How do you keep motivation?

Letty_c

I find it hard to keep my motivation. Something triggers me that I need to get my act together and then a week later it's completly gone. We moved and I have no friends as of right now in this area... and my husband sees no need to be healthier right now and I'm hoping if I can get myself onto a healthy groove he can see our need to become healthier .... cause since we got married we both have gotten.... a little soft.

What are things you do? Any morning routines? Thoughts? I would love any feedback!!! Thanks!!!

OOOO and pop my husband loves pop it's all he drinks and he hates water? Anything he can to replace his pop with.... and thoughts on how to keep urself from grabbing that pop since it's right there in the fridge.

La_Amazona

It took time but I have my hubby working out along side of me. I've done it on my own and managed to lose weight but it was alot harder.
My motivation is pretty vein. I want to feel good. I want to look good naked. I have a cruise coming up in September. I find that if I give myself realistic timelines, it helps. Also, I got on p90x. I am not disciplined enough to work out on my own UNLESS it's a class/group setting. And with p90x, my husband is my partner and I have Tony Horton telling me exactly what to do. So apparently, I do best with others and with a schedule or direction of some sort. This was all figured out by trial and error. Take some classes, join meetup and get connected with others. I did that too and met some awesome people!

slimmerme2012

seeing that my clothes are getting looser is whats motivating me

dont_u_mean_carrots

Move to michigan and have your hubby take the pop cans back to the store for recycling. That will cut his consumption down HAHA

lt_mrcook

Don't buy the Pop...if it's not there it's harder to grab.

Find a local running/cycling/triathlon store and see if they have any group workouts. Being around others is a great way to stay motivated...and make friends in a new town.

taem

My wanting to be healthy is what keeps me motivated. Learning things to keep that journey like giving yourself mental pep talks before you eat, telling yourself why you are doing what you are doing confirms your goal (it can help), also the biggest 2 points are 1) reading and learning what is good nutrition (I am always learning) and 2) getting involved in forum discussions here in mfp because opposing thought that is well articulated gives you pause to think of what you are doing is good or not and makes you find out about your body and what your body responds to.

That and my really great mfp friends that keep me honest.

tararocks

join a gym, a running group, etc that will be a good way to meet new people in your area and provide motivation for you. I agree witht he above post, my motivation is all solo, i want to wear this, buy that, look like this. My husband started with me but has dropped off, although he continues to be VERY supportive of me, and i have managed to get him to eat better. He also used to drink a ton of soda, at least a two liter a day, he now drinks tea...yes still caffeine but still so much better, started with sweet tea and now he drinks it with absolutely no sugar. just keep introducing him to other drinks...and dont buy so much soda:)

Maid4richie

My husband is the same way !! I know it can be hard because i am having the same issue i am not the type to go hard and keep going i get bored it just dont like doing it anymore. i see so many people who go hard and just keep going and i just look at myself and wish that were me. right now i am trying to keep myself motivated because i want to be able to feel good about myself agian right now i hate looking in the mirror . ust keep telling yourself you are doing this for you and you are to impotant to let feel the way you are feeling

Stormyyy

I go swimming 3 times a week at same time and same days, this helps with my lifestyle change as i love swimming and know i'll continue to do this, it is doable for me. You'll find what you like doing too which kills two birds with the one stone and you'll lose calories also....

I had some quiet time at home there and typed zumba into you tube and ended up doing an hour in short clips and really enjoyed it although i had no motivation to do anything but reluctantly put my trainers and shorts on as i knew this would push me to do something, whether it was with my weights or even a 10 min jog on the spot. Afterwards you'll be glad as i am now but an hour ago i would have wanted to kill you for suggesting such a thing lol.

Walking helps me too and usually when something is bothering me or i'm bored stiff i get my trainers on and out i go even if it's only a short walk it clears my head..

Goodluck and keep going because you are worth it!

OtakuEngineer

My motivation to do well with anything has always come from within, I have a very hard time getting motivated by others. I've tried at weight loss before and did succeed for a bit but unfortunately had something happen that made weight loss the least important thing to me... but now that I'm back into it again, I've found what motivates me is me... I simply am tired of being overweight and I'm going to end it. I moved away and have no real friends where I'm at currently... the only people who can really motivate me are over a thousand miles away, so my goal now is to one day either move back, or the next time i go for a visit in 6 months or so, to be someone completely different on the outside.

Ok, soda, pop... whatever you call it... I used to be addicted to the stuff lol... I used to hate water, etc... It's been so long that I don't remember what changed, but I remember first making a switch to diet soda, then to drinking more and more water and less soda overall. Now I mainly drink water, and have a diet soda every now and then when I want something different. It was just a decision I made I guess, not any trick or anything I used, I just said I didn't want to drink soda any longer... maybe there was something else but it was about 8 or 9 years ago that I stopped with regular soda all together.

And... clothes fitting, scale going down, not feeling sluggish everyday, those are also great motivation.

laurenpence

I was in the same boat as you. My husband came back from deployment and we just ate and ate and ate. Well we both gained about 16 pounds, I cared....he didnt. So I started doing the shopping without him. I stopped buying soda ( he loves mountain dew), started planning all the meals and only kept healthy food in the house. If he wanted junk food it came out of his allowance. He then started seeing how his body was getting healthy and how he felt healthy eating all the good foods that I kept in the house. He also hated spending his allowance on red bulls, chips and burgers so he started bringing healthy food with him to work. Then One day he decided to go hiking with me and decided that this life that is much healthier brought us closer together and it wasnt over food....it is now about seeing how far we can push our bodies and what our bodies can accomplish when you treat it right.

scarletfever2005

I wrote down my goals and several reasons why I wanted to obtain them on a piece of paper. Everyday when I go to work out I read them to myself before going into the gym. Recently I recorded myself reading those goals out loud and inserted them into a playlist that I can listen to when I need to get pumped up. Constantly reminding myself of my goals helps. I also have monthly progress pics that I have taken that I can look at. That helps me remember how far I've come.

Hope some of these ideas help.

BretsMyMotivationFor125

Right now, my motivation would be the fact that I have a Bret Michael's concert in two and a half weeks! I'm pushing to lose as much as possible by then! After that is New Years. I am FORCING the hubby to go out this year, and I want to look SMOKIN! Then the next goal is to finish and maintain my weight loss goal by start of next summer!

CrystalFlury

I just started MFP and I'm almost two weeks in. Three years ago I dropped 40ish pounds and kept 30 of them off. At the time what motivated me was seeing clothes that use to fit tight become much too loose. Even more motivating was going shopping for the first time and seeing that I (at the time) moved from a size 16 down to a size 12! My current motivating factor is knowing with this change in eating habits and adding it to exercise I will be more likely to finish what I started three years ago. Knowing that by this next summer (2012) when I shop for swimsuits I'll be looking for my very first two-piece because I'm that confident I'll lose the weight.

As for the soda, my boyfriend and I were introduced to flavored sparkling water from Walmart (or Sam's). It's called Clear American. It's a zero calorie drink, it's basically a sweetened, carbonated water. It's really good! I like it because it drinks me into thinking I'm drinking Sprite but I know it doesn't have the calories. The other option is switch to Coke Zero or something similar.

ahavoc

Just lookin' in the mirror, baby. Ye Gods and little fishes, how did I get so big!