80 pounds gone and 25 left...motivation dwindling!! Help!!

One of the most important aspects of the journey of losing weight is the development of our inner character. Determining to accomplish healthy things for ourselves, despite the odds, matures us. It requires us to have will power, self control, loyalty, patience, inner peace, fortitude, strength, etc. We learn to show love and protection toward ourselves where we used to abuse ourselves. And so on.

One of the most important things we learn...is doing the difficult thing even when we don't *feel* like it.

Let's face it: having that good feeling of "Motivation" is nice. It's easy to do things when we want to! But here's the thing: Motivation is simply not necessary to do the things that we need to do which are best for ourselves. We *can* still carry on, even if we're not "in the mood".

It sounds like you've made it this far partly by floating along on those good "high" feelings of accomplishment. Which is awesome! Those feelings are like rocket fuel that propel you forward into good habits. But sometimes the fuel burns out for awhile and you have to keep going *anyway*...until the feeling returns. So rather than waiting for those feelings to return, let all that discipline you've been building up and practicing all this time take over for awhile.

And here's the really good news: when you simply do the right thing anyway, and keep going despite not feeling like it....THEN the feelings of "motivation" return to you - in spades. The Discipline carries you through the desert, from oasis to oasis of Motivation.

When I lose those high feelings of motivation, I use that opportunity to lean on my friend community for support and accountability....otherwise, I'd NEVER exercise again and would lose everything I worked for.

I simply throw a message out on my MFP wall, or even on FaceBook: "Hey guys! I REALLY don't want to keep going right now. I REALLY don't want to work out (or whatever). Somebody remind me why I'm doing this? Somebody tell me to go workout!" and so on. I ALWAYS get several people writing me encouraging messages, saying, "Go B! You can do this! You rock!" etc. etc. And then I'm accountable to them. I come back later and report in that I had a GREAT workout, or whatever, so they know I heard them and am appreciative of their help.

Don't give up now. 25 lbs is not the worst amount of weight, but it's not exactly "out of the woods" either. Remember, you only need a waist circumference of 35" or more to be at risk for diabetes, for example. Plus, you're at higher risk when and if you gain a little weight, say, over the holidays, of getting discouraged. Get closer to your "safe zone"...I wouldn't say 25 lbs was in that zone, personally. Hope that helps.