What Keeps You Going

reggaereggie

What’s been the most helpful thing that’s kept you motivated or the biggest obstacle you’ve faced???

rockyhi512

Success is my biggest motivator. I set small goals. I have these weight barriers. I get to a certain point that I gain it back. I have lost the same 10 lbs so many times that I would have been skinny a long time ago. This time I pushed through. My goals are one official weigh in on Saturday mornings to keep focus and Goal weight at end of month 239.999, 229.999, 219.999 and so on. Its working.

My biggest challenge is saying having to say "no" to treats often at work. Even if I have calories left over I would rather have a more substantial snack at home than that chocolate bar, or bag of chips. Except yesterday it was International Gummi Worm day and I had 3. I love gummi worms. I am not a turn downer all the time I allow one or two special occasion meals a month.

briscogun

Great question. Really made me think…

As to the first part, I think what keeps me motivated is seeing results: watching the scale go down (or stay the same in maintenance), seeing my clothes fit loser/better, seeing my body look better, etc. Any positive feedback that its working keeps me going!

As to biggest obstacles? It's usually either letting myself get lazy/comfortable, OR if I have a night of drinking I will inevitably make a bad food decision. Sometimes it's other people (those close to me) trying to talk me into not "watching" what I eat for a special occasion or something ("Come on! One won't hurt you!").

A lot of this comes down to the self-talk we have and what's between our ears, and our willpower to stay the course.

csplatt

Looking at family members in their 60s and 70s who really struggle with mobility, enjoying vacations, getting in and out of chairs, etc.

Biggest obstacle is pain. I have chronic pain in one leg / hip and I get discouraged often because I simply can’t do the intensity of fitness that I used to. In turn, average calories that are realistic for me to eat are lower than before.

AnnPT77

Nowadays, quality of life for sure. Being slim feels better - lots better - than being overweight, and it's easier and more fun to do active things when I'm slimmer. My health markers are better, too - all solidly in the normal range, even ones that were seriously bad news when I was overweight.

While that's true, that doesn't really help others much since a person has to get near to goal weight to fully feel that.

To start, what initially made me commit to weight loss was my doctor getting increasingly emphatic that I should be taking statins for my persistently high cholesterol. I didn't want to do it, since brain fog reportedly is a common side effect, and I figured I'd already given up enough cognitive bandwidth to chemotherapy. (Yes, the chemo was for a cancer more common among overweight people.)

I tried every other intervention I could think of to improve my blood test results: Good exercise schedule, trying various supplements, eating my veggies/fruits. (I'd already been vegetarian and hippie-dippy whole-grain-y for literal decades.) There may've been tiny improvement, but not much. So I finally decided I'd better seriously try weight loss, and mean it.

Part way through weight loss, I had to have my gallbladder removed, not because of stones or sludge, but because of something called adenomyomatosis. When I got the pathology report, that kind of sealed the deal on weight loss. It was an ugly thickened cholesterolized thing with actual holes in it. Not good. High odds other internal organs were compromised, too.

Eventually, as I got lighter, I started to feel better and get better blood test results. Then more came into focus: I realized that for me calorie counting was the perfect tool to balance my short-term hedonistic impulses (to eat all the yummy things) while still giving my future self better quality of life. That realization also kept me going.

I began to notice that among my friends and relatives - all people I value - some were more inactive and overweight, others more active and healthy weight. Among those of similar age, the inactive/overweight people had worse quality of life. They were sick more often, needed more surgeries and recovered more slowly, were physically unable to do certain fun things like art fairs/music festivals/stadium events because of walking and stairs, had to spend more money on health care items and paying for services they could no longer do themselves so didn't have as much discretionary money, couldn't eat/drink what they really wanted because of health conditions or drug side effects, and had a bunch of other unpleasant side effects from the combinations of their multiple medications besides. They tended to die younger, and after a long, slow decline. On average, those negatives were much less true for the active/slim people, and the active/slim ones tended to live longer with more likely a short, sharp decline right near the end.

It finally sunk in viscerally that if I was active and slim, I could shift my odds toward a happier and longer life.

Along about the same time, I noticed that doctors' offices I visited had a high proportion of overweight people my age who appeared quite unfit, compared to places like malls or grocery stores where there were more of a range of people even in the same age group.

One thing here that helped when things got difficult was this thread:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1275030/whats-your-most-recent-nsv

I'd read a few pages now and then, and feel heartened. Eventually, I'd read every single post (and still read all the new ones). So many positives happen along the way to goal weight. It isn't necessary to wait until the end to feel some rewards. Knowing that helped.

reggaereggie

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48688700#Comment_48688700

Allowing occasional treats isn’t weakness; it’s more like a reward. 3 gummies won't hurt. 💪

reggaereggie

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48689026#Comment_48689026

I totally agree with everything you said. Seeing progress is what keeps me waking up the next day. It truly is both a mental and a physical game.

reggaereggie

@csplatt Yeah, family is everything. It's tough when pain limits what you can do and frustrating when your body doesn’t cooperate the way it used to.

reggaereggie

@AnnPT77 I’ve been following your journey, and every time you post. Thanks for being such a thoughtful and motivating voice in this community.

springlering62

lol Ann beat me to the NSV thread.

When I hit “plateaus” I went there. I have read every. single. post. on that thread, and have identified with all of them (except some specifically “male” posts!).

As others have said; Seeing family and friends struggle with weight, and also breaking my own loss into bites and rewarding myself (with new leggings) each micro goal accomplished.

Someone recently asked “how many leggings do you have?” I told her at a pair per five pounds lost, I have a whole drawer full, even after passing larger sizes on to friends here on MFP.

I continue to reward myself in maintenance. I recently bought a gorgeous handwoven and embroidered coat on a trip to Central America. A hundred pounds heavier, I would have stroked it longingly, sighed, and kept on walking. I tried it on, it fit like a dream, and I was at the counter, joyfully waving money in thirty seconds. I’ve earned that dang coat and can’t wait for the weather to cool.

Having motivation like that and some other fun, crazy, colorful, handmade pieces in my closet keeps me on track. I never want to outgrow my “collection” of beauties and am determined not to.

You’ve got to find what motivates you.

I don’t do makeup, my hair is probably shorter than most menfolk. That’s not my thing. But handmade, handwoven, hand embroidered, hand spun, color saturated sends me over the moon!

age_is_just_a_number

motivation — wanting to age well, with the strength and mobility to do anything I want to do when I want to do it.

Challenge — my husband saying ‘you don’t need to lose weight.’ But he’s been much more ‘supportive’ or at least not a barrier after he said that in front of a neighbour and the neighbour stood up beside be with her head held high and said to him ‘It is not your body. If she feels like she needs to lose weight to feel better in her own skin, then it shouldn’t matter to you.’ she is a tiny 4’11” woman in her 80s.