Seriously, How do YOU stay motivated?

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Replies

  • micheleld73
    micheleld73 Posts: 914 Member
    For exercise it was finding friends/coworkers with the same goals in mind to keep me accountable to showing up (so maybe while at the gym find someone you see there consistently and make friends...)

    For what I eat it was MFP...logging in everything I eat and seeing how much I was eating. I'm slightly OCD, so I'm obsessed with meeting my goals (not going over on net or being significantly under on gross) I'm happy with being +/-100 calories, having about 1:1 protein to LBM and staying under on carbs and sodium.
  • sumeetg37
    sumeetg37 Posts: 108 Member
    I just look at my son... it motivates me. <sniffle>


    Ha! Not in some gushy awww my boy kind of way. He is a frickin dynamo, non-stop action. Not destructive or mean but very curious, and active. Keeping up with him (and keeping him out of my stuff) at 250 would have been damn near impossible, even at 210 it's not always easy, but getting better!
  • Lili0817
    Lili0817 Posts: 109 Member
    What are you eating? Junk? If so- stop buying it and keeping junk in your home. If you don't have it, you can't eat it. I have no self-control and therefore I have NO junk in my home. I buy my kids healthy snacks, or snacks that I don't care for and I'm not tempting to eat.
    As far as staying motivated, I think seeing results in my body/getting more fit is what motivates me :) Hang in there! If you want it bad enough, you will make it happen.
  • lise_anne
    lise_anne Posts: 27
    Challenges, I had 3 kids and got married, those were my original challenges to lose all my baby fat, my second challege was losing baby fat and losing it for my wedding so I have had 3 challenges in my life, then had a slight injury to my foot and I was less active gained some weight that was after my last child and I had a super hard time getting back to exercise for 4 years, I would do great for a week or two then back to the same old laziness and not caring then this October I was asked to lead a team for a fitness challenge and the goal was to get the most minutes of exercise in your team to win and I went hard and I am doing great and feel great and also my husband wanted to get motivated too so we have our own challenge for Oct to Nov and who ever wins get to spend 200 bucks on whatever they want but I want to stay motived like this because I think its exactly what I need to get out of my rut, with challenges so I think I will gather some friends and family and see if they want to buy into a fitness challenge as individuals and see who wants to work out to win some spending money. Its hard to see what will motivate you but I find you need to have something to work toward that will make you want to work out.
  • Pearsquared
    Pearsquared Posts: 1,656 Member
    It's kind of weird sounding, but I stopped giving myself an option to go back to old eating and exercise habits. I kind of made it like showering or brushing my teeth. Just daily grooming, and I suppose eating healthy and exercising could be considered grooming for my body, lol.
  • kristen6022
    kristen6022 Posts: 1,926 Member
    I typically set little date goals (like I want to be so and so by Dec 3rd (my birthday). My most recent one is that I want to be 145 by Nov. 22nd (when we leave for my BF's family for Thanksgiving week - his mother is an awesome cook and I want leeway to gain a few pounds). Then I'll want to get those off by Christmas...etc. Nothing big or outrageous and typically I beat them. Like my goal I set in September when is started was to be 150 by Oct. 18th (BF's sisters wedding in Atlanta), I was 148. I wanted to be 147 by Jan. 1st, 2014 I was 147.2 today. It makes it so that I don't eat the cookie in front of me or the extra beer I may want.
  • slim4health56
    slim4health56 Posts: 439 Member
    My "motivation" comes and goes, but my commitment is reinforced every morning (repeat: EVERY morning) when I weigh myself and every month when I track inches lost. It can be a little frustrating when the scale goes up instead of down and when the inches lost don't seem to be enough, but I continue on. Too, I think after almost 4 months, the habit of making healthy choices has become easier. Little steps, sustainable routine, and the cycle of positive reinforcement seem to work for me.
  • schonsdragon
    schonsdragon Posts: 102 Member
    Motivated, I am not sure I am motivated but more determined to get healthy and stay healthy. This journey of me getting healthy is not about weight loss but a lot of changes that put me in charge of me and my life and is a journey that I will be on for life. I got very tired if being the "fat person" and all the limitations that go with it. I like that I can now buy clothes in regular sizes and look good in them but most important I like the feeling of being able to anything I want to.
  • bugtaylor
    bugtaylor Posts: 77 Member
    Praying
  • breanazank
    breanazank Posts: 44
    They way I feel; in my clothing and in my body
  • thatonegirlwiththestuff
    thatonegirlwiththestuff Posts: 1,171 Member
    Pinterest. Heaps of motivation to be found on that site.
  • bobbijodmb
    bobbijodmb Posts: 463 Member
    My motivation changes which is good. At the very beginning it was to not be obese any longer, to have people see me the way I saw myself, to fit into smaller clothes. Now its to be healthy, to live longer, to enjoy the little things in life that I never got to.

