I don't know how to get back on track

sybil1106

I don't know why I've lost my motivation. I woke up this morning and got on the treadmill for 45 min but there is no guarantee that i'll do something tomorrow. I've been having these cravings mostly sugar. I'm not a diabetic or pregnant or anything else. I'm just lost, I know what I need to do. I look at myself in the mirror with disappointment and I want to change but I don't know if I WANT to change. The desire and motivation are gone. Even one day at a time is a struggle. The something in me that pushed me before is lost and just don't know how to get it back.

Cristy_AZ

I think you have it right that it is something inside yourself that you have to find again. We can all tell you how you have been doing so great and to keep going, etc., etc., and that does help; but at the end of the day it’s YOU that has to do this and you that has to want this. What are the reasons you started this in the first place? Why do you want to be in shape? There are the vanity reasons (very valid indeed, looking good in a certain outfit etc.). There are the obvious health reasons (not wanting to have mobility and health issues in old age, for example) There are personal relationship reasons, someone you want to be healthy for, possibly or some person that is an example to you (for me that is my 80 year old father). But I think you have to WANT it and NEED it for YOURSELF!! You are a beautiful, valuable, important person and you deserve to be healthy and fit!! And you are the only person that can give that to yourself!!! You have been doing great so far and you CAN do this!! Look inside yourself and find your reasons!! Hope that helps!!

jojoworks

I look at the weight loss effort as a 3 legged stool: 1 part activity, 1 part diet and nutrition and 1 part head game. You need all 3 to be successful. I think the head game is often taken for granted or over looked. Its hard to reprogram past behaviors and ways of thinking; changing those little voices in your head.....re-messaging, re-formatting so to speak.

I've found listening to self-hypnosis weight-loss CD's at night to be enormously successful. They are full of sound, positive advice and messages. They build my confidence and self esteem and allow me to find the inner strength to keep on my program.

There are also lots of books that may appeal to you. Amazon.com's cheap used book options are GREAT.

Make lists of the good foods you can incorporate to help you to good health.

Make lists of your summer wardrobe that will need to be updated after losing 20 lbs.

Smile at yourself when you look in that mirror. You need to embrace yourself and hug yourself and help yourself find that inner equilibrium that will keep you motivated and engaged.

good luck and happy eating!!!

FiftyandGettingBetter

Hey there Lady ~ place one foot in front of the other. I see that you want this for your girls and your husband...and YOU. Do you want to go play with your girls without getting out of breath? Do you want to go walking with your husband and not get tired? Come on baby, you can do this.

Lasa797

Sometimes doing it "one day at a time" is even too hard. Try doing it one hour at a time. I find that logging my food at the beginning of the day keeps me on track too.

MinnieInMaine

Maybe you just need to refocus your goal... Instead of thinking about the diet and the exercise and whatever else you're working on, focus on one thing and see if that helps clear out all the pressure.

Maybe you've been depriving yourself of something and that's why you've got these sweet cravings... I say figure out what that one thing is that you want, have it, get on the treadmill and burn those calories off and be satisfied with fulfilling the craving and stop driving yourself nuts.

I like the above poster's idea of just taking it one day at a time too. If that's what it takes, do it. You've made great progress so far.
How about getting out those "before" pictures so you can see just how far you've come? I know sometimes I forget but seeing a picture from a year or two ago really makes me realize how much the hard work has paid off and give me renewed motivation.

hikingmonk

I've found listening to self-hypnosis weight-loss CD's at night to be enormously successful. They are full of sound, positive advice and messages. They build my confidence and self esteem and allow me to find the inner strength to keep on my program.

@jojoworks - Which self-hypnosis CD's are you using? I did one many many years ago that seemed to work, but the several I have now I just don't think help much (although I'm not 100% good about listening every night).

kevanos

complacency is killer. You have to want something. Wanting nothing is the most mundane and boring way to live.

Either you want to lose weight, you want to maintain your weight or you want to gain weight. Chose one and commit to it and find a way to be happy doing it.

hikingmonk

I'm right there with you. I know what to do. I even feel like I've got enough good reasons (kids, energy, etc). But for whatever reason I still struggle with the motivation. I think to myself, one donut won't kill me. I just fail to remember the x times in the past week I've already said that!

