Motivation

melguy77

I’ve been yo-yoing for the past 3yrs!
Nows the time to take control and stay motivated to lose & maintain my weight!

I have been making bad choices but now I’m more focused on health and staying motivated

Any tips to keep motivated would be much appreciated :-)

mtaratoot

Welcome @melguy77

It sounds like in the past you experienced your motivation waning. It is almost sure to happen again. Motivation can't be counted on. It will leave you. Instead, you might think about developing good habits. Build habits you can continue after your weight loss and as you maintain it.

What motivates you to brush your teeth? What motivates you to get up and go to work? Probably it's not actually motivation, it's just something you do. You can do that with weight management and fitness too!

What are your specific goals? Consider goals that are specific and measurable, goals that have a deadline, and goals that are tough but not so tough you can't succeed. Where are you going to begin? What habits will you develop?

AnnPT77

There's no way I can stay motivated for the whole rest of my life, but I want to stay at a healthy weight for the whole rest of my life.

I'm with mtaratoot upthread: It's ears about experimenting, finding, practicing and cementing in new habits . . . relatively easy, practical, generally enjoyable habits that lead to an appropriate calorie level, fun movement (or at least tolerable/practical), decent overall nutrition . . . habits that can run almost on autopilot long term.

To that end, I recommend thinking about how to make weight loss relatively easy, rather than ultra fast. Too many people come here thinking they need to adopt extreme, restrictive eating rules - all "good" foods, no "bad" foods - and do some punitively intense exercise. That's 100% not true, and that approach can end in burnout and yo-yo-ing.

Weight loss and maintenance aren't psychologically easy every single second, but the basic process is simple.

I recommend focusing on finding new eating habits you actually like, eating mostly nutrient-dense foods you enjoy eating, plus a few treats now and then for joy; and adding enjoyable movement to your days, either intentional exercise, or just more daily life movement or a combination.

IME, this can work out: I was overweight/obese for around 30 years. I did pretty much the above to lose weight, and have continued those habits since, maintaining a healthy weight for going on 8 years since loss.

I'm cheering for you to succeed, because the results are worth the effort!