Stuck... What are your little motivators?

ksmithnh

I started this journey in Oct (for the umpteenth time as so many have...) and have had some great successes along the way. It's worked really well for me to set small goals every 4-8 weeks and not get overwhelmed. I'd been on a great roll with workouts just shooting for 115 min a week... Had been walking, hiking, jogging, elliptical and kayaking. I hit 50 lbs and am down from a size 24 to an 18 and I feel fantastic. I had a few weeks traveling that got me out of my routine and I just can't find the same motivation or energy that I had just a couples months ago. Not sure if I'm bored with it, or if the results have slowed, or what. And suggestions on how to keep yourself focused and enjoying the journey once you're a ways in and have had some good progress? Thanks

mullycathNZ

I'm the same as you at the moment, had a great month in June, hit all my targets and lost weight and loved it. All because I was going on holiday at the beginning of July. I've been back 2 weeks now and am finding motivation hard - haven't managed to get out of bed early to workout (its cold and dark and winter is dragging me down) and I'm studying at night so SNACK madly, badly on food after going OK during the day and sticking to my cals.

Same old excuses but need SOMETHING to motivate me before I stack all the old weight back on, once again!

hmdiaz76

Do you respond well to competitions? I've done weight loss challenges at three employers and also a Dietbet. All of them were pretty fun and helped at least some of the participants.

ksmithnh

Do you respond well to competitions? I've done weight loss challenges at three employers and also a Dietbet. All of them were pretty fun and helped at least some of the participants.

That's a good idea. I do as long as I feel like I have a good shot at being successful. We just started a new challenge at work and I've already dropped off. Its focused on getting activity in every day, Mon-Fri (they don't count weekends). I find it really hard to keep up with and would rather just stay focused on my goal of 115 min/week whenever I choose to fit it in. But I am definitely competitive. Maybe I should start a challenge on MFP

MSeel1984

I learned to focus on things other than weight.

Learning/mastering a new trick
Increasing my mileage by 1 mile
Fitting into a different size
Seeing a change in muscle tone or fat%

If I just focused on weight I'd go nuts.

MKEgal

Frankly, fear is a great motivator.
Doing some of my rotations, I've seen people have parts of their legs amputated because of diabetes.
I know the effects of some of the diseases being fat put me at risk for, and I don't want that to happen to me. (Stroke, blindness, amputation, heart attack, kidney disease ...)

And "nothing succeeds like success".
I weigh myself every morning. Usually the scale goes down, but even when it's stuck (as it had been for the last 2 weeks, until this morning) I can look back at the 1-month or 3-month chart and see how far I've come.
I had bloodwork done in January, when I was first getting serious about weight loss, and again in late May, and my cholesterol & triglycerides have improved a bleep of a lot. LDL is still a smidge high, but everything else is fantastic.


Also, I notice my non-scale victories (NSV's):

I recently had to go to the middle set of hooks on my bra.

Last weekend I put on my life jacket for the first time since last summer & had to adjust it tighter by quite a bit.

I notice that I'm starting to develop & show muscles in places I previously thought I only had fat.

I move easier, don't get winded, feel strong.

I take my measurements every 2 weeks. Since January, my waist is down 6" and my hips 4.5".

I feel better overall, I (usually) sleep better, my self-image is improving. I even have the vague hope that someday I might have a date.

Friends have commented on how much better I look, even with what I've lost so far, being about 1/3 of the way to my goal.

What used to seem impossible (doing 45 min on the elliptical) is now pretty commonplace. I'm out to make that an hour at least 3 days a week.

My speed on the elliptical has increased, though my heart rate stays in a good range. When I first started I was barely above 3 mph, and now I'm consistently above 4, often closer to 5.

The shorts I've been wearing to work out in are starting to droop - they don't stay up around my waist like they should, just with the weight of my phone in one pocket. It's a nice problem to have, but now I need to find or make some new shorts.

I have a pair of pants and a belt that used to be tight. They're BDU's, and used to have the waist pull tabs completely out and be a bit tight in the waist. Now the tabs are completely pulled in and still the waist is very loose.
The belt tip used to be barely in the first beltloop, now it's almost around to the middle of my back.
I'm debating if I should buy the next size down, or 2 sizes down. (Problem is that the hips & thighs are actually fitting right.) If I could figure out how to take in the waist I'd do that. I sew, so it's more a matter of finding where I can take the tucks without messing with the structure of the pants.

YamaMaya1

my motivation is how fit I've become. I'm not tired all the time, and that's enough for me