Finding Motivation

geekpryncess

Re. Getting motivated...I need help. I'm 35, 5'2", currently ~195, my goal is 125ish, and have never been athletic or active. I'm naturally a lazy person, as I've come to realize. I have lost weight before, when I was able to walk 3-4x a week for about 15-20m, along with limiting my calories to 1200. I'm trying again to lose, but have not been able to get into any kind of fitness routine. The only thing I've managed to do is I try to do jumping jacks at work when I go to the bathroom. I usually am able to do between 150-300 a day, 3-4 days a week. My schedule is ridiculous - I work full-time, commute 3 hours round trip, and school full-time. I leave home about 7:30am and don't get home until 7:30 or 9:30pm depending on whether I have school that night or not. I'm fully exhausted when I get home, even though all I've done all day long is sit on my butt at a desk or in my car.

I NEED to figure out a way to get motivated to exercise a little (lot) more consistently, because I am just not getting any major results with my weight loss attempt. I want to be thin AND fit by next summer. I'm 35 and have never been thin in my life, I can't ever remember being smaller than a size 9, and that was at age 18. I want to do this now while my body is still young and able to enjoy the results. I know it's never too late, my mom is 55 and has been overweight her entire life and went from 275 to 140 the past year, by only cutting calories. She has no fitness routine and doesn't exercise much at all. But that method just isn't working for me. (Of course now that the weight is off of her she is more active, but due to a hip issue she still isn't able to do much cardio or anything). I don't have any body injuries or pains preventing me from exercise, I'm just tired and not motivated to get up and go. I don't have a fitness partner, there is no one to buddy up with IRL, and it's cold outside to do anything outside, the usual yada yada that's why it's difficult for me to work out. How do I make myself WANT to do 15-30m of exercise every day when I only get about 2 hours of "me" time, and many days that is eaten up by homework.

I'm not making excuses, I know that where there is a will there is a way. I just want to find my way that will work for me! I want to find something that is sustainable. Is there anyone here like me? What was your deciding factor that changed your outlook and got you off your butt and kept you off it? Was it a certain workout, a way of thinking, a goal, or what?

nonstopper

Motivator right here!

semousse

I can relate to you. I work full-time, school, wife, and a mother. I was slubbering in my own self pity. Disgusted with being fat until I realize the only person that can change how I look is myself. So, a friend of mine had ordered P90x and did one tape and said she wasn't ready for it, so she lent it to me. I watched it for 3wks before I actually called her and asked her if she was ready for it back; when she said, "NO!" I decided in that moment that I was going to make myself feel good. I have only been doing it for a week and I already feel like i'm accomplishing something. I am 4'11 and when I started a week ago I weighed 200lbs I weighed myself this morning and I'm down 15lbs. This could very well be water weight, but you know what it motivated me to go another week and I am doing it one week at a time. I said that to say don't overthink it are you want do it just try to do something every week, set a short term goal, and once you accomplish that goal make another one and before you know it you are excatly where you want to be. I hope this help you and good luck!

cecyvaquero

I am a mother of 4 kids and at times I just want to give up but I don't. I keep going becuase when I really want something I go for it until I get it. How bad do you want to lose weight. Go for it. If you need motivation. Count on me.

Cyclink

You don't need to FIND motivation. You need to learn how to BUILD motivation within yourself.

There is no place that you will find the motivation sitting in your house or on your table. It is something that you need to ignite inside yourself, so that you cannot imagine doing anything else.

Weight loss is conceptually simple, but takes a lot of work and a lot of attention to detail to succeed. If you can get your motivation completely fired up, then you will do whatever it takes to get there.

geekpryncess

You don't need to FIND motivation. You need to learn how to BUILD motivation within yourself.

There is no place that you will find the motivation sitting in your house or on your table. It is something that you need to ignite inside yourself, so that you cannot imagine doing anything else.

Weight loss is conceptually simple, but takes a lot of work and a lot of attention to detail to succeed. If you can get your motivation completely fired up, then you will do whatever it takes to get there.

You are so right, and I know that is where my problem lies: igniting the fire, finding the energy, overcoming the intense desire to just SLEEP when I get the chance to stop everything else I've been doing for the day. I have been little by little finding ways to cheerlead myself onto actually making something happen. One of the quotes that really spoke to me was "nothing tastes as good as being thin/fit feels" and I try to recall that every.time.i.am.tempted...lol. Theoretically and from experience I KNOW that I will feel SO much better after I am active, I know that if I can make it a habit that the energy will come. I just need to get over that initial hump.

And yes, realizing that the "secret" to weight loss boils down to a simple mathematical equation, has really helped for me to learn to control my calorie intake. I don't have it mastered, but this MFP site and its tools (and before I was here, it was Sparkpeople and CalorieCount) really help keep me on track. I did lose weight before, by counting calories and logging, and moderate activity, but as soon as I stopped the logging, the weight came back. This time I don't plan on stopping, even if (WHEN!!) I make it to my ultimate goal of 125. I have accepted that this is what I will need to do to keep myself in check for the rest of my life. Now I just want to add the fitness and exercise to my equation, and I think I will have a handle on my future and health.

I think your first sentence will be my motivating quote for the week, thank you!

geekpryncess

I can relate to you. I work full-time, school, wife, and a mother. I was slubbering in my own self pity. Disgusted with being fat until I realize the only person that can change how I look is myself. So, a friend of mine had ordered P90x and did one tape and said she wasn't ready for it, so she lent it to me. I watched it for 3wks before I actually called her and asked her if she was ready for it back; when she said, "NO!" I decided in that moment that I was going to make myself feel good. I have only been doing it for a week and I already feel like i'm accomplishing something. I am 4'11 and when I started a week ago I weighed 200lbs I weighed myself this morning and I'm down 15lbs. This could very well be water weight, but you know what it motivated me to go another week and I am doing it one week at a time. I said that to say don't overthink it are you want do it just try to do something every week, set a short term goal, and once you accomplish that goal make another one and before you know it you are excatly where you want to be. I hope this help you and good luck!

I am a mom too, not married though (I don't know if that makes it harder or easier, lol! Probably neither, just different). I am slowly overcoming the self-pity and losing that mindset, and feeling better about my future and myself. It's a long road but every journey begins with a single step. This time last year, I was pretty depressed (unemployed, weight gain, long-distance bf, lots of bleh). I don't feel that way any more, thankfully. Back to work, back to school, and too busy to think much about anything now!

I have access to the P90X but I did like 10m of that and it is just WAY too intense for a total beginner (aka lazy noob, moi). I had a lot more fun with the dance type workouts even though I am so uncoordinated it's not funny. I have so many different workout programs but I don't think I've stuck with any of them more than a week. That would be fine, if I just kept doing SOMETHING after I moved on, but I don't. I just stop, and then it's 3 months before I try something else. I want to change that. Find something, whatever it is, that has me up and moving non-stop for at least 15minutes. And eventually up to 30m. I have this far fetched dream of someday being a Zumba queen...hahahaha...

Cyclink

I think your first sentence will be my motivating quote for the week, thank you!

You're welcome!

I think the hardest part of weight loss is the mental and emotional side. Building and maintaining motivation to work out and the discipline to eat right (or to not eat the Snickers bar) are not easy.

For me, it's all about WHY. If your WHY is important enough to you, the HOW seems to magically work a lot more easily.

Think of times in your life when you had a crisis. You most likely did whatever you had to do and barely thought about it. If you can find a "why" that is so important that it feels like a crisis to not have it, then the behaviors that lead to weight loss can be a lot easier to engage.