Feeling lost and demotivated

Hiya, It sounds like youve been struggling recently. Can I ask some questions? How many calories are you eating on a normal day? (not the 3000cal days obvs). Because that can cause problems with tiredness if you're under eating. And are you restricting certain foods? Are you telling yourself no pizza, then craving pizza and then later curling into a ball of self pity around an empty pizza box? (No judgement here if thats the case, weve all been there-me included).

I tend to find that if you're having a blowout its cause youve told yourself you cant have it, and then its all you can think about. Personally, I have nice stuff every day. A piece of chocolate, or a chocolate pudding. And then I dont get mad cravings,

As to next week, I went to visit family last weekend. I understand the pain. The most exercise I got was a walk to the park and back (20mins in total). But when we ate out, i googled the restaurant first, found a meal I wanted, then researched the calories, and planned my food for the day around the dinner i wanted. If you want goodies, pick things that are eat in small quantities, not a pack of cookies or pringles where you can eat the whole packet (Ive done it... many times) but small individually packed chocolates or mini cheddars or ice gems or someting similar. Plan things in advance if you can. I found it really helps me. I really fancy pizza, the guys want to order dominos... look at the menu, realise that half a medium is 600 cals and then share with someone.

And just fit exercise in where ever you can, Im one of those people that dances around my room while im getting dressed, I do stretches in the shower, and jump around on the phone. If you cant fit going to the gym in, find something else to do.

But dont go into next week saying you CANT have something, it'll be the worst thing you can do. Be positive, you can have it in moderation. Plan in advance. Maybe ask the visitor to go on a walk with you, or see if they want to go swimming or something. And shopping totally counts as exercise.

And if you do have a blow-out day again, dont worry about it. Tomorrow is a brand new day. Start over. I do it all the time, and have been steadily losing weight. If you feel bad about something, then just spend a bit longer at the gym. And if you're getting bored of the gym, try a DVD (good if you dont have time for the gym but yove got a spare half hour) or swimming, or something different.

Also, Im totally a newbie too really, so im no expert. Hope this was a little bit useful to you :S

Feel free to friend me, if you need a buddy or some motivation

Laura x

What a great reply groovy_gals2000y,

You have certainly motivated me! I will be watching for more of the ssme. Have you thought of starting a blog
As for tiredness,, no motivation..cravings..we have all been there. That is why MFP allows the Community. We are all in this together. I have read a lot of posts over the last 55 days and not one has been judgemental.

Please friend me and I will try and help.

I get a ton of motivation by looking at all the success stories on here! Keep your head up.

I'm sorry to say that only YOU can motivate yourself to push forward. I know that's probably not what you want to hear, but it's true. If your heart isn't in this all the way you are going to fail. I'm usually pretty tired myself and there are days where I'm out of the house from 5:30 AM to 10 PM (gym first thing, work 8 hours, then school in the evening) but I feel accomplished and strong because of it.

Don't get overly discouraged by one bad day a week. I've had pretty steady progress with one (or 2) bad days a week. I'm going to go over my calories by 500 today because I'm having some beers. If you have a day where you're in the red, just keep moving forward in the morning. Don't fall into that "well, I blew it yesterday, so ***k it" mentality that usually befalls people.

Good luck. :drinker: