All the apps but none of the motivation: n9talie

n9talie

I am determine to stick with it this time.
I have never really committed to a diet for longer than a week.
I really am a lardars now so I have a lot of weight to lose.
A bit about me: I should be thinner, I have triplet girls of 2 and a half who run me ragged. I live in Cambridge and I'm a teacher.
Would be good to have some fellow dieters for a mutual motivation.

:-)

smp0723

I'm with you!! I have all the apps, books, materials - NO motivation! I even signed up for a 5K Mud Run 2 months ago as motivation--it's Sept. 8th and I've done nothing to train for it in a month. I need to do something TODAY or I'm going to get my *kitten* handed to me

Jimmytreatingtons

WOW Triplet Girls! Explains alot for you motivation really,

There is plenty of great advice on here and hopefully plenty to get you motivated a bit more.

Hang in there and I am sure you'll start seeing the benefits of logging and build from there!

Good luck!

steadk

welcome! I struggle with that as well.. I have all the availability of things to help, but yet I don't do the things I know I should. So, with my classes starting Monday, I'm also starting a gym routine with my friend to help get on track. Hopefully it'll help since I have to "Keep and appointment" with them. Total accountability. But friend me if you want some support

dlwyatt82

Ease into it! Start by getting into the habit of keeping a food and exercise diary for a couple of weeks, without even trying to plan or change anything yet. Do your best to enter everything as best you can. The smart-phone MFP app is great for helping you do this in many cases, with its bar-code scanner.

Once you have a diary to work with, you can start to see how much you've been eating as compared to your estimated calorie burn, and where the calories are coming from. Then start to make changes, with the goal of getting your total calories just a little bit (~500 per day) lower than what you're burning. Done properly, it should be pretty easy to maintain, and you shouldn't feel very hungry.

bm_stclair

Triplets! Yikes! I have one 2 year old that keeps me busy for most of my off time. I can not even imagine.

Nevertheless, here is a bit of advice from my own personal experience...
Some people will recommend that dieting is day-to-day. In other words some times you'll have good days and sometimes not. They'll say that the important thing is that the day after a bad day you work hard to get back on track. There is some truth to this but....
For some of us it's not a day to day struggle it is an hour to hour struggle.
With so many external variables in our lives it is difficult to make the right diet choices EVERY time temptation strikes us.

HONEST ACCOUNTABILITY!!!!!
I have lost a significant amount of weight and I am keeping it off. I could not have done so without counting calories to keep myself accountable for EVERYTHING I put in my mouth. As we all know, counting calories sucks. That's where this site is helpful. It makes it super easy to keep track of your food. Especially with the phone apps so you can log whatever you eat as soon as you eat it (assuming you keep your phone on you all day).

SECONDLY - BONUS CALORIES!!!!
I hate it when I log my food after lunch and realize that I only have 198 calories left for dinner. WHAT FILLING MEAL COULD I POSSIBLY EAT FOR DINNER THAT IS ONLY 198 CALORIES!!!? Especially when I am really looking forward to that skinny cow ice cream after dinner. :-)
Now this is the hard part for a busy mom like yourself. In order to get bonus calories you are are going to have to find a way to exercise. Even just a brisk walk can do wonders. I would suggest to set a goal of trying to find at least 15 mins a day to go for a walk. Now, and this is important, when I say "walk" I dont mean a light stroll with the kids in tow. I MEAN A WALK!!! Get you some upbeat music and stride it out like you're late for your own wedding!
You will need some way of measuring pace and distance. Could be as simple as a timer over a known distance or a pedometer. You'll need to know this to be able to log the amount of calories you burn. THESE ARE THE BONUS CALORIES! These are calories you get to eat back. If you can somehow manage to burn 200 calories then your 198 calorie dinner can now be 398 calories which is more in the realm of a realistic dinner. If you do manage to find a way to burn 400 + calories then you might have the calories left for that skinny cow ice cream at the end of the day. A little reward for a good day of fitness and diet.
I can not recommend highly enough using a heart rate monitor that counts calories. Further takes the thinking out of figuring out exercise calories burned and it doesn't matter what kind of exercise you do (walking, cycling, or just jumping up and down in one place) it will still give you calories burned based on your heart rate. If a heart rate monitor is not your syle then I've found that the walking and jogging/running exercises in the database on this site are pretty accurate when it comes to calories burned.
LAST NOTE (and getting back to the point)
I've found that after the first week or 2 of keeping a good accounting of my diet I am more aware of the consequence of eating random extra crap calories in any given hour of temptation in my day. *thiinks to self... "well if I eat that donut now then I'm either going to have to skip dinner or I'm going to have to go out and SPRINT around the neighborhood for half an hour". It's not much of a choice really cause I am NOT skipping dinner and I do not SPRINT anywhere. So no donut for me... OOH LOOK! carrot sticks and a bottle of flavored water instead! NOM NOM NOM!

Stay honest with yourself.
Keep yourself completely accountable.
Try to get some exercise.
and above all
Don't be too hard on yourself for an off day. We all need a morale day once in a while after all. Just get back on track the next day.

ladyshellbelle

first of all congrats on still being able to dress and feed yourself with having 3, 2.5 year olds...

it has to be about you and your brain has to be in the zone...

have you got an outfit you want to wear for xmas or someone who will do zumba once a week with you..

or a leisure centre that has a creche and you can do a class just one day a week to start with.

one step at a time ..x

n9talie

Hi did you take any steps today towards the run?

n9talie

Thank you all so much for your replies, I am so chuffed that you took the time to give me some motivation to get going.
I am doing ok at the moment. I need to keep going :-)
I got a Nike Fuelband and I think that will help with my motivation.
I got Zumba on the Wii and I've had a bit of a play.
Again I've just got to get on with it.
I've been logging been honest, moderated some of what I take in.
Mostly it seems that what I really do wrong is bread and wine.
Thank you Thank you thank you.
:-)