How Have You Gotten Back your Motivation?

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auteurfille22
auteurfille22 Posts: 251 Member
in Motivation and Support
I started out really strong in February. I lost 17 pounds, going from 159 to 142 by June. Then, I went away for the entire summer and didn't have internet access, so I didn't log the entire time. Despite that, I was in a place where I could only eat at mealtimes, and since snacking is usually my weakness, I didn't gain anything, and came back a couple of weeks ago still at 142. Now that I'm back, I want to start losing again and get down to 125, my ultimate goal. The problem? I can't find the motivation that I had in February. I consider logging calories, and then I go and have a cookie - and don't log it. It's like I have no self control. I don't log in for days at a time - I never missed a day early in the year. I've gained two pounds in the past two weeks, and I CANNOT keep going in that direction.

I realize that in the end, the motivation has to come from me. No one else can make me to do what I need to do for my health if I don't choose to work at it myself. What I want to know is, for any of you who have been in this situation and got back on the right track, how did you do it? What pushed you to start making healthy decisions again? Do you have any advice? Thank you!

Replies

  • lolsauce
    lolsauce Posts: 36 Member
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    Hello! First off, welcome back to MFP. I was in the same situation a few months ago. I lost around 25 lb last year and then school and life caused me to put weight loss on the back burner. When summer came around, I decided to start keeping track of my weight again. Luckily, I only gained back around 2-4 lb. While I wanted to lose weight, I didn't have the motivation to count calories. After a few weeks of being more diligent with my food intake, I saw my weight remained stagnant and got very frustrated. I decided to start counting calories again, even though I really didn't want to. In the beginning, it was really hard to get back on the horse (I had my fair share of cookies and ice cream), but after the weight started coming off again I felt the motivation I felt last year. Also, I started using the MFP website to communicate with others instead of just using the MFP app to log calories and exercise. The sense of community is a huge motivator too. Hope this helps!
  • Donald_Dozier_50
    Donald_Dozier_50 Posts: 395 Member
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    Welcome back !
    Different reasons, same problem. I can only walk (doctors orders) for exercise due to many permanent disabilities and I was doing great for 3 months losing 67 lbs. I had a severe foot injury occur and it has prevented me from doing any walking. It would have been very easy for me to put the diet on hold right along with the exercise walking but the thing that has kept me going for the past 7 weeks or so is the fact that I still use the same belt that I did when I had a waist measurement of 56 inches. I had gotten down to a size 42 pants so the belt reached pretty far past where it should. I have, in these 7 weeks only lost 3 lbs. but am now in pant size 36 with the loose end of the belt reaching to the center of my back. That is the motivating factor for me that reminds me every day why I am doing this and where I was but still with a long way to go. I am at 217 with a goal of 183.

    I had been walking an average of about 11 miles a day with the best day being 31.79 miles................ from that to nothing is hard to take. I even had a Physical Therapy evaluation that determined I could do no exercise including walking and my weight loss was predicted to be 2 lbs. a month............. three months later I had lost 67 lbs.

    Just keep it up and it would help if you find people in real life with the same goals of losing weight as you. In the absence of that, people here are a great substitute. I am always here and often message friends here even though my wife is dieting and on MFP too.
  • fourwordletter
    fourwordletter Posts: 2
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    I did the same exact thing..the only thing that got me back on track was looking at success stories here; and taking my before picture and looking at a picture of me now. If I can see that my hard work HAS paid off (I'm one of the ones that have lost 25 pounds but have yet to drop a size x.x, so pictures are the only victory for me), it gives me motivation to keep trying..

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