Sometimes I think it's the overly relaxed attitude I developed back in college (possibly as a defense mechanism for doing so poorly).

Anyways, keep at it. Something is better than nothing.

sybil1106

Thank you all so much I know you're right I need to remember why I started all of this. I probably need to move myself to the top of my list , because no matter how much I want to do this for everyone including me I'm still the one who has to do it. I need to find other ways to workout. I need to find something that excites me and motivates me to do it again i.e boxing or zumba. I think maybe I need to find a class so I'm not in the house doing it alone. Find some me time. Another thing I'll have to do is to stop feeling guilty for not buying the Lindt chocolate balls or the kettle cooked bbq chips. My family loves them so I buy them, the problem is so do I but if they're not there I can't reach for them. Maybe just buying them once a month instead of once a week so we can enjoy those things in smaller portions because it needs to be rationed out.
You all made so much sense now I need to dig down and do something about it.

Jojo I'll have to give those CD's a try maybe I can get refocused thanks for the suggestion

auntiebabs

I look at the weight loss effort as a 3 legged stool: 1 part activity, 1 part diet and nutrition and 1 part head game. You need all 3 to be successful. I think the head game is often taken for granted or over looked. Its hard to reprogram past behaviors and ways of thinking; changing those little voices in your head.....re-messaging, re-formatting so to speak.

Make lists of the good foods you can incorporate to help you to good health.

Smile at yourself when you look in that mirror. You need to embrace yourself and hug yourself and help yourself find that inner equilibrium that will keep you motivated and engaged.

good luck and happy eating!!!

Love these jojo

I think the head game is more like 80% of it.
This is something that you CANNOT do for your husband, or mother or boyfriend or this is something YOU have to do because YOU WANT to do it. Not because "I know I should" You have to be ready. For years I knew HOW to do it, but it took be a long time to actually start.

Here are somethings that helped me....

1) I made a list of ALL the foods I liked. And saw that there were a lot of really healthy foods on the list. (There was also a lot of crap... but I sort of wrote all the healthy things that I enjoy on one side of the page and realize that not only did I like these healthy things, but some of them were extra-special treats to me. So basically I swapped sides of the page. My healthy side is my every day food. My snacky high-calorie, sugar, fat side is not forbidden, but certainly not every day foods, the are once in a while food. I I enjoy them so much more than when I ate them all the time. Now they really are TREATS,

2) I think you've seen my "wiggle room" post.
as long as I'm between, 1200 the number of calories to maintain my GOAL weight. I'm doing okay. I'm moving in the right direction, maybe not at fast as others around here, but the slower you take it off the more likely you are to keep it off. I refuse to feel guilty or chide myself for going over my target of 1240 calories. Even if I'm at 1640 I'm still doing better than before MFP. So I count this as a victory.

2a) Calculate the calorie is take to maintain your CURRENT WEIGHT. This is my warning flag on really bad days.

2b) Give yourself permission to take a break from your diet. Relax, eat what you want, but continue to track what you eat. It is important to know what goes in your body.

3) I read a post about "eating around your cravings" a concept I never heard of before but it made so much sense. You get a craving for YOUR FAVORITE FORBIDDEN FOOD. So instead of eating that you have an apple, still not satisfied so you have a yogurt, still didn't hit the spot so you have some animal crackers and so on and so on until in the end you've eaten more calories (sugar, fat or whatever else you are tracking) than you would have eaten if you just gave in and eaten what you were craving in the first place. And you would have been satisfied too.

(The trouble with this is.... that tricky balance of knowing when you can give into a craving, be satisfied and move on and when what you are craving is a TRIGGER FOOD, where one is worse than none, where you can't stop at one serving)

jojoworks

I've found listening to self-hypnosis weight-loss CD's at night to be enormously successful. They are full of sound, positive advice and messages. They build my confidence and self esteem and allow me to find the inner strength to keep on my program.

@jojoworks - Which self-hypnosis CD's are you using? I did one many many years ago that seemed to work, but the several I have now I just don't think help much (although I'm not 100% good about listening every night).

