What keeps you motivated?

StarbuxDiva

Share what you do to stay motivated through your journey. Everyone has different techniques- I would love to hear what everyone does!

Dijah82

Walking, hiking, kayaking ... nature keeps me motivated 🤸🏼‍♀️

RockingWithLJ

Having non scale Victory goals is very important. I remember when I only looked at the scale to measure my progress and I became quickly discourage any time the scale would stay the same or move up. Now that I've set goals that didn't pertain to my weight I find it easier for me to stick with what I'm doing and for it to give me motivation.
I really want to get into rock climbing so one of the goals I have made for myself is to be able to do pull-ups without assistance. My goal at first was to be able to do one and now that I can I have upped the amount I want to do to 10 in a row without struggling. Eventually I want to be able to do 50 without struggling. Another goal of mine is to be able to run a marathon again. My last marathon was in my mid-twenties and now I'm going to be 34 this year and can barely run a 5k.
Figure out some life-long goals you want. If it's only about body image you might struggle with motivation so make it about something active and the body image you want will follow

TakeTheLongWayHome

The being able to continually push myself to do things that I never would have imagined I could do. Ride 30+ miles on my bike, lifting weights on my off days from riding. I would barely get off the couch, unless it was to eat something or get another beer.

msunat97

I agree with @RockingWithLJ It's about setting the new target or ambition to where you are in life. I map out a plan to get there and then use the interactions with great MFP members to help me fight through the struggles.

creesama

Not restricting things like pizza, pancakes, or sweets, but rather planning my calories for the day accordingly so that I stay in my deficit but can still enjoy my favorite foods from time to time. Figuring out how this can be a lifestyle change without losing foods has been a wonderful discovery and has definitely kept me on track. Also NSVs like walking by floor to ceiling glass at work and seeing my body change over the last couple of months or having to hike my pants up over and over while grocery shopping reminds me that I am making a positive change!

AnnPT77

Is regular life a journey? I guess. For me, this is nearly year 5 of maintaining a healthy body weight (BMI in lower 20s), after around 3 decades previously of obesity; and year 18 of decent-ish fitness, after around 4 decades previously of mostly only intermittent exercise at best.

Undisciplined aging hippie hedonist that I am, I can't hang on to strong motivation for days, hardly, let alone years, when it comes to things I don't really feel like doing.

Habits, though - ones that I can convince myself feel good, and that don't require white-knuckled effort - for me, I've found that gradually dialing in new habits can work. Wish I'd figured it out sooner. 😆

For me, the weight loss process was my experimental period, finding and establishing the habits it would take to stay at a healthy weight long term, without much stress and strain. Weight loss wasn't set up like a project with an end date. I wanted it to be an on-ramp to future permanent behavior, if possible.

Everybody's different, so YMMV.

Shortgirlrunning

Having fitness related goals. I do a lot better with my weight loss when I have a goal I’m working toward with my running. I don’t feel motivated every day but having a training plan helps me stay on track even when I’m not motivated. Structure is really important for me.

StarbuxDiva

RockingWithLJ wrote: »

I remember when I only looked at the scale to measure my progress and I became quickly discourage any time the scale would stay the same or move up. Now that I've set goals that didn't pertain to my weight I find it easier for me to stick with what I'm doing and for it to give me motivation.

@RockingWithLJ I love how you worded this! I have always focused on the number on the scale to an extreme. However, I recently suffered from some medical issues which made me gain more weight than I've seen in my adult life and now a trip to the scale is very disappointing. I feel more encouraged by measurements (I want to fit in my old clothes) rather then looking at a number on the scale. I've been focused on doing virtual 5ks and collecting up the bling Thank you for sharing!

Lietchi

I'm not a highly motivated kind of person, on the whole, where weight loss is concerned.

Sure, achieving my intermediate weight goals gives me a short burst of motivation. Non scale victories as well, such as needing extra holes on my belt.

But on the whole it's just habits that keep me going (logging and staying within my calorie goal, or at least being mindful of my calories), and the fact that I simply feel much better after already having lost a significant amount of weight, so I know it's worth it. I've been losing weight for a year now, and I'm probably 75% of the way to my goal. But I'm not doing anything that really requires motivation, I'm just eating 275 kcal less than I would at maintenance.

As for exercise, I do have some long-term fitness goals to keep me motivated/interested in working out, I would soon lose interest if I didn't see myself progressing.