What is your motivation? How do you discipline yourself?

This sounds so juvenile, but I give myself rewards based on points systems.

I keep a jar with those glass pebbles in it and put one in for different things

- burning more than 200 calories
- staying on track for a certain amount of time
- logging daily
- lossing a pound

Once I get to a certain amount of pebbles I give myself a reward…I go out for frozen yogurt (but only get sugar free or fat free with lots of fruit), get a new color of OP nail polish, buy a cute dress when I lose a certain amount of weight, my biggest one is a new tattoo when I get to my goal weight. I sounds silly, but I like it because it keeps me on track and allows me to treat myself.

I keep low calorie snacks around. I'm not going to be able to rid my house of all the junk food other people choose to eat, so i've learned that I am going to crave that brownie or ice cream. So i keep fiber one brownies around, weight watchers ice cream, fudgesicles, etc. It feels like a reward, but still under 100 calories. So if i make it through the day and do good, I get to eat some of that at night.

As for the motivation, that was always something I had trouble with, which was obvious by how many times I failed lol. This time I stuck to it long enough to see results. And that was my motivation. And the results just got more and more significant and it was more and more motivating. Now i'm just too far in, too much lost, too happy with the results to be able to give that up. I think you become your motivation and once u see that, it's really impactful. It's just a struggle, for some people, to get to that point. =]

My motivation is to keep thinking about how tired, sluggish and weak I felt before I started exercising. I had some scary blood pressure readings and it also made me think about having to take medication for that one day. The bp is ok for now but it runs in my family, as does cardiovascular diseases and depression. I want to be able to hike some trails in the area without getting winded.

Those are the things I think about that keep me going with this journey.

I like this idea too! I'm a teacher with the summer off(woohoo). I have be treating the gym as my "part time job" and have been pretty dedicated to going. With the school year looming, I am worried about not getting in as much exercise as I have been. I think your idea is fabulous and knowing that I will get a "treat" (and the rewards you have for yourself are great too!) will keep me motivated. Who doesn't like a nice reward?
Best of luck and continued success. If anyone would like to add me as a friend, feel free.The support on this website is really helpful.
~Lauren

I have a motivation board hanging next to my closet. I keep pictures of my daughter, motivational phrases, and a picture of a hot air balloon because I am going on a ride when I hit my ultimate goal. I set non-food related rewards for hitting mini goals. (Pedicures, body lotions, clothes, etc.) I schedule workouts in each day and I find taking classes makes it really easy to be in and out in an hour at the gym.

1. I don't go to the gym. I don't rely on exercise for weightloss. You don't need to. All the research points this way now. Weightloss should be 80% diet 20% exercise and that could be just your daily activity. Exercise for health, not to be skinny.

2. I make my weightloss journey full of strategies which make it easier for me to stick to the program.

3. I make rules for myself. I designed my own diet and refine it as i go along, though i do pick up ideas from books and forums.

4. I been on my journey since early January. I like to log my food. I spend quite a lot of time on make sure i enjoy the food i eat. I don't believe in feeling deprived so i make my healthy food delicious. Until a few days ago i never planned my meals ahead of time, until 8 weeks ago, i didn't bother with calorie counting. I just wrote down everything i ate and in combination with a daily weighing i was able to monitor and moderate progress. For the food, i would just go shopping once a week and stock up with lots of fruit and vegies and other nutritious healthy food. I eat only whole foods. Nothing processed at all because its a healthier and more satisfying. Someone has a recommendation, not to eat things with more than 5 ingredients on the package. That would be a reasonable place to start. I am only planning and counting now because i'm sort of interested in it. If i didn't have the time i wouldn't do it. I'd just continue to log my food in detail and weigh daily - bearing in mind the crazy fluctuations of the scale and not being about upset about it because i understand it.

What works best for me is not having to use my willpower all the time to stop me from faltering. Thankfully I like exercise, so once I start I don't need much motivation to continue, as it just makes me feel good. Foodwise, I find the right plan/ diet can do much of the work for you, as for example right now doing a lower carb thing, I find I'm not actually hungry very much. Also on food, tackling the things that cause cravings I found helpful, and in my case that was ensuring no blood sugar funkiness, and also cutting back on sugar gradually which has helped ensure I've had no cravings.

I think if I had to rely on willpower constantly to keep me on track, I would fail eventually, or at least slip a lot more. Having an effective plan that helps fight the common areas in which I might fail, helps a lot

Building motivation was slow for me. Cut back calories here, do a little more exercise there, pretty soon it was adding up. currently I am a fanatic about logging intake and almost made it to 5 workout per week.

The friends here, their encouragement without criticism, has been a large factor in building momentum and motivation.

Seeing a good loss on the scale is like a drug. It gives me a big boost of confidence. I also am being held accountable by all the people on facebook. I've come so far and I've had more than one person come to me and tell me I'm an inspiration. I didn't set out to be one, and I'd argue that I'm really not one, but regardless, people are looking up to me.

These days, hmm.. For me, taking progress pictures or pictures wearing new, smaller outfits and planning outings once a month motivates me. I'm a stay at home mom so I appreciate the time to get out once in awhile to show off how hard I've been working and hubby's always good to take me out whenever I need.