Serial Starter - This Time for Sure

MisterGoose801

Hopped on the scale this morning, and I couldn't believe the number staring back at me. My weight has been trending in the wrong direction for a while, and I'm starting to notice health issue that are most likely related. The time to change things for the better is now!
If anyone is looking to add friends to help with motivation and inspiration, please add me and let's do this together!

Olivia

MisterGoose801 wrote: »

Hopped on the scale this morning, and I couldn't believe the number staring back at me. My weight has been trending in the wrong direction for a while, and I'm starting to notice health issue that are most likely related. The time to change things for the better is now!
If anyone is looking to add friends to help with motivation and inspiration, please add me and let's do this together!

Welcome to MyFitnessPal!

Pupnuzz

Well done on making the decision to get started! I hope this app gives you motivation, remmember to start small and don't set your goals too big that it feels like a struggle everyday. Slow and steady 🐾

newstasia

Same! I can totally relate! I have never faithfully comitted to myfitnesspal but this is the year! I want to be one of the success stories so badly! Good luck to u!

liftingbro

Welcome aboard!

Just remember, Motivation is great to get you started but it's flash in the pan and will soon fade. You have to find your "why", have patience and understand that one bad day or even three bad days isn't a failure....it's a long term goal.

JenVB22

The title of your post first made me chuckle, then I realized it accurately describes me! I have started a plan so many times! Everytime telling myself 'this is the time'. What can I do different this time to stop the serial starts and just keep at it! Step one: log back into MFP and find a group of like minded folks.

AnnmarieSimmons

Serial starter 😂😂 that's me too. I'm back trying again, keeping my goal small hopefully I'll stick to them this year 😁

GolfNut19

I have been a serial starter for years...at my highest weight ever, pushing 49 and feel like it's time. Want to be in the best (maybe 2nd best) shape of my life by 50. MyFitnessPal is going to help keep me on track for sure. After 3 days I can see how tracking my food is making me think about what I'm eating. Also doing dry January. Big month ahead, they say it takes 21 days to form a habit so only 18 more to go!

Here's to putting in the work and succeeding!! The muscles are tight now but they'll love it soon!!

gamecock0723

Haha! Your post perfectly describes my morning today! Serial starter for sure, and the number I saw this morning was a bit deflating. Hoping to stick to it this time! Good luck to you!

jamiemderr2

I dig the name. This year will be different and better!

Danp

I used to call myself a serial starter too, which was just a nicer way of calling myself a serial quitter.

I then realised that the only reason I was a serial starter/quitter was that I kept trying to do things in a way that weren't right for me and just to bullishly push through via shear will power. Then I realised that 'will power' and 'motivation' are very limited and finite resources and can only be relied on short term, that in short order that will power and motivation will dry up and I'd quit, my reserves of will power and motivation would build back up and I'd start again. Rinse, repeat, decade after decade.

So this time I decided that I had to find a way to manage my weight that was more or less 'effortless'. That didn't require me to struggle or use those temporary reserves of will power to 'push through'. So that's what I did. I threw out everything I though I knew and went back to a couple of VERY simple rules.

1. Keep it simple rule. Lose all the nonsense and complications. Weight management is a very simple energy equation so there's no need to make it more complicated. All I needed to do was to eat fewer calories than I used most of the time. So that's it. I track my calories and more often than not eat fewer calories than I use. Simple. What, when, how or why I eat doesn't matter. It's maths, pure and simple.
2. The 'forever' rule. When I make a change I ask myself the question. "Can you do this forever without really trying, without needing motivation or will power?" and if the answer is "No" then I don't make that change. I'll sometimes discard it entirely and go looking for something else I can do but 90% of the time I'll rework the change to be something that does meet my forever rule.

Since all the changes and approaches I make are simple and uncomplicated (Rule 1) and none of the changes or approaches I have adopted require any great effort to maintain forever (Rule 2) I've found that the start/stop/start cycle has ceased.