How does one stay motivated and consistent?

soleilksalas

AnnPT77

Consistent = having routine habits. Most of us have routine habits, right?

Motivated: IMO, over-rated in the context of weight management or fitness improvement.

Suggestion: For weight management, experiment to find tweaks to routine habits that result in feeling mostly full and happy the majority of time, while consuming the right number of calories. Practice those habits until they're automatic.

If the goal is weight loss, pick a gradual weight loss rate. It's easier, certainly, compared to the "lose weight fast" mindset. Often a gradual weight loss rate will get a person to goal weight in less calendar time than some extreme, restrictive, punitive plan that causes bouts of deprivation-triggered over-eating, breaks in the action, or even giving up altogether.

Perfect compliance isn't required. Gradually improving compliance probably is required.

That's where the "experiment" part comes in, why I bolded that word above. Try a new habit, maybe eating deep-fried things once a week instead of twice a week, or drinking one less can of soda/pop. Was it manageable? Did it reduce your overall calorie intake? If so, keep that habit. If not, try a different new habit. Things that don't work aren't "a failure", they're a way of learning what doesn't work for us so we can cross it off the list, and try something else.

The only thing that results in actual failure to reach goals is giving up the effort permanently.

It's like a fun, productive science fair experiment for grown-ups. When we have some extra energy or so-called "motivation", invest it in trying a new habit. When we find a good habit, practice it until it's on autopilot, and keep going with it until the next burst of enthusiasm happens.

Same general concept applies to fitness improvement: For someone starting out, intense, punitive miserable daily exercise is a bad plan, typically. Experiment, find one or more fun ways of adding movement to the day - formal exercise or daily life activities, doesn't matter.

If fun is out of reach - about which I'm skeptical - shoot for tolerable and practical. Adopt habits that work, keep going. Don't increase activity load dramatically at any point, just increase something - frequency, intensity, duration, challenge of the activity type - when whatever a person is doing now gets too easy. It adds up: Fitness gradually improves.

I figure that if an unapologetically hedonistic aging hippie flake like me - old, menopausal, starting out post-cancer-treatment as a physically depleted lump, hypothyroid, with a severely limited motivation/discipline/willpower budget - can gradually reach higher than average fitness for her demographic, and lose from class 1 obese to a healthy weight and stay there after about 30 years of overweight/obesity . . . I think any normal adult probably can do it, too.

So: Not so much "motivation" and "consistency". More like patient persistence at gradually finding some manageable new habits that are more effective at reaching life goals than the old habits. Don't make it any harder than it minimally needs to be.

Best wishes - you can do this, and the reward will be worth the effort, I predict!

four_bumblebees

I agree with everything Ann said and will add a personal experience: I use my fleeting motivation to make consistency easier later. For example, when I'm feeling motivated I'll search for and save new high protein recipes. Then when I have to go to the grocery store and I'm dragging that day, I already have a list of things to get without putting in more thought. Or, while motivated I'll put together a workout. Then when I'm in the gym and not really feeling it, I can pull out that workout and not have to think.

Disclaimer that I'm not a seasoned veteran; I'm currently in the trenches with you on my way to a healthy weight.

PippiPapaya

Ann, I want to say thank you for the time you took to put your words down. I am printing it out to stick by my desk because as someone who was always a "chubby thunder thighs" who then grew into a dieting - struggling to lose weight - feeling unworthy adult..rinse and repeat.I have always struggled with liking to exercise (any kind, don't know why!) and everything has felt like too much. I would go all-in and be really strict…and then came the inevitable crash. I am trying now as a 41yo to build a more sustainable, healthy way of living. Not to loose weight but to be healthier as I head into my peri-menopausal phase.

Thank you for your words of wisdom. Sending you warm hugs and a heart-load of kindness you way!

PippiPapaya

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48567638#Comment_48567638

Ann, I want to say thank you for the time you took to put your words down. I am printing it out to stick by my desk because as someone who was always a "chubby thunder thighs" who then grew into a dieting - struggling to lose weight - feeling unworthy adult..rinse and repeat.I have always struggled with liking to exercise (any kind, don't know why!) and everything has felt like too much. I would go all-in and be really strict…and then came the inevitable crash. I am trying now as a 41yo to build a more sustainable, healthy way of living. Not to loose weight but to be healthier as I head into my peri-menopausal phase.

Thank you for your words of wisdom. Sending you warm hugs and a heart-load of kindness you way!

ninerbuff

Motivation comes and goes. Somedays you're really motivated to do well and some days you're "NOT TODAY" due to something more important or overwhelming. Your mind is directly linked to how you're motivated. Things like lack of sleep/rest, high stress, demanding jobs and time constraints usually are things that DEMOTIVATE people to doing anything physical.

So to be consistent, you CREATE A HABIT. Habits usually don't require motivation because you just do them.

I always use the example of brushing your teeth. You do it because you have to to have good oral health. You don't need to be motivated, pumped up, encouraged, etc. You just do it. And usually 2 times a day.

So you're weight loss regimen should be the same. My meal are systematic (meaning I eat the same stuff pretty much day in and day out). My workouts are 5am every morning. I just do them. Sometimes they are great, sometimes they aren't.

But there's consistency which is why my body hasn't changed a lot since my late 20's.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer

IDEA Fitness member

Kickboxing Certified instructor

Been in fitness for 40+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

AnnPT77

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48568377#Comment_48568377

You can create that routine, and if you stick with finding the right things - things that you enjoy doing but that also gradually increase your activity and fitness - I predict you can surprise yourself with how far you can progress.

