What Helps you NOT quit - when you want to give up?

Sometimes I just read all the success stories with before and after pictures and it REALLY helps motivate myself. Sometimes I log on to pinterest and look at the fitness ideas/boards to get new workouts and advice..downloading new workout songs for my ipod helps..or switching up my workouts (just started a month of kickboxing..) or I think about all my NSV..but I'm running outta ideas and I keep derailing off track..and do not want to quit..what helps you stay on track? :)) thx for reading my post.
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Replies

  • nashvilledragonfly
    nashvilledragonfly Posts: 17 Member
    A workout partner!
  • gogojodee
    gogojodee Posts: 1,243 Member
    Sad to say and kind of ironic - a good ol' fashioned fitness buddy and a pep talk. Accountability is a good thing for me, the sad thing is, I don't really have anyone. But if you have friends that are trying to lose or at least someone who is aware of your goal, they can talk you right thru it. I know when I feel like slipping, it would help me so much more if someone actually listened and gave sound advice or just talk about what I could do to keep busy. Keeping busy/occupied with something/anything usually helps me.
  • agbarash
    agbarash Posts: 7
    Find a buddy who is also interested in losing weight, and have him or her sign up for MFP. Working together is a great way to stay on track. If you can synch your work outs, that would also be a lot of fun.
  • tanyakay87
    tanyakay87 Posts: 223 Member
    What helps me a lot is writing down the reasons for wanting to lose weight and get healthier. I have one about setting a good example for my daughter it gets me everytime - feel like PopEye just ate spinach when I read that :)
  • Cold_Steel
    Cold_Steel Posts: 897 Member
    My son. Luckily he isn't going to remember much about "really fat daddy" I am ok with "chubby" like now but man that makes me hurt to think I could get so big that playing with my kid was a work out.
  • Nwilliams112
    Nwilliams112 Posts: 10 Member
    I'm with everyone else, a workout buddy. I workout with my husband and if he would not have been there to push me on those bad days. I would have quit in week 1.
  • FrostyFour
    FrostyFour Posts: 262
    Last night I was so stressed out and was considering giving up, but then I thought of the alternative.

    "What, so I'm just gonna go back to living like a fat lard again? How can I possibly go back to salting and slopping everything in butter, knowing what I know now?"
  • Hazel2005
    Hazel2005 Posts: 175 Member
    ....my reflection:frown:
  • whitehandlady
    whitehandlady Posts: 459 Member
    my mom gave up....stopped trying....destroyed her health....and died.....i watched the whole thing helplessly

    i will not do that
  • Focusing on what I will be GAINING and not what I have to give up.
  • jenniejengin
    jenniejengin Posts: 784 Member
    I know for me, I do not have a workout partner and I do not have a gym membership, so it is very hard to keep motivated if I stick to a routine. I have to mix it up and do what ever it is that I feel like doing that day, as long as I do something. I also find that if I do it in the morning, I find it much easier.
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
    I want to lose weight before my vacation comes in August. Everyday I feel like not working out, but I remind myself that if I don't, I won't have what I want at the end of August.
  • shadowkitty22
    shadowkitty22 Posts: 495 Member
    The fact that I've lost 47 pounds this year so far and there's no way in hell I'm going to ever gain those pounds back. I agree with a previous poster about your kids not wanting to remember you being a fat parent. My daughter is 5 years old and most likely won't remember being this size when she's older, there's only going to be photographs as proof. My son is only 15 months old so there's no way he's ever going to remember me as being fat mommy. I want to enjoy going to the park with them and playing with them (as much as I can given the fact that I hate the heat and humidity...) and I don't want them to be embarrassed of me whenever their friends come over.

    I also know that having a workout buddy helps a lot with the whole exercise thing. Mine moved early April and I haven't bothered with finding a new one as I'm moving next week, but my time in the gym has steadily dwindled down into nothing. I'm only semi making up for it by walking to the places I need to go instead of paying for a taxi. But I really need to get back on the ball with hitting up the gym once I move.
  • chrissyKar
    chrissyKar Posts: 98 Member
    knowing my health will suffer if i dont work on my weight !!!

