How motivation works

Lietchi

This popped up on my newsfeed on another platform, and I found it simply too true to not share.

Motivation gives a spark, but the true fuel/fire of weight-loss and better health is discipline and consistency.
(As well as flexibility in adjusting your strategy depending on your needs, circumstances...)

zebasschick

i guess it depends on what you think of as discipline. from the pic, it's the opposite of what works for me. i find that being forgiving of myself and doing what's easier for me is what helped me lose almost 100 pounds and develop some muscle.

that being said, i am always happy to see fitness pals liking my workouts and accomplishments, sharing their accomplishments. recipes and workout stories. and happy helps.

nossmf

For me, discipline is what keeps me going at current level without dropping off, motivation is what gets me started with something new, or increases intensity of what I'm already doing.

Lietchi

zebasschick wrote: »

i guess it depends on what you think of as discipline. from the pic, it's the opposite of what works for me. i find that being forgiving of myself and doing what's easier for me is what helped me lose almost 100 pounds and develop some muscle.

I'll stay by saying what is is NOT (for me): forcing myself to do things I actively dislike.

But it is doing things because I consider them necessary and not something I only do when I feel 'motivated' (in the sense of excited/raring to go).

Logging food: tedious sometimes but not unpleasant - necessary and something I do because of the obvious benefits.
Running: something I enjoy globally speaking, but don't always feel enthusiastic about (sometimes tired, busy,...), specifically before I get going.
Brushing my teeth: tedious but not unpleasant, something I do because I should do it.
Etc.

My consistency isn't 100%, but the habits and (for those moments when my 'ugh I don't feel like it' internal voice is loud) a good dose of discipline are enough for 95% consistency.
If I relied solely on motivation, I wouldn't be where I am now, weight and health wise.

AnnPT77

As an aging hippie hedonist, I have a severely limited budget of motivation, willpower, discipline, or anything remotely resembling those.

When there's a little bit of any of that available, what I can do is use it to run an experiment in changing my habits. I'm looking for habits with less favorable outcomes I can give up, and replace with more beneficial but relatively pleasant/tolerable ones.

Rinse and repeat, eventually I get somewhere.

But whatever works for others . . . works. :flowerforyou:

zebasschick

AnnPT77 wrote: »

As an aging hippie hedonist, I have a severely limited budget of motivation, willpower, discipline, or anything remotely resembling those.

When there's a little bit of any of that available, what I can do is use it to run an experiment in changing my habits. I'm looking for habits with less favorable outcomes I can give up, and replace with more beneficial but relatively pleasant/tolerable ones.

Rinse and repeat, eventually I get somewhere.

But whatever works for others . . . works. :flowerforyou:

for me, this is pretty much it.

it's such a habit to weigh and log my food by now that i don't think of it as unpleasant - it's just part of my day. the same goes for almost everything that's working for me at this point.

ninerbuff

Consistency helps to build discipline. If you're inconsistent, then your discipline wanes. Who here has stopped doing something that they did consistently for a long time, for say a month and can't seem to get back into doing it again? Once consistency is gone, then even the most disciplined people can falter.
However once a little consistency restarts, being disciplined isn't that big a deal again.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition