Lack of motivation. Any tips?!

drivenheart85

When I started out on my weight loss journey. I got into a little behavioral change psychology and learned a few things that I'm going to write down here. They may help, they may not but I like to bring them up when people talk about change:

You have an emotional mind and a rational mind. In order to effect change you need to motivate both minds. You also need a goal, or a path. They say the emotional mind is the elephant and the rational mind is the rider. The rider directs the elephant because he is more intelligent, but the elephant is still big enough to overpower the rider. The rider and elephant can disagree on direction and when this happens, you don't get anywhere. For most people, their rider, or their rational minds are completely on board with exercise and healthy eating, but it is their elephant that just won't listen. You can hear your elephant, you're emotional mind, when you think things like, "I'm too tired to work out." "The gym is too boring." "I'm too busy." "I'm too...insert your excuse of choice". The elephant is always concerned about how it feels and how it feels RIGHT NOW. The rider, rational mind, is more concerned with long term goals...what your actions will bring in the long run. So when you get home from work, chances are, your rational mind will have a workout planned for you and as soon as it's time to take action, you'll hear the elephant chime in with, "But I had a bad day and just want to relax.", etc.

In order to fix this issue, you need to motivate your elephant. You need to motivate your emotional side. What are you getting from this desired behavior change? No one ever does anything unless they're getting something good out of it. You need to find out what gets you excited about your goal. As my dearest Jillian Michaels would say, "If you have a strong enough WHY, you can tolerate any HOW." My elephant motivation was pictures of fit girls around my house, it was buying a bikini I wanted to fit into, it was lists of the benefits I would get from reaching my goal, after awhile it was seeking more results because I liked watching myself get thinner.

Essentially, we're human and we're not going to be motivated to do anything unless we see an equal or greater return from our efforts (exercise and eating right is a LOT of hourly effort). If you don't see your workouts as worth it, you're not gonna do 'em. ..because you're not stupid. lol We don't do anything unless we get a benefit from it; so we have to remind ourselves what those benefits are and get our "elephants" follow the path we want.

That's a vague description of what I learned, but it's worth a shot. Best of luck to you!

monkeeface

When I started out on my weight loss journey. I got into a little behavioral change psychology and learned a few things that I'm going to write down here. They may help, they may not but I like to bring them up when people talk about change:

You have an emotional mind and a rational mind. In order to effect change you need to motivate both minds. You also need a goal, or a path. They say the emotional mind is the elephant and the rational mind is the rider. The rider directs the elephant because he is more intelligent, but the elephant is still big enough to overpower the rider. The rider and elephant can disagree on direction and when this happens, you don't get anywhere. For most people, their rider, or their rational minds are completely on board with exercise and healthy eating, but it is their elephant that just won't listen. You can hear your elephant, you're emotional mind, when you think things like, "I'm too tired to work out." "The gym is too boring." "I'm too busy." "I'm too...insert your excuse of choice". The elephant is always concerned about how it feels and how it feels RIGHT NOW. The rider, rational mind, is more concerned with long term goals...what your actions will bring in the long run. So when you get home from work, chances are, your rational mind will have a workout planned for you and as soon as it's time to take action, you'll hear the elephant chime in with, "But I had a bad day and just want to relax.", etc.

In order to fix this issue, you need to motivate your elephant. You need to motivate your emotional side. What are you getting from this desired behavior change? No one ever does anything unless they're getting something good out of it. You need to find out what gets you excited about your goal. As my dearest Jillian Michaels would say, "If you have a strong enough WHY, you can tolerate any HOW." My elephant motivation was pictures of fit girls around my house, it was buying a bikini I wanted to fit into, it was lists of the benefits I would get from reaching my goal, after awhile it was seeking more results because I liked watching myself get thinner.

Essentially, we're human and we're not going to be motivated to do anything unless we see an equal or greater return from our efforts (exercise and eating right is a LOT of hourly effort). If you don't see your workouts as worth it, you're not gonna do 'em. ..because you're not stupid. lol We don't do anything unless we get a benefit from it; so we have to remind ourselves what those benefits are and get our "elephants" follow the path we want.

That's a vague description of what I learned, but it's worth a shot. Best of luck to you!

Thankyou, it makes sense. More things to think about!

ErnestinesMom

When I started out on my weight loss journey. I got into a little behavioral change psychology and learned a few things that I'm going to write down here. They may help, they may not but I like to bring them up when people talk about change:

You have an emotional mind and a rational mind. In order to effect change you need to motivate both minds. You also need a goal, or a path. They say the emotional mind is the elephant and the rational mind is the rider. The rider directs the elephant because he is more intelligent, but the elephant is still big enough to overpower the rider. The rider and elephant can disagree on direction and when this happens, you don't get anywhere. For most people, their rider, or their rational minds are completely on board with exercise and healthy eating, but it is their elephant that just won't listen. You can hear your elephant, you're emotional mind, when you think things like, "I'm too tired to work out." "The gym is too boring." "I'm too busy." "I'm too...insert your excuse of choice". The elephant is always concerned about how it feels and how it feels RIGHT NOW. The rider, rational mind, is more concerned with long term goals...what your actions will bring in the long run. So when you get home from work, chances are, your rational mind will have a workout planned for you and as soon as it's time to take action, you'll hear the elephant chime in with, "But I had a bad day and just want to relax.", etc.

In order to fix this issue, you need to motivate your elephant. You need to motivate your emotional side. What are you getting from this desired behavior change? No one ever does anything unless they're getting something good out of it. You need to find out what gets you excited about your goal. As my dearest Jillian Michaels would say, "If you have a strong enough WHY, you can tolerate any HOW." My elephant motivation was pictures of fit girls around my house, it was buying a bikini I wanted to fit into, it was lists of the benefits I would get from reaching my goal, after awhile it was seeking more results because I liked watching myself get thinner.

Essentially, we're human and we're not going to be motivated to do anything unless we see an equal or greater return from our efforts (exercise and eating right is a LOT of hourly effort). If you don't see your workouts as worth it, you're not gonna do 'em. ..because you're not stupid. lol We don't do anything unless we get a benefit from it; so we have to remind ourselves what those benefits are and get our "elephants" follow the path we want.

That's a vague description of what I learned, but it's worth a shot. Best of luck to you!

LOVE this...ty!

bellesouth18

Check out this article by another MFP member who has lost over 100 pounds alltogether. This reminded me of your struggle:

http://physiquelore.com/site-news/motivation-weight-loss/

I had trouble opening it in IE, but it opened in Mozilla.

monkeeface

Check out this article by another MFP member who has lost over 100 pounds alltogether. This reminded me of your struggle:

http://physiquelore.com/site-news/motivation-weight-loss/

I had trouble opening it in IE, but it opened in Mozilla.

Thanks.