How do you motivate yourself to log on to my fitness pal

Skinny100

Hi All,

I'm failing horribly at my goals. How do you motivate yourself to keep a food diary on myfitnesspal? I don't have a job right now and I feel like all I do is sit home and eat. I just logged my breakfast and snack for today and it's a whopping 900 calories. I had no idea I was eating this much.
Do you have any tips on what I can do to motivate myself to log on and keep my food diary every day?? Help!!

scorpiomfs

i am at home all day too. I log on every morning and read these posts and blogs also you can watch u tube videos of success stories using my fitness pal. pacsun man is a good one or phat andy i think. to me it has become a habit. I just do it.If you want it you will do it also. to be honest im on here more than facebook..lol

xElineeee

I think you have to REALLY want to change yourself. I you want that, I think it'll be easier to track your food. We set ourselves goals and really want to lose weight and this diary is only helping us with this. For me it's not hard at all to track my food, it's more like a habit

quietHiker

If you have a smartphone, I use the MyFitnessPal app.

You might just have to try to set a mental reminder to logon to MFP and log your entries. Or maybe have a friend who can be your accountability partner and send you texts throughout the day or call you.

I love making schedules and doing budgets, so MFP and calorie counting sort of appeals to my crazy OCD side lol

Sorry I can't give any more motivational tips!

cmriverside

It works for me to come here. Keeps me focused.

jacksonpt

I think you have to REALLY want to change yourself. I you want that, I think it'll be easier to track your food. We set ourselves goals and really want to lose weight and this diary is only helping us with this. For me it's not hard at all to track my food, it's more like a habit

This. The motivation has to come from within. If you own health and happiness aren't motivation enough, there probably isn't much we all can do.

auntmister

Hello just read your post.....it can be difficult.....I joined awhile ago and then stopped eating healthy and logging on......of course I gained weight.......got back on track in February and just decided to start logging on to my fitness again......I have one friend on here that always encouraged me even when I wasn't logging on for quite a months....that helped me get back on.......I joined Gold's Gym and have been eating healthy and watching my portions....just started all this so no results as of yet but I am feeling better. It's easy to just put things off I know I do it also.....but if you really want this you can do it......hook up with some people to keep you motivated....you can add me as a friend if you'd like....without a job it may be hard not to eat out of boredom so I would think of activities you could do to keep yourself busy......you can do it.......good luck...and we are here to help you....:bigsmile:

dieseljay74

Try eating lower calorie foods with a high protein content. Things like Tuna fish for example. Pretty much pure protein in a can.
Also veggies is my trick. I eat a crap load of veggies and although technically not a "free" food, they have little impact on blood sugar or overall calories. with the exception of peas and the like. Stick with low calorie options like broccoli and cauliflower etc.
That way you can eat alot of food to make you feel full and satisfied without blowing out your calories for the day by noon.
It all comes down to choices.
Protein and fiber should be the base of everything with some carbs and fats added.

Enonoid

I joined almost 50 days ago and the excitement and newness is still here. I look forward to the accountability and the different challenges each new day brings. I hope to continue logging daily.

jamesblood13

Everytime I open up my internet browser I always have MFP as a home page bookmark.

cherriewilliams

I'm obsessed with numbers and charts so this site is perfect for me.

kbmnurse

900 calories for breakfast and snack should be motivating enough.

Shweedog

Seeing how much you're eating seems like motivation enough to me. Logging will help you stay on track and within your caloric goals. If just breakfast and a snack surprised you then imagine what the rest of the day would hold if you don't change your habits...Good luck to you!! :happy:

ShrinkingNinja

A smartphone makes it really easy since you don't have to go to the computer to enter it... But you have to use the food log to help you make healthier choices to be successful!

Good Luck to YOU!

nikkifk

I read somewhere that it takes 6 weeks for form a new habit. Try planning what you are going to eat each day in the morning and log it all in advance, then it's done. Also having friends on here that will give you encouragement is really important. It will get easier, you just need to stick with it each day.

paigemarie93

Track your food before you eat it, then you wont be so surprised that it's so high cal & you wont feel so down & UN-motivated.

shutterbug282

I have the mfp app on my phone and I log it everytime I eat. It's actually helped me change my eating habits a lot and the encouragement I get from the friends I have on here is overwhelming.
Also the fact that my diary is public and anyone can actually see what I'm eating makes me think about something before I do actually eat it. Although I have days where I go over, I know that everyone is the same so the friends I have here are all very understanding about that.

tequila09

I read somewhere that it takes 6 weeks for form a new habit. Try planning what you are going to eat each day in the morning and log it all in advance, then it's done. Also having friends on here that will give you encouragement is really important. It will get easier, you just need to stick with it each day.

this!! or even plan the day before!!

lwoods34

I think you have to REALLY want to change yourself. I you want that, I think it'll be easier to track your food. We set ourselves goals and really want to lose weight and this diary is only helping us with this. For me it's not hard at all to track my food, it's more like a habit

I completely agree with this post. I firmly believe that if you want something bad enough you will do whatever you need to do in order to reach your goal and means weighing and measuring your food and logging into the website. I used to track my food on paper but doing it via the website makes it so much easier for me because I can visbily see how many grams of fat, carbs, protein and sodium I am eating. I can play around with my food options that way Im not going over on my sodium or calories for the day. Looking at my journal and knowing that I am doing what I need to do to stay healthy is all the motivation that I need. Yes if you are home all day it might be a little tougher but that is why you have to keep yourself occupied. Go for a walk, go to the gym, read the forum posts...do what you need to do to keep your mind busy and your hands occupied. Maybe even volunteer somewhere for a few hours a day that way you arent home ALL day!

Maybe try joining some kind of activities club or something. www.meetup.com is a great source if you are looking for some kind of group to join. You can do this!

Good luck!

Skinny100

Wow, I'm so overwhelmed with the responses! Thank you so much!

I love the idea of setting MFP as my homepage (thanks!)

I wish everyone the best of luck with all of their goals!

And yes, seeing "900" for my breakfast and snack this morning was motivation in itself. Time to jump on the treadmill!

Jesea

For me, it's all about planning and accountability. Here I can plug in the meals as I plan them, knowing what I'm going to do helps me stay on track. As my daily log-in count grows, I feel responsible for keeping that number up, so that helps, too. My friends log in almost daily as well, and usually work out as often as I do, so there's a little bit of competition there. A couple of days I didn't feel like working out, but then I noticed that someone logged a 600cal burn on her page, so I got it done, too. I don't want to be left behind!