    I have health problems from it but also I have health problems that are simply inherited and I want to be able to fix the things I can!
    That said it is hard to stay motivated. Feeling better and more energy keeps me trying. i am on this journey to make healthy changes for the long term :smile:
  • chrissyKar
    chrissyKar Posts: 98 Member
    Oh and knowing that when I see my doctor she will weigh me that also keeps me working on it !! :laugh:
  • kathyms13
    kathyms13 Posts: 497 Member
    my diary is open on here, thats helpful because unless you cheat everyone can see what your eating . it works for me.
  • NomadicKris
    NomadicKris Posts: 90
    Saying it out loud to people I wont see for a few months, and knowing they have heard it before - can't wait to see their faces when I see them and finally prove that this time really was different!
  • kerbear48185
    kerbear48185 Posts: 35 Member
    What really helps me is watching videos, looking at pictures, or talking to people who are doing the things I want to be able to do when I've reached my health and fitness goals. I FREQUENTLY read over my "because" list - I'm doing this because.... I also add to that list whenever I learn about something interesting I think I'd like to try. So what's your dream? Is it to go surfing? Get on youtube and type in surfer chicks (or another similar search) and watch them fly!!! Is is to go on a missions/volunteer trip abroad? Look it up on youtube and listen to people talking about their experience.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    I can't say that I ever want to quit, though sometimes after a long day at the office getting my bum in gear to workout is difficult. My age and fear of health problems is the thing that usually keeps me going. I like to be thin, but I need to be healthy.
  • slamb1020
    slamb1020 Posts: 80 Member
    You have to remeber why you started, having someone to talk to about it helps alot too..! a workout buddy is always nice and i can agree with hoping on here and lookng at before and after pictures or on pintrest as well.. I stopped looking at it as a HUGE pictures.. like 3 more months to go.. etc.. but more as.. today i WILL make great and healthy choices and i WILL make it to the gym. i have no reason not to. :) dont give up.. it will only make it that much more rewarding in the end :)
  • maddymama
    maddymama Posts: 1,183 Member
    I sign up for a 5K. I like to compete, so that is my motivation to keep going.
  • MrsAlcalde
    MrsAlcalde Posts: 261 Member
    Constant self evaluation, I look in the mirror and invision my new body; compliment myself on the changes I have made and basically give myself a pep talk, this always motivates me
  • rubysphoto
    rubysphoto Posts: 254 Member
    I am with slamb, Remember why you started. There was that reason for wanting to make that change. I made the decision I was not going to be that person anymore and be a great example for my son. Days that I do not feel like going I ask my self what will that get me? No where! So I suck it up and just do it then I am done.
  • Ritzbrit
    Ritzbrit Posts: 211 Member
    I think about how healthy I'll be in the long run and try to envision myself in a hot bikini. Or I've looked at my high school photos were I was so much smaller. I'm trying to get back in shape for my high school reunion next year and a trip to Florida with my boyfriend next March.
  • marcia0501
    marcia0501 Posts: 2
    Knowing that if I stop what I have started I will go back to that lazy person who just sat around snacking and watching tv. That is not an option anymore :-)
  • KetoBella
    KetoBella Posts: 141 Member
    When I have "quit" in the past was nothing more than reverting back to old habits. New routines, and changing habits takes patience and practise. We have this idea that willpower is the secret ingrediant to success. It isn't. Everyone eventually will fail if willpower is the only tool you have. We also think once that willpower fades we are doomed and quit because it seems so impossible. I focus on the fact it comes from slow and steady changes, new ideas and routines become habit. I depend on learning healthy alternatives so they become habit. There is no such thing as quitting!!!
  • wagner1199
    wagner1199 Posts: 4 Member
    I know after the first couple of weeks I felt like that but I realize quitting is not an option that I wanted to take. I stuck with it and with the support I've been getting from friends & family have been a blessing. Plus getting compliments from everyone I know about how I look now makes me what to stick with it even more. It makes me feel good that I have actually been able to stick with this since the beginning.
  • Simone_King
    Simone_King Posts: 467 Member
    If I don't do this my health might be in the balance. With Cancer, Strokes, bad hips, and knees (among other things in my family) I win't live to a ripe old age.

    Then I realized over the years I have gotten my mothers hips. She went through two hip replaments..I do not want to go through that.

    I rather not get a knee replament...

    And frankly, I am tried of fat clothes. So, thats my motivation.
  • daffy_girl
    daffy_girl Posts: 29
    Both of my parents died from the complications of diabetes and never got the chance to see my youngest 2 children born. My older 2 don't even remember them and that hurts. I will NOT do the same to my kids, I want to grow old and see my grandchildren brought into this world and spoil the heck out of them. That makes me not want to quit.

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  • Tribbey143
    Tribbey143 Posts: 388 Member
    youre right old ways are gross...why would I want to do that? thx!
    Last night I was so stressed out and was considering giving up, but then I thought of the alternative.

    "What, so I'm just gonna go back to living like a fat lard again? How can I possibly go back to salting and slopping everything in butter, knowing what I know now?"