Kind of feeling lost

waramara

I have been trying to lose weight for a long time but I have not been very serious about it for over a year. I think one of my biggest issues right now is motivation and scheduling. I am trying to go to the gym or do some serious working out at home at least three times a week. I haven't been very good about it the last couple weeks. I am finding it hard to make time to go to the gym. Normally I work 2nd shift but I am in a positions right now where I get scheduled the random 1st shift shift and I am one of two people who is trained to cover 3rd shift if they call in. Needless to say with the weather the way it has been I have been having to stay randomly and help cover 3rds. I'm doing ok with monitoring how much I eat, I am not restricting what I eat just watching how much I am eating but maybe that is part of my motivation issue too. Is there anyone else out there who is or has struggled with something similar?

cmriverside

Well, until you are ready to actually make it happen, there are an endless number of excuses why it won't.



Weight loss is 100% about calories.

Buy a digital food scale and eat as many homemade meals as possible. Log everything. Study your Food Diary and make adjustments to keep your numbers in line.

Exercise is for your health.

_Josee_

Well, until you are ready to actually make it happen, there are an endless number of excuses why it won't.



Weight loss is 100% about calories.

Buy a digital food scale and eat as many homemade meals as possible. Log everything. Study your Food Diary and make adjustments to keep your numbers in line.

Exercise is for your health.

^^^^^^^Exactly this!

I've been there... One day I said: enough is enough! I got it done, and I'm never going back.

SephiraRose

Try adding healthy habits each week, it might make it easier to commit to a healthy lifestyle change.

MinnieInMaine

First of all, motivation starts with a goal. You can want to lose weight but if you don't actually set goals and put some plans in place to meet those goals, it won't happen. Think about why you want to lose the weight, what changes you're willing to make, how you can fit activities in with your random schedule and commit to those changes. And make sure any changes are something you can live with long term.

With your random schedule, I'd say planning meals is going to be really vital to sticking to your goals. Pack as much as you can, stock your purse or desk drawer with healthy snacks or know what's ok to order from the nearby deli/restaurant that won't put you over goal. I keep things like instant oatmeal or dry dry cereal and 100 cal packs of popcorn and almonds in my desk drawer and usually pack an extra fruit or two just in case. If I don't use it up during the week, I give the extra to co-workers or they go in my oatmeal for next week.

waramara

Thank you for your responses. I am at a point where I need to lose the weight or my health will start to decline. Meal planning is a normal thing for us, partially because of our schedules and partially due to budgeting.

jkestens63

It's a hard road, I've been losing weight since April 2008 and still haven't reached goal. This past year has been tough, keep playing with the same 15 lbs. However, we don't fail until we give up and although I haven't made significant progress in a year I also haven't gained a ton, which would happen if I wasn't paying attention. If you maintain your calorie deficit you will lose. In terms of exercise, try getting some DVD's to do at home. I like Richard Simmons and Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds.

LVCeltGirl

For motivation, I'd suggest finding a good mantra for yourself. Right now, I like the one that I've put on my profile..."Doing it for the Damn, You got HOT!!!!" I'm a recent divorcee and have shared custody of my almost 9 year old son (if he ever read this, he'd be angry if I said 8 year old) so it's a really good mantra for me right now. There are many other reasons besides showing the ex that I'm better off without him on so many levels but right now the showing that I'm better off helps to motivate me. Real reasons are my son and being there for him, keeping up with him as he's very active and proving to myself that I can get to and maintain that seemingly elusive "ideal weight" (that'd be the one that's good for my body). You don't need to exercise to lose the weight, but it helps especially if you eat foods (healthy or not) that cause you to go over your calories.

Log, log and log some more. Weighing and measuring for accurate numbers and you should see what your calorie consumption is. From there, it's all about meal planning and tweaking it so that you can keep your numbers within goals. Ideally you should look at the fat, sugar, protein and carbs of the foods you are eating and keep within those macros too but again, you can lose weight without doing that, however it's a bit harder to do. I like to think of it as the quality factor. If you take food as fuel, then if you're keeping to your macros, you are putting premium fuel in your body and your body uses it better. The quality of fuel goes down depending on the balance of the parts of that fuel (so too many carbs to protein, as an example, might gunk up the engine a bit more). I know there's a lot more to it than that, but it's the way I like to look at it.

You can do this even with a whacky schedule! I believe in you!