Maintaining motivation over the long haul

elaanne

I have been working hard over the past year, and I've lost just about 40lbs. The other day, I really, really wanted to just throw in the towel, eat whatever I wanted, and skip my workout, but I pushed through. I have found that, every day, listing 5 things I'm grateful for and 3 successes has really helped me to stay motivated. Also, my husband's constant support has also kept me going on tough days. What keeps you going? How do you push through a difficult day? I'm trying to round up more ideas, so that I'm even more prepared the next time a difficult day rolls around!

k9hrd

Bump! I could really use some help here.

HeidiCooksSupper

I have a long term goal of reaching a healthy BMI by my 65th birthday (losing 141 pounds in 150 weeks). So, when I am getting down or succumbing too much to the call of bread and butter, I use a duration calendar to make sure I am staying ahead of my goal pace. Right now I have 117 lbs. to go in 127 weeks so I'm still okay but I need to keep the pace up now because it's only going to be harder later. The duration calculator is at http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html

elaanne

I have a long term goal of reaching a healthy BMI by my 65th birthday (losing 141 pounds in 150 weeks). So, when I am getting down or succumbing too much to the call of bread and butter, I use a duration calendar to make sure I am staying ahead of my goal pace. Right now I have 117 lbs. to go in 127 weeks so I'm still okay but I need to keep the pace up now because it's only going to be harder later. The duration calculator is at http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html

That's a really neat idea! Thanks for sharing.

blc1971

I've been struggling a bit the last couple of days. For example, I wanted to eat a chocolate french horn last night and then for lunch today I really wanted a huge juicy cheeseburger and fries. What stopped me last night was knowing I had already eaten my full calories for the day and didn't want to wreck it by stuffing something else in my mouth. Plus I had just bought 2 new swimsuits that I want to ROCK on the beach in a couple of weeks. Today I thought about the 2 huge lawn bags of clothes I just donated to charity last weekend that were too big and I know I don't want to go back to the old me and have to buy large-sized clothes again. So I ordered soup and half a turkey sandwich instead. I'm at a plateau, holding the same weight for about 8 weeks now, so it would be so easy to give up and stuff myself again but I don't want to back up...I want to keep moving forward! In the past I would have used the plateau as an excuse to quit, but no more. Stay strong and good luck on your journey!!

Junie2013

Do you ever have 'free days'? I have a friend who has been maintaining a loss of over 100 lbs for decades. She takes 2 days off of her regular food and exercise regimen per month and plans them out on the calendar. It seems to keep her from getting so sick of watching her weight all the time that she gives up. If you don't think it will derail you mentally, it might be something to consider doing.

elaanne

Do you ever have 'free days'? I have a friend who has been maintaining a loss of over 100 lbs for decades. She takes 2 days off of her regular food and exercise regimen per month and plans them out on the calendar. It seems to keep her from getting so sick of watching her weight all the time that she gives up. If you don't think it will derail you mentally, it might be something to consider doing.

At this time, I don't, because I'm participating in a "Last 10 Lbs. Boot Camp," and our instructor doesn't go in for such things! However, this is only a 8 week camp, and I'm just about done. Once I move into more conservative weight loss/maintenance mode, I will have more freedom to have a cheat meal here and there.