Motivation...how to get it and stick with it?

I think what motivates one person is completely different than what motivate the next. I look at my parents and I see my mom struggling with terrible back/joint pain...family members older than me with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and an array of health problems. I'm 35. I don't want that *kitten* when I'm older so I better fix myself up now and prepare for the future. There's no time like the present, and while I'm still young enough to fight for my future...I'm gonna fight for it. Also, I have 10 year old twins who look to me for guidance. Better for them to see me make healthy choices, exercise and get enough sleep than to not see it. They learn by watching those around them. If I am doing this at 35, maybe they'll already be where I am by 25 or younger. You just have to do it. You either want it bad enough or you don't...find your trigger and pull it.

motivation might be nice, but it isn't always there. sometimes that bed is more comfortable than going to workout at 5am. but you've got to do what you got to do.

personally, i like signing up for races, as they usually give you a goal to strive for, generally something more tangible than "lose XX amount of pounds by this date."

The answer is this:

Stop relying on motivation to get you to your goals. 20-25 pounds is going to take time to lose. That's how much I lost to get to my goal weight. Motivation comes and goes. Don't rely on fitspo or cute quotes to get you into the right attitude.

Make a plan, and follow through with it. Do you have to be motivated to take a shower regularly? Do you have to be motivated to brush your teeth? I hope not.

Don't accept mediocrity when it comes to your fitness. Set goals (other than weight loss). Push yourself. Succeed. Rinse. Repeat.

I think its a mistake how much people rely on others to motivate them.
It clicked for me because i realised I had to do it for health reasons and it would be my own stupid fault if im in the high risk categories for the most common killers. So health reasons. I'm pretty logical and analytical so I did some research , read up and that motivated me.

I then read up some more about what would be needed and prepared a reasonable plan.

I got myself a good mindset and now im putting it into action. Small achievable targets made encourages you to carry on, its achievable if you put your mind to it. MFP helps me track calories and create the deficit easily, im still learning, but im focused and steering myself in the right direction. Make the commitment and then do what it requires. Whilst many are successfully following balanced diets and a change of lifestyle there are also a lot of people who dont understand fully whats required and what they are attempting, which is a shame because good preparation makes it much more likely they will succeed imo.

Back to the OP and how to stay motivated, then guess once I am focused i'd just be competitive. My only concern about a biggest loser competition is that im adhering to the idea that you should be aiming for 1-2lb loss a week. Its possible to lose more, depending on weight and deficit, but id be more worried about losing muscle, not getting enough nutrition and doing things safely.

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Then maybe I haven't and should just delete my account now and not waste my time. Thanks for this.

Bit of an overreaction, but its about choice and making a commitment. MFP is about lifestyle changes and to get there you have to do some things differently over a sustained period of time.

Do you want to be a person who just talks about it or will you make the effort to implement changes and see it through from start to finish becayse its importnat enough to you for whatever reason? It's your choice. You will just get more frustrated if you yo yo.

So far I'm finding this site really helpful -- mostly because it's easy. I'm totally lazy, so it's all about easy The daily logging of what I eat is a great reality check and an enlightening motivator. (Who knew Oreos had almost 50 calories per cookie? I am so un-motivated to eat Oreos right now.) Knowing that if I work out today I can get that piece of cake or glass of wine, no problem, is a great "carrot" for this lazy horse. I just started doing this "add friends" thing (I'm slow to figure things out LOL) and it's motivating to see that other people have walked X miles or whatever ... it's a nice little reminder.

Naturally I have all kinds of motivators in terms of the big picture ... from looking better in clothes I like to being a healthy old gal someday rather than someone who can barely get off her duff ... but that's not what really gets me to the gym on a daily basis! Instant gratification is your friend.

And as the saying goes, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. You don't have to become a fashion model; just to get to a weight and fitness level that's healthy and you can easily maintain ... and that means YOU, not some other imaginary perfect person who just looooves running marathons and then lifting weights for an hour and nibbling on a radish. 20 to 25 pounds will take a while, but girl, I see a kid in your pic. Toilet training? Takes a while. Seems like it will NEVER happen. That's what you're looking at. Raising-a-kid level of progress. But you never doubt the kid will ultimately get toilet trained, right? It's like that.

In terms of "playing the biggest loser at work" -- well, I've never seen the show, but I'm gathering it's a workplace competition based on it? That's cool. I did a workplace competition with a step monitor some years ago ... it was a good motivator cuz it got us all off our butts at lunchtime. Just remember that you win even if you don't "win"!

Good luck. As long as you're pointed in the right direction and keep on keepin' on, you'll get there.

My thought's on motivation - this was something I thought about a lot:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Alatariel75/view/a-slowly-changing-mindset-or-why-motivation-is-not-what-i-need-668330

Motivation is as individual as a person's favorite color. And surprisingly the longing to be in a smaller size pants typically is not enough of a motivator for most ... I know that was true for me.

In order to genuinely be motivated to do anything, often times it takes a lot of self reflection with an almost unforgiving truthful eye - which may be rather difficult for some.

For some, motivation comes from their competitive nature (ie. I'm going to lose more weight than so-and-so), while other is for the love of others (ie. I need to get healthy so that I can play with my children at the park without being out of breath walking to the car), and some come to the realization of their own mortality (ie. father had a heart attack & died at 40 attributed largely to being obese & they're turning 40 this year).

For me it was the fear of diabetes and my goal was never to lose weight per say. It was always focused on eating healthier & incorporating regular physical activities into my life. In focusing on eating healthier & starting a regular exercise routine, I lost weight on the way - it was more like a added side effect of my goal and not I wanted to lose weight to get healthier. That little change in my own approach took the pressure off to 'lose X amount of pounds' by X amount of time because I understood, that I wanted my life to change in it's entirety and not just a temporary fix to fit into this season's cutest pair of jeggins.

Whatever it maybe for you, only you can decide what that is because I do strongly believe that motivation is the key difference between 'another diet' vs. a 'lifestyle change.'

A commitment to transforming the status quo to a healthier life has to be more like 'I have to do this because [Insert Reason Here]' Rather than that loose rattling doorknob on the bathroom door. I should fix it because it's annoying & irritating. But it just never quite seem to rate high enough on the list of priorities where other more pertinent things 'always comes up & take precedence.' ie. changing the light bulk in the kitchen.

SO ... I'd highly recommend a nice sit-down with yourself and have that heart-to-heart as to why you want to have a healthier life. Best of luck to you!