Working hard on doing the right "stuff"... You?

I try to set smaller, more easily achievable fitness and diet goals for myself to help keep up the motivation. I am working on bringing my diet soda consumption down now, which is an easily quanitifiable number not affected by other fluctuations outside my control. The same goes for my running distances and weights. Even if the scale isn't budging, seeing the amount I lift go up is heartening. Also track your measurements since they may show improvements that the scale doesn't.

In many ways its the little things that help keep it going. A year ago i was recovering from hip replacement surgery. and yes while I'm 56, its pretty young to have (I had fractured it Mountain bike riding and didn't realize it for several years). Easy excuse to not do anything but eat and even after surgery and the PT, I didn't get back to doing anything. Now, I'm doing something virtually every day, getting rid of the stress eating or just becuase I'm bored. I would like to have lost double what I have lost but I know I'm healthier, my clothes are starting to fit better and I feel better! My favorite saying or one of them is - it's a Marathon not a sprint. Some days it tough to be patient but that and being persistent will pay off! We are all in this together.

Track in every direction. weights, measurement, photos. Sometimes one thing doesn't change..like weight, but you LOOK better...so, take it in stride. I just took a week off from the scale because I felt like it was just making me angry. Sometimes relaxing on diet a little bit helps because your body adjusts to always getting and doing the same things.
Try changing your routine, like, take a week off from cardio and just do lifting. Or start lifting. I dont know what your routine looks like, but your body adjusts to that too, so try taking a break from one style and pick-up heavier on another.
Whatever you do. Don't give up.You will absolutely get there!

What an awesome response! Congratulations on all of your hard work!! I have always enjoyed exercise and feel really good when I set out to reach a goal and cross the finish line, so to speak. I am wondering how you are tracking your body fat%? I do have the weight watcher's scale that measures that but I am not sure how accurate it is. You are right, I should not set a time as to when I can/should reach my goal because it is a bummer when it is going slowly. It can make it seem like I am only going to fail in reaching it. What has been your inspiration? It must be great to have a trainer!

I think when we set these goals we end up sabotaging ourselves. It's sad but true.

I've battled my weight all my life. Obesity is a major issue in my family. I was a size 18 and I'm now sneaking my way into a size 8. But this has literally been over the course of 10 years. I've gone back and forth. I think I just got sick and tired of not liking myself. If I let someone treat me as badly as I treat me I'd kill em! So I found a love for myself and in doing so I found that I take care of things I love and that means not poisoning myself with bad food and ridding my body of the poison (fat) that has made a home there. So I set out to be the best ME i can be. And if it takes me 6 months or 6 years to do then so be it! But I will be kind to myself and patient and love my body and the changes it's make every single step, fall and crawl of the way. And the beauty of all this is it's inspired my mom who has also joined MFP a couple weeks ago and has lose 5lbs!!!!

At the gym I use their calipers or their body fat machine (remember when you use the digital one it's always 5% higher). I get it now when they say this is a life style. It is. And if you're not ready to make changes for the rest of your life then you will continue to struggle. I have found that the more I know the less I want bad food. If you really find out the crap that's in a lot of these foods that are prepackaged or fast food it's so easy to stay clear of them.

Having a trainer is amazing. She's become my biggest cheerleader and has taught me SO much. She's become a great friend. Expensive as hell, I wont lie. But if you calculate how much you spent on mindless eating there is no excuse to spend that same amount of money and investing it in yourself.

Take it one day at a time. Celebrate (not with food, try treating urself to a movie or massage or a manicure) when you stay under your calorie goal for the day. Monitor your progress at the end of the week.