I was one of those "chosen last in gym class kids", bookish, clumsy. I didn't start being routinely active until my late 40s, after full-bore cancer treatment - surgery, chemo, radiation. I was completely physically depleted, and yes, very overweight. I realized that I needed to get more active if I ever wanted to feel even the everyday definition of strong, energetic or happy ever again.

I started gradually, with a community education yoga class a couple of times a week. After a while, I began doing a few minutes of yoga at home every day. It snowballed from there - slooooow snowball, over a couple of years. I tried group classes, took a "strength training for women" one that was like a group version of personal training - that made me stronger for sure. Rode a bike, tried spin classes. Finally, stumbled into a newly-forming breast cancer survivors rowing team, which taught us machine rowing then rowing in those skinny boats like in the Olympics (but ours were lots slower 😉). It was a challenge, big time, but I loved rowing.

A couple of years more, and I was competing in rowing races, machine and on-water both. I even earned some medals, and for placing in age group, not just for participation. I was stunned, my friends were stunned.

Because I loved rowing so much, I took adult learn to swim lessons to be better at self-rescue in case of boat flips. I joined the local rowing club. I started going to spin classes regularly, for cross-training. I did aerobics in Winter to stay in shape for rowing. I lifted weights to get stronger for rowing. And more. You get the idea.

It was a much later phase, because most of the above happened while I was still overweight/obese, but eventually I lost weight, too, at 59-60. Like I said, I've been at a healthy weight for 9+ years since. That was all about managing my eating, and honestly it was simpler than I ever expected, though not psychologically easy every second. I did need to commit to it, commit to change my habits.

I'm now 69, substantially fitter than average for my demographic. Coming from "chosen last in gym class", I now consider myself a senior athlete. For sure, I surprised myself . . . big time. If you'd told 45-year-old me what 69-year-old-me's life would be like, she wouldn't have believed you for one single minute.

I'm not saying you should do exactly what I did. I'm saying that you can make huge progress if you open your mindset to the possibility, and gradually take steps in positive directions. I think you don't even have to do that motivational-quote type "believe in yourself" kind of thing, though that's great if you can. I think all you need to do is suspend disbelief in yourself, put it on a dark shelf somewhere for a while, and start chipping away at it. Be willing to try some things and fail, on the route to success. Mini-failures en route are fine, as long as you frame them as learning experiences to move you in a different and more helpful direction.

One more thing: We do see people here say "I hate all exercise". I'm going to tell you why that blows my mind. Any form of movement is good, even daily life stuff. If we consider things beyond that, things most people would recognize as formal exercise, the list is absolutely vast.

Just a few: Walks in the park or botanical garden, frisbee golf, pickleball, weight training, a few dozen different kinds of dancing (from some cha-cha in the kitchen to formal classes), riding a bike, swimming, canoeing/kayaking/rowing, active video or VR games, golf, dozens of martial arts from Tai Chi to MMA, skating, skiing, Pilates, yoga, hiking, dozens of kinds of group classes at all intensity levels, the gym-type machines people think of when we say "exercise" (while using which a person can often be watching TV or listening to an audio book or podcast if that improves the experience), tennis . . . I could go on and on. It doesn't even have to be the same activity over and over.

The options are utterly diverse, some are solo, some are social, all intensity levels, different movement types. I guess it's possible to hate all movement, but I think human bodies are wired to enjoy and benefit from it, if we keep an open mind and find the right thing for us. Don't be afraid to try things, and give them a fair few-sessions chance (as long as they don't feel like injury risk).

Especially in group settings, it's normal to feel awkward at first, like a thing may be impossible. Other people may look like they've got it all down, and we think they're "naturally athletic". They were all new to it once, and the decent ones remember how that felt and support us as beginners. (Who wants to be friends with the minority of arrogant jerks who don't remember, anyway?) On top of that, things that are easy from the get-go tend to get boring sooner, while things that are more of a manageable challenge at first can stay engaging longer term.

You can accomplish some great goals, some health improvements and energy improvements. One step at a time, manageable but a little challenging is perfect. It adds up. IME, it's more than worth the effort.

Best wises!

girlwithcurls2

I read somewhere (probably in one of these forums!) that motivation doesn't determine the outcome of my workout. As in: low motivation=crappy workout. I have come back to this truth time and time again because on the days I struggled to get myself to the gym, out of the car, into my swimsuit, through the shower, into the pool, c'mon… go… swim a little… I have had some of the best workouts. If I had relied on motivation, I would have gone home. But I reminded myself that there might be a great workout waiting for me. It's not always true, but rarely, very rarely have I thought it would have been better to drive home. Sometimes I also check in with Tomorrow Me and see what she has to say. Usually she thinks that some movement is a good idea. (She reminds me how good it will feel to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep.) And Past Me ALWAYS thinks it's a good idea.

ninav5556

Get regular bloodwork and understand the numbers you are looking at and what that does to your body long term.

kiddo_ogami

Small steps. Constantly. Enjoy every victory, and every failure.

Increase little by little.

You don't have to rush. Listen to your body and act accordingly.

willboywonder

I find it helps if I connect with some core people who are on a similar path. We motivate one another and are accountable to each other. It’s possible to do it alone, but I find I fall off the wagon more when I don’t stay connected to others.