Serious decline in motivation

For me losing is pretty easy. It's keeping it off that takes more diligence.

I also am having this problem, with the fear of "one wrong move" (figure of speech) and I'll gain everything back..:indifferent:

That happens to everyone! Motivation comes and goes. The key is making habits that stick and work for your lifestyle. Then, you just DO IT every day. You won't see the fluctuations in weight and you won't be as hard on your self. Simple, repetitive actions daily amount to amazing rewards. All about consistency! And the right people to cheer you on! I'm all ears for anyone who needs a little inspiration! xo

For me losing is pretty easy. It's keeping it off that takes more diligence.

Perhaps that is what I am worrying about.

To add some pop science logic: Worrying causes cortisol levels to rise. Cortisol triggers your body to store fat. Don't worry. Breathe. Do yoga. Decrease stress. Don't worry. Just keep logging, but log yourself at "maintenance" calories instead of 0.5 lbs per week to lose. Or whatever.

Hold the weight you lost in dumbells in your hands. Walk up and down a full flight of stairs for 20 repetitions (1 up, 1 down is one rep). At the end, you'll realize what you've done so far is worth it and continue on.

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It takes consistency to lose and it also takes consistency to gain. You've got to consistently overeat and under-log to gain it all back. don't let a few bad days ruin your week.

Also...read the quote on my loss ticker thing. Its true.

So I've lost a stone and a half. My friends have noticed and complimented me. They say I'm thin now and don't need to keep worrying. I feel happy that I have done well but the last few is coming off so slowly! Because of this I have felt demotivated. I find it hard to get to the gym and make sure I eat right. This week I wasn't eating my best and had a big meal out and I gained a pound. I have to work extremely hard to lose but I can gain weight so fast. Makes me think I'm going to gain it all back. I don't know. I'm just rambling. I feel like I can't lose anymore and I will eventually just end up back where I started :sad:

Unless you ate 3000 calories in that meal, its just water weight, most likely from a lot of sodium. Do you have before and after pictures? Look at them and really remember what your motivation was for starting this in the first place and the motivation will come back to you.

It takes consistency to lose and it also takes consistency to gain. You've got to consistently overeat and under-log to gain it all back. don't let a few bad days ruin your week.

Also...read the quote on my loss ticker thing. Its true.

I that weight loss ticker :drinker:

One big meal out - unless it was some kind of smorgasbord didn't cause you to gain a pound. 3500 extra calories in a single sitting would be a crazy amount.

More likely that pound was water weight either because of your monthly cycle, not drinking enough water, or not pooping before you weighed yourself.

It can be more difficult to maintain motivation to get off those last few pounds because your body is more reluctant to give up body fat the lower your BF% is. The question for you has to be: Am I *REALLY* satisfied with how I look right now? Was my original goal too low?

For some people, the answer is "Yes." And that's OK. You're just entering the maintenance stage.

For other people, the answer is "No. But it's soooo hard to go farther." And the truthful answer to that is: No, it's not. It's just not going to happen as quickly as the first amounts of weight you lost. And each tiny step is going to take a little longer still. All you have to do is keep doing what you were doing in maintaining a calorie deficit, and it will eventually come off.

You didn't put that weight in a few days or a few months. You're going to have to give your body the time it needs to get rid of it as well. Can you show it the patience with which you tolerated having that extra weight in the first place, or are you going to give up and say No? Only you can look yourself in the mirror and answer that question honestly.

You are not alone. My entire adult life I have been a yo you with weight loss. I have never been able to keep it off and that is my biggest fear with my current weight loss, will I be able to stay at my new low weight once I achieve it (I do think I can achieve it).

My only answer to this is that I (we) have to accept the fact that to be successful I will have to eat similarly to how I'm eating now the rest of my life. Yes I will be able to add alittle more calories and treats because I will be maintaining but alittle is the key word here. Now I do not at all dislike how I am eating now, in fact I enjoy and love what I'm eating and I feel better than I have in years. But I also did enjoy eating the unhealthy high calorie foods I am no longer eating (although eating them did not make me feel that great in the long run). They say after you do something a certain way for a certain period of time it becomes a habit so I am hoping that my healthier way of eating becomes a life long habit for me (but yes I'm scared too).