    Before it was a lot of external motivation- bought myself an ipod, got a new tattoo, friends complimented me. Those all work.

    Now things that motivate me are accomplishing things that I never saw possible-- getting under 200 lbs, running a 5k, having people come to me for fitness advice.

    It will change along the path but I have found once I got over the external phase, the internal motivation keeps me going more =)
  • salcha76
    salcha76 Posts: 287 Member
    I have a pic of me at 326lbs hanging from my rear view mirror, if i ever hit a drive thru, I throw the fries out the window when I see the pic, I also have a scientific model of 1# of fat sitting at my desk that I stare at, it' s just gross!
  • happydreamy
    happydreamy Posts: 44 Member
    I made an excel sheet... I have the date, goal weight, actual weight, total weight loss, and week #. I am following a diet and exercise routine that should allow me to lose 1 lb / week. It's working well so far. If I ever don't make my weekly goal, even if by .5 lbs, it pushes me to work harder. For me, it's all about the visual-- timelines, graphs, the ticker.
    Good luck!:)
  • UCME77
    UCME77 Posts: 17 Member
    My doctor told me if I lose 30 pounds she can take me off of my blood pressure medication. If not, I will not only stay on the blood pressure meds, I will also gain meds for high cholesterol. She said the weight loss will aid with both. Everytime I think of quitting, I think of my doctor.
  • Keep_The_Laughter
    Keep_The_Laughter Posts: 183 Member
    Setting daily fitness goals. Some days the goals are simple things like reworking a favorite recipe to be more nutrient rich or lower calories. Other days the goal is more demanding, like swimming and additional 800 meters or lifting heavier. No matter which kind of goal it is, having a bit of success everyday, makes change a bit more fluid. This helps me carry a positive mindset from day to day.
  • Myhaloslipped
    Myhaloslipped Posts: 4,317 Member
    Thinking about people who are old, in poor health or suffering from various other afflictions and being thankful that I at least have the option to improve myself. That usually motivates me.
  • Topsking2010
    Topsking2010 Posts: 2,245 Member
    It's a lifestyle!!!!!
  • stumblinthrulife
    stumblinthrulife Posts: 2,558 Member
    Making, hitting, and resetting goals helped me stay motivated for the most part. At any moment I probably have five to ten goals that I'm working toward. Whether they are related to weight loss, running (distance), running (speed), weight lifting, how I look in the mirror, health indicators, etc....

    But I wasn't always motivated. There were mornings when all I wanted to do was turn the alarm clock off and stay in bed. Those times I relied on the discipline I had developed to get me through. The part of me that knew it had to be done would overrule the part of me that just didn't want to do it. Don't wanna? Don't care, do it anyway.
  • essjay76
    essjay76 Posts: 465 Member
    Stay motivated? I remind myself of how hard I work and how long I've been maintaining and I don't want to throw it away. Plus I'm vain and love my skinny jeans. :-)

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