How did you stay motivated while trying to lose 100 pnds?

I am super motivated. I don't and can't just not eat ony one food. I have 5 kids and live on a budget. If we are on the road and I have to eat out and I only have McDonald's coupons then McDonalds it is. I just make the best choice I can possibly make . I choose what will be the most filling and also sustain me the longest just like anywhere else. Protein over carbs and I take a couple of my kid's fries if they even got any. I then log it honestly and make adjustments accordingly to stay withi n my calorie range. Some days I choose to eat smaller meals and snack more. This helps on those days when I can't seem to get enough. It will be so worth it. I know I won't miss french fries a year from now but I will really regret it if I eat them and keep eating whatever so that I get no results. I just have to get through today. That is all I can do. I started 3 months ago and I honestly don't remember anything I said no to but I know I have eaten well within my calorie limit and have dropped the weight for my self control. I would love to mark the loss with a treat of sorts that is not food but I just can't do that. Fitting into my smaller clothes has had to be enough and really it is.

I just get settled in. This is going to take a long time, so I might as well get comfortable!

I commit to doing 30 minutes of exercise a day, but I expect to keep going for 60 once I get started.

I commit to eating within my calorie goals.

I commit to eating lots of veggies and some fruits.

I expect to eat like this for the next forty years. That means I won't be perfect, I just aim to be reasonable.

The biggest, most important part of MyFitnessPal is tracking everything you put in your mouth, be it a burger, a fishwich, or a martini. You see everything you consume and track the effects. Tracking your exercise just makes this more effective. When you see the effects of fast food and how it appears in your daily journal, you will be so motivated to switch to "real" food that is healthy and appropriate for your body.

For me, using an affirmative approach works best. If I say to myself I can't have something, I just want it all the more and it becomes an obsession. Then I have to track what I did! I don't like looking at my food log when I see bad stuff go in my mouth. I can honestly tell you that I now feel a sense of revolt if I even think of most fast food. I still have a soft spot for Taco Bell, but that's about it, and it's not near where I live. I do still have some other high calorie food cravings, which I won't mention because talking about food just makes me crazy. Even these are getting easier to manage.

why do you need motivation if you already cheated to win the game?????


my question is not meant to offend

And here we go with the ignorance!

it is far from ignorant; i was on my death bed from weight was cooped up in a hospital for 9 days with tubes and all kinds of other **** coming out of my body but i didnt take the easy way out.

so i want to know why does one need to be motivated when they have had surgery. isnt the hard part done?

No, the hard part is not done. I have not chosen to take this route but I do have close friends who have. It does seem like the easy way out but it is NOT. There are a lot of physical and mental hardships that come along with having weight loss surgery. One of the hardest I think is that you have not built up the good habits to maintain a new healthy lifestyle. In two cases I have seen friends have large losses due to surgery and then go right back to where they were. People who have weight loss surgery have just as much difficulyt maintaining a new lifestyle as you and I....they have just chosen different tools to help them get there. Bottom line, in my opinion no matter what method we choose to use we all need support.

why do you need motivation if you already cheated to win the game?????


my question is not meant to offend

And here we go with the ignorance!

it is far from ignorant; i was on my death bed from weight was cooped up in a hospital for 9 days with tubes and all kinds of other **** coming out of my body but i didnt take the easy way out.

so i want to know why does one need to be motivated when they have had surgery. isnt the hard part done?

I did not opt for weight loss surgery but I know people who have... It is by far the "easy way out". Some have terrible complications and infections and years of trouble afterward. And, just because your stomach has shrunk, the cravings are still there. She came out and said it wasn't the easy way out and asked for advice on her last 100 pounds.. So yes, your reply was ignorant in the fact you did not even read her post thoroughly before you couldn't wait to jump on her for having surgery.

we all need motivation!!! Jeez!!!

it is far from ignorant; i was on my death bed from weight was cooped up in a hospital for 9 days with tubes and all kinds of other **** coming out of my body but i didnt take the easy way out.

so i want to know why does one need to be motivated when they have had surgery. isnt the hard part done?

