UNMOTIVATED

strongissexy1

help me please!
I've felt so unmotivated, I'm cheating myself. I'll eat healthy and make all the right choices then I decide that I should eat some chips or candy just because I did so well all day. I really need to get backt ot the happy place I was. It seems that with the 2 lb gain I saw last week I didn't feel the need to work extra hard this week.

debbiegee12

Keep at it, don't give up. That was one of my biggest problems whenever I dieted. whenever I fall, I promised myself to get right back up and keep going.

CaseyDiane

You are not alone and I hear you completely. I hope you are able to get motivated...most likely I will not be the one to help you get there again but you might want to focus on why you want to lose weight to get the motivation back again. Good luck!

Hoteffinmess

I used to be like that. I don't keep any "junk" type food in my house EXACTLY for that reason!! Try keeping healthier snacks around.

Bebemadison

Find other ways to reward yourself for good behavior instead of junk food. Its hard cause I have done it for years. I felt like I deserved cake or cookies or whatever I wanted. But really what I deserved was a healthy body. Now when I feel like I want something bad I find something else to do so I'm not thinking about food anymore.

dpittman858

Just hang in there, we all cheat and can still make up for it, I know it is hard, there is always something that stops us, but we just have to keep at it.. You can do it!!

feliciapeters

I WAS doing the same thing, I hated depriving myself, plus every once in awhile I felt like something sweet. Not usually a problem for me, I'm more of a carbs person.
I found that keeping some 100 calorie packs of cookie or (my personal favorite) chocolate covered pretzels around really helps when im getting that craving. even though it does have sugar, i figure its better than a snickers. Really satisfies the craving for me & I feel like I had a treat

manderson27

Its at times like this that you have to dig deep, put the gain behind you and move forward, Every day you put it off is a day longer it will take you to reach your goal. It is hard and I do sympathise because I have always seen food as a reward as well but as Bebemadison says what we deserve is a healthy body, thats our reward.

I have only just started on MFP but am really appreciating the support. Just knowing that we are all having the same problems but overcoming them is such a help. Take a look at the success stories that may give you more motivation, all those people had the same hurdles to overcome. x

perceptualobfuscator

A lot of people find it difficult to cut out junk entirely from their diet. If you're craving it really badly, why not try healthy but similar versions of it? Like, instead of a pizza, make a pita pizza with vegetables and soy/low fat cheese. It's smaller and if you go whole wheat with veggies it can have some nutritional benefits. Instead of chips, try kale chips or vegetable chips. Or 'natural flavour' popcorn with no butter or salt. If you want chocolate, get the very rich, very dark kind. I find that if it's very strong, I can't eat more than a square at a time, but it makes my chocolate craving go away - and dark chocolate in small amounts is beneficial. Instead of regular ice-cream, get soy ice cream with a high calcium content. Eat each of these things minimally and infrequently, but don't cut them out of your diet altogether if it's not sustainable for you. Remember, your weight loss is more likely to work if you change in a way that you're able to maintain in the long term.

Find things that you think of as 'treats' that are actually healthy. I feel this way about perfectly ripe fruit and berries. They're sweet like candy, but healthy. Trick your mind into reading these things as dessert or treats by using them that way. Just try to make sure to avoid empty calories - things that have no or little nutritional benefit but fill you up. So, if you crave something fatty, make the fat your salad dressing over a plate of dark greens. Want sweet? Fruit and berries. Creamy? Soy milk smoothie. This way you sate your craving but make it count.

And don't beat yourself up too badly. Remember that your mental health is important too, and that everyone messes up once in a while. Set accomplishable goals, like doing ten pushups every day, getting all your iron/vitamin a/etc that week, staying under your sodium, that sort of thing. You can do this!!

sandi228

Whenever you feel like the chips; get up and go for a walk, you will feel so much better and you should never reward yourself with junk for doing well all day!!! If you work out hard and want a few chips then eat them but don't think of it as a reward. Stay focused on what you want and work hard and you will succeed.