My current favorite is Splendor of Meditation for Weight Loss....its all about the "mindfulness of eating" I found it on Amazon. I listen at least 4 to 5 nights aweek. I almost always fall asleep but figure the messages are getting thru to my subconscious anyway. The whole "mindful" approach really resonates with me and using MFP's tools really supports that approach.

jojoworks

Thank you all so much I know you're right I need to remember why I started all of this. I probably need to move myself to the top of my list , because no matter how much I want to do this for everyone including me I'm still the one who has to do it. I need to find other ways to workout. I need to find something that excites me and motivates me to do it again i.e boxing or zumba. I think maybe I need to find a class so I'm not in the house doing it alone. Find some me time. Another thing I'll have to do is to stop feeling guilty for not buying the Lindt chocolate balls or the kettle cooked bbq chips. My family loves them so I buy them, the problem is so do I but if they're not there I can't reach for them. Maybe just buying them once a month instead of once a week so we can enjoy those things in smaller portions because it needs to be rationed out.
You all made so much sense now I need to dig down and do something about it.

Jojo I'll have to give those CD's a try maybe I can get refocused thanks for the suggestion

You're so very welcome. Don't beat yourself up! Congratulate yourself when you make good decisions. Your body may not respond as quickly as you'd like, but feeding it well and treating yourself well can only have good results in the long run.

good luck and happy eating!

hikingmonk

I've found listening to self-hypnosis weight-loss CD's at night to be enormously successful. They are full of sound, positive advice and messages. They build my confidence and self esteem and allow me to find the inner strength to keep on my program.

@jojoworks - Which self-hypnosis CD's are you using? I did one many many years ago that seemed to work, but the several I have now I just don't think help much (although I'm not 100% good about listening every night).

My current favorite is Splendor of Meditation for Weight Loss....its all about the "mindfulness of eating" I found it on Amazon. I listen at least 4 to 5 nights aweek. I almost always fall asleep but figure the messages are getting thru to my subconscious anyway. The whole "mindful" approach really resonates with me and using MFP's tools really supports that approach.

That's just weird. I bought that exact one on iTunes last night! We'll, they've got 2 CDs so maybe you have the other one, but they are similar. Good reviews on iTunes and Amazon. I've been using the Splendor of Meditation Sleep Aid CD for several months now (Yoga Nidra with Guided Meditations). Pretty pleased with it.

Thanks for posting!

jojoworks

I've found listening to self-hypnosis weight-loss CD's at night to be enormously successful. They are full of sound, positive advice and messages. They build my confidence and self esteem and allow me to find the inner strength to keep on my program.

@jojoworks - Which self-hypnosis CD's are you using? I did one many many years ago that seemed to work, but the several I have now I just don't think help much (although I'm not 100% good about listening every night).

My current favorite is Splendor of Meditation for Weight Loss....its all about the "mindfulness of eating" I found it on Amazon. I listen at least 4 to 5 nights aweek. I almost always fall asleep but figure the messages are getting thru to my subconscious anyway. The whole "mindful" approach really resonates with me and using MFP's tools really supports that approach.

That's just weird. I bought that exact one on iTunes last night! We'll, they've got 2 CDs so maybe you have the other one, but they are similar. Good reviews on iTunes and Amazon. I've been using the Splendor of Meditation Sleep Aid CD for several months now (Yoga Nidra with Guided Meditations). Pretty pleased with it.

Thanks for posting!

Sounds like the one I have. There's a Yoga Nidra meditation on this one too which seemed weird to me at first, now I think its awesome. The middle meditation set to the sound of ocean waves is my favorite.

learning to be mindful about how I eat has been so important to this process for me. I was excited when I saw you posting about the mindfulness of eating book on another post.

so much about meditation is linked to breathing and the physical therapy I'm doing to help heal a knee issue is centered on breathing and core strengthening as well. This morning I stepped on the scale and was up 1/2 a lb. I made a :-( face then did my PT and breathed with all my might into that balloon for 20 minutes then stepped on the scale again and I was DOWN a pound LOL. So much for getting all that hot air outta me!

good luck and happy eating
JoJo

sybil1106

I'm taking your advice and just eating what I'm craving instead of trying to " go around" it. I am trying to be mindful that I enjoy whatever it is I'm craving and not go crazy. I remind myself this won't be the last time I'll eat this. I can get it when ever I want just don't over do it.
I'm trying to get my head back in the game.
Thanks Babs