Sir, with all due respect, to begin I applaud you on your loss doing it the "hard way." I had gastric bypass April of '12. It is far from the 'easy way out". There is a lot involved in the surgery. And it is a tool to use. Much like the treadmill, elliptical, free weights, or any exercise class you choose. And like any tool, if it not used correctly then you are wasting your time. I just dont see the need to denigerate anyones choices in how they lose weight. Believe me I spent many years doing it the "hard way", only to yo-yo aroud and end up heavier than I was to start off with. If I could have done without the surgery I would have. But, this was my choice. And I have chosen to extend my life by whatever means needed.

the problem with this world and most of the people on this forum is everyone wants results but nobody wants to work hard.

again no offense to anyone but if you get off your butt eat a little less workout a little more you will see results. nothing anyone else says or does will ever motivate you to do anything. motivation comes from within so until you dig deep down within yourself you will not find the motivation you need.


all those childhood books your read and movies you watched the morale of the story was always to search within for the answers so now is the time for you to put you big girl panties on and search within yourself for your motivation.

you can say i am blunt you can say i am an a hole but the truth is the truth and sometimes everyone needs to hear the truth...

For me personally, I actually think the WLS is the hardest way to do it. I had seen so many friends do it and have so many complications, that I begged my doctor to let me try it on my own with the help of a dietician. I dont tolerate pain well and another surgery wasnt something I wanted to do unless it was an emergency. So, I commend anyone for taking the first step whether it was by WLS or lifestyle changes.

One thing I dont do is deprive myself of anything I want. I just learned to work it into my daily calorie goal. I go to McDonald's, I get a bacon ranch grilled chicken salad. Sure I would love to have the fries and chicken nuggets, but I refuse to go backwards. I do have a tremendous willpower when needed and boy has it been needed this last 17 months.

I'm the official cake baker in the family for birthday celebrations, just had one this week. I wont even take a bite, but sometimes I'll bring a 60 calorie sugar free pudding to eat instead. Our family plans one celebration meal per month at a restaurant and I just view the nutrition info the day before going and preplan my meal and work the rest of the day around that.

Because I had 145 pounds to lose, I set 10 pound goals for rewards and they had nothing to do with food. I bought a new high tech kitchen scale, a new hi tech bathroom scale, lo-cal cookbooks, a HRM, weights for using in my pool, new shoes for walking, etc.

Also, I subscribed to every healthy food blog I could find and totally changed the way I was eating (gradually of course). My downfall was pizza. Now I can make any pizza I want with Flatout flat bread for 300-350 calories and eat the whole thing.

I've had double knee replacements which places some limits on my exercising but I have found that in the pool, I can do anything and everything and still burn the calories I need to burn.

Take a before picture and plenty of pictures in between. Measure, measure, measure yourself. Dont think of it as a diet, think of it as life changes so that you will live a healthier life and be around for a much longer time.

Of the course of the last 17 months, I no longer have sleep apnea, high blood pressure, etc. For the first time in many years, my blood panel numbers are all within normal limits. I looked at my father's side of the family and saw heart disease everywhere and on my mother's side it was diabetes and strokes. I keep that in mind, that I am looking at a double whammy if i dont succeed this time. That helps keep me motivated. And of.course, changing sizes was a pure joy! I started at a 26W and am now a size 10.

When you are feeling like binging, go brush your teeth. i used to do this a lot. Fresh clean teeth/mouth always helped me to not put food in my mouth. And when all else fails, come to mfp and ask for help. There are usually people on line 24/7 that can help you thru it! Good luck in your new life!

I've lost over 100 pounds and I wish there was some kind of magic "motivation," but there isn't. And I really wish it got easier with the more weight you lose, but it doesn't. If anything, it gets harder. Okay, that may just be me...

It took me 6 years to lose 100 pounds, but I had made a committment to myself that I was not going to give up, no matter how long it took. I faltered, fell, and failed many times during the 6 years, but I began to look at those moments as learning experiences... and that kept me motivated. I knew I could lose the weight, so I kept plugging away and eventually it "clicked" and the weight came off.

Now that I'm at maintenance, it's just as hard (if not harder) to keep the weight off. Why? Because I have spent nearly my entire life losing weight, so when I got to maintenance I had no concept of staying at that same weight. But those six years of ups and downs has given me a lot of knowledge and resources to keep the weight off.

So to answer your question... my motivation changed over the years. Sometimes it was fear (health reasons, dying young), sometimes it was vanity (wanted to look good), sometimes it was an inner strength to see what I could accomplish. Just keep in mind whatever motivates you to stay on track today, may not be what motifvates you tomorrow. Some days you will lose the motivation... but just keep going and it does come back.

And congrats on your success thus far! You are doing awesome! :flowerforyou:

I, too, am an emotional eater. I went to a nutritionist and she recommended the book called "Intuitive Eating". I have just started the book but so far it's really good.