You have two choices here. You can continue losing these last few slowly and steadily. OR you can be one of the people that comes back in 6 months and says, "I gained it all back, here for round 2!"

What's it going to be? :flowerforyou:

Wow! This is awesome! I am so glad you posted this.

I can totally relate. As someone who has gotten to goal weight twice and gained it back, being "big" again and feeling like it is an uphill battle to get back down again is so demotivating. I have been back on MFP for two months and the scale basically bounces back and forth between the same numbers week after week. The whole process has just become stressful for me. I feel like an odd science experiment trying to figure out what to eat to lose (the cals in/cals out equation is NOT working for me).

I am sorry but I find this hard to believe.

1. Are you logging every single thing you put into your mouth (counting the sugar in your coffee to the ketchup on your burger)? I have heard of some people not logging liquids (that would be a huge mistake)

2. Do you have a kitchen scale and do you use it? When not practicle to weigh are you measuring everything? Accuracy is key.

3. Are you picking the proper selections in MFP (For instance there are listings for pizza at 110 calories....sorry but pizza has much more than 110 calories per slice). There are listing for a piece or slice of cake (dont use these, your piece or slice may be twice the weight).

4. Are you sticking to your calorie goals and trying your best to stay close to your goal calories? Are you overjudging your calorie burns at the gym and eating back what you thought you burned?

Your body will burn fat if you are not eating enough food to fuel your body.....its quite simple really. MFP determined that I burn 2750 calories in a day, I told them I want to lose 2lbs a week (2lbs x 3500 Cal = 7000 cal defecit), 7000 /7 days is 1000 defecit a day. I have been eating 1750 calories a day now for 19 weeks and have lost 40.5 lbs and consistantly 2lbs a week so I would say its pretty accurate. It gets old hearing people say they are gaining weight even though they are in a calorie defecit.....its impossible. People can not spontaneiously produce matter from the air they breath. If your gaining then you are not in a defecit. Simple as that.

I always had this problem. I lost the weight, not even all of the weight but enough to feel happy, and then I got comfortable. I realized that I thought of weight loss as a temporary thing and thus my weight loss WAS temporary. This time around I realized I had to change my lifestyle and stop thinking of my eating habits as a diet and start thinking about it as the new way I eat and the new way I will eat forever. I made a commitment to myself to stop thinking about being thin and start wanting to be fit. Once I adopted that mindset, I became so excited about my life and the changes I knew were going to happen within the next year..

I don't know if this will work for you, but just analyze your past behavior towards losing weight and realize that you shouldn't be doing this for anyone else but yourself so no one has the right to tell you to stop if you are not happy with the results yet. Understand that when you lose a lot of weight, your body's needs are different so readjust your eating if you want to keep losing weight and mix up your workout routine (really challenge your body) and you will see results again. If you don't do weight lifting, I highly recommend, it's incredibly the transformation your body goes through after just a few weeks and that is exciting and keeps me motivated. Don't go by the numbers on the scale because body weight is so much more than just fat and muscle (think about everything that is inside your body) and know that you could be getting smaller without getting lighter (as muscle weighs more than fat)

I hope this helped.

I also am having this problem, with the fear of "one wrong move" (figure of speech) and I'll gain everything back..:indifferent:

Remember that "one wrong move" won't undo all your work. You would have to make many wrong moves to do that.

OP, it's entirely your decision what you eat. You've lost weight so you have a good idea of what you should do. You'll know if you're making a wrong turn before you make that turn. Just avoid phrases like "just this once" and don't think of your new lifestyle as the "thing you're doing to lose weight". Instead think of it as the norm and that weekend binge is "the thing you do to gain weight".

If you need a little breather switch your intake to maintain for a bit. Use that time to help establish your new norm before trying to lose any more weight. And if you really need motivation, fill a backpack with as much weight as you lost and carry it around with you for a day.

I feel like an odd science experiment trying to figure out what to eat to lose (the cals in/cals out equation is NOT working for me).

Yes, it is. It can't not. If you are 100% sure that you appear to be at a caloric deficit, perhaps you have a medical issue that is distorting what you think is the in and/or the out. There's no way you can maintain weight over time while at a true caloric deficit.