What motivates you?

7rainbow

I feel stuck...
Deep down I want to get healthy and fit so badly. But something in me just doesn't want to even bother trying. I feel so sad and hopeless about it all. What makes you motivated to count calories and exercise?

santini1975

Honestly, wanting something has never been enough to get me started. I will want the end result, set a goal, and know exactly what I need to do to get it, but then procrastinate. I’ll make excuses, put it off, not feel like doing it today, blah blah blah. Then the date comes when I was supposed to be near my goal and I’m still at square one. What I found worked is to motivate myself AWAY from what I don’t want. Yes I want that cute small swimsuit, but if I use it as my reward, it will sit in the closet for another day. But if I remind myself of what I want to be free of, I get up. Take those before pics. Think about your reasons to change your lifestyle. Create a fitness board on Pinterest. I made a collage of horrible pics that I absolutely hated and taped it to my treadmill- oh yeah, hard to stop the workout early when that’s in front of your face!

harri1790

santini1975 wrote: »

Honestly, wanting something has never been enough to get me started. I will want the end result, set a goal, and know exactly what I need to do to get it, but then procrastinate. I’ll make excuses, put it off, not feel like doing it today, blah blah blah. Then the date comes when I was supposed to be near my goal and I’m still at square one. What I found worked is to motivate myself AWAY from what I don’t want. Yes I want that cute small swimsuit, but if I use it as my reward, it will sit in the closet for another day. But if I remind myself of what I want to be free of, I get up. Take those before pics. Think about your reasons to change your lifestyle. Create a fitness board on Pinterest. I made a collage of horrible pics that I absolutely hated and taped it to my treadmill- oh yeah, hard to stop the workout early when that’s in front of your face!

Very similar here. I once hung a pair of pants I was supposed to fit into as my goal...a year later and I hadn’t lost any weight. Seeing a recent picture of myself, however, was horrifying. So I put up those terrible pictures, ones that other people had taken and sent to me because they were “so pretty” and all I can see is how out of control my weight has truly become. I’m also going easy on restriction this time around and not setting a goal based on dates - I ate and logged Cheetos puffs yesterday (and they were goooood). So, less to dread because I can still eat some junk food.

In my case it also helps that I have a new gastroenterologist who is really pushing me to lose weight and I have to see him every 6 months now due to an unrelated issue.

7rainbow

Thanks for the insight guys, I've been doing the opposite, which is why it probably isn't working! I'll try to motivate myself in that way. Thank you!