Help with staying modivated

blackballoon517

Hello everyone, I have a question. I have tried dieting and exercising many times before but usually after a few weeks I end up slacking off and then eventually getting into my old habits of eating unhealthily and not exercising. Yesterday, I weighed myself for the first time in a while and I'm at my all-time heaviest of 140,and I'm 5' 4''. I was 115 in high school two years ago. Any advice would be wonderful...

CasperO

Welcome aboard, you've come to the right place. This is a great tool that will work wonders. Just take a look at the before and after thread - and remember that the folks with huge successes are just like you, they just started a little earlier. You can do it too, and you will.

This is easy - here's all ya' gotta do:

Cook smart, lotsa good filling stuff. Some fruits, lotsa veggies, some grains-cereals, some starchy stuff, some lean meat. Almost nothing fried (and certainly nothing batter dipped & deep fried), and very very little pastry/cakey stuff.

Count your calories accurately with the food guide here, and stay as close to your calorie allowance as you reasonably can. If you cook properly you shouldn't be too uncomfortable on the calorie allowance MFP will give you.

Get some exercise - work that gym, walk a little every day, something - that's a huge help. Remember to log your exercise and eat at least some (I eat most) of your exercise calories. Exercise is a self-feeding phenomenon. If you push yourself to do just a little today (it's supposed to be hard,,, it's exercise ) then you'll feel better about it and it'll be easier to do it again tomorrow. Then in a week you'll be able to do more, and it'll start to get fun. In a year you might be running 10k's,,, it's up to you.

And drink your water!

That's it, piece o' cake. Wife and I have been doing it for about a year now and we've done well. Lost over 100 pounds between us, and we're in much better shape.

You can do this. Will you?

Chenoachem

The best way I found to stay motivated was to do two things. One create a plan for workout that I knew I could stick with that included a goal (ie, running a 5K or something). The second thing was to create mini goals with rewards. Always make the reward non-food related. Things like after I got up to doing 7 miles of running I am going to buy an ipod of some sort.

Good Luck.

blackballoon517

Thanks for the advice. My goal is to lose 25 lbs! I power walked two miles with my mom today (who usually runs 7 miles a day, rain or shine) so I'm hoping she will be able to keep me modivated too. I'm tired of not feeling like myself so I'm glad I found this site to finally help me feel and look better.

bossybooty

I am not new to myfitnesspal, but I am new to participating in the Message board outside of just logging in my food and exercise. I stopped logging in about a year ago, only because I reached a goal and thought I could do it on my own. However I am back to needing to shed some pounds and of course its after the holidays and into a new year. Also, shocker, I am heavier in weight now than I was a year ago so I know how hard it is to stay motivated trying to stick to a plan and see it out to results and maintainence.

To answer your question about staying motivated. I can give you two reasons/ excuses to what have hindered my motivation. One is my menstral cycle. It never fails that I usually get tired and unmotivated around that time. Two is alcohol. I am not a heavy drinker. But if i have a cocktail or two with friends out at dinner one night I usually end up eating more at dinner and then I feel less inclined to want to visit the gym or get up and exercize the next day. I cant do anything about the menstral issues, but I know that alcohol goes hand in hand with your over all health. The moral of this story is to stay motivated identify what is keeping you unmotivated. Maybe either do your best to work with it, around it or elminate it all together.

Definitely practice moderation, and set small reasonable goals for yourself. Try to keep your exercize fun, maybe listening to some new music or taking a different location (i.e. park, trail) route on your walk or run. I agree with the rewarding yourself when you reach goals with non-food related things.

Just ignore that voice that is telling you the excuses and pay attention to the voice that is telling you to do the right thing. Get up, and get out and dont eat that! :bigsmile:

willywonka

You can do this!!! I agree with setting mini rewards for yourself. I love treating myself to pedicures.
I think two things have helped me more than anything, 1) this website!!! 2) eating at home and taking my lunch to work- we save going out for once a week treats.
Best of luck!

ali258

Try joining one of the groups on the Motivation and Support Boards. I'm part of the Sixers, where we do 6-week weight loss challenges. It's good motivation because you can check in with the same group of people every day or however often you want, and then let everyone know about your weight loss for the week. It has been really motivating for me, and the group has been great throughout the struggles of the holidays with parties and bad food everywhere.