how you eat for a while too & that was good
Also tried that Virtual gastric band app which is interesting as it’s similar to the Paul McKenna thin book . Basically eat when you are actually hungry & stop eating when not regardless of what’s on your plate .

Even reading this post back it appears am looking for a silver bullet with all the changing .

Any tips or ideas ?

MichelleSilverleaf

Yes - build discipline.

Motivation is going to come and go, it's just unreliable. Discipline carries you through those times when motivation ups and disappears.

COGypsy

I use motivation to focus on building habits. During the times when I'm feeling more gung-ho about my nutrition and fitness, I find a habit to add to or improve upon. One that really made a difference was getting in the habit of prepping everything I need for the next day as soon as I get home from work. I come home, change my clothes and go right to packing my lunch, making my smoothie and loading up my gym bag. That routine has become so ingrained that it feels like I'm forgetting something if I don't do those things right away. I can tell you with absolute certainty that there are just about zero days where I'm "motivated" to do those things, it's just what I do because it's time to do it. If I put it off, it just feels like a much bigger chore later on. Kind of like brushing your teeth. I wouldn't say I'm motivated to do it twice a day, but it's something I do at specific times and I feel weird if I don't.

Thehardmakesitworthit

Your motivation has to be wellness, balance, and self awareness. Constant self talk of ...how bad do I want this. One of the thoughts I saw on MFP early on that resonated with me was: losing weight is hard but being overweight is harder. That and: what we don't change we are choosing. Know this, time is awasting! Start right now. Keep it all simple. One change a day....or one a week....they will add up. Happy living and you can do this.

88olds

When on WW did you track? Try calorie counting. It works.

Start like this- Set the calculator to low activity and a calorie deficit to lose 1 lb per week. Get a food scale, start a food diary and plan a menu to try to hit your number. Set up official weekly weigh ins just like WW. Your plan has to satisfy two things. It has to result in losses. You have to be able to live with it long term. Decide you are going to do an initial test of 6 weeks.

Try to plan your menu around food that you actually like. Can some of your favorites be modified to make them plan friendly?

Put any idea of how long it will take you to get to goal weight out of your head. You’re working for the next 6 weeks. Forget about diets or diet books and plans about which food to avoid or when to eat or what you may be addicted to unless its drugs.

There’s a calorie counting learning curve. Don’t be distressed if you stumble around trying to get in a groove. Pay attention to that voice in your head trying to talk you out of your plan. It will tell you every bump in the road is a disaster. Don’t listen.

6 weeks is up, where are you? Did you lose anything at all? How was living with your plan? If you lost only a couple of lbs in 6 weeks, make some small adjustments and do another test. If you lost 6 lbs in 6 weeks, focus on how satisfied you are with the living with it. If you can live with what you’re doing and lose any weight at all, its then just a matter of time. Losing any significant amount takes considerable persistence. Think in terms of determination. Its what sees a project through to the end.

Oh, and keep your food diary no matter what. Over your number? Log it Wildly over? Log it. The process is more impaortant than the numbers. Good luck.

elisa123gal

I found looking at my before picture every day ..and sometimes twice a day is what kept me on track when my motivation started to wain. it kept me on track the entire time.. can't run and hide and deny yourself out of that reality.

coolcoolman1980

Thanks for help everyone . Yeah when I was doing WW I did track & when I stuck to it I lost, but at same time it was easiest to fall off

88olds

@coolcoolman1980

WW changed my life. I attended meetings and made Lifetime. But unlike nearly everyone else at WW, I didn’t declare victory and quit the meetings. I went to WW meetings for years. I got a good look at how plans fall apart on WW.

You say you fall off. What exactly happens?
Almost all of the folks I heard saying they were struggling on WW did the same thing- they quit tracking.

Mostly they quit because they went over their numbers. Sometimes just because they ate something they’d sworn off of. Sometimes because they ate something unplanned and didn’t know how to calculate the points. Then they threw up their hands, declared themselves “off” plan or track or program and ran wild.

I think this is where the rubber meets the road on any kind of tracking or food diary- the willingness to track missteps and gray areas. Keep tracking no matter what. Perfect is the enemy of the good.

Try it. See what happens. You can try it here on MFP. WW when I was doing WW it was basically just calorie counting dressed up for copywrite protection.

coolcoolman1980

Yeah it’s the WW flex I was doing ... I previously did the smart points one but really struggled with the new one . The only real benefit of that one for me was zero point chicken but I would be as well just doing smart points without flex that way could still get more points & eat chicken when I wanted it instead of having it for most meals .
Just found myself hungry all the time , was eating lots of chicken & veg but my snacks at night always throw me off .
Yeah I understand.. that happens to me . Eat over & stop tracking . It’s a self defeat thing . I have done good all week this time but yesterday didn’t get chance to eat properly & ended up having a McDonalds . (Still tracked though)