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

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trishpsl
trishpsl Posts: 30 Member
in Getting Started
It seems I have started and stopped many weight loss journeys and for some reason this time I have the perfect chance to start big with playing the biggest loser at work. My question is how do you stay motivated? How do you get motivated? I know what I have to do (which is lose about 20-25 pounds but can't seem to get in that mindframe. I feel unhealthy and know I need to do this but how? What gets you motivated and how do you stick with it?
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  • Deena_Bean
    Deena_Bean Posts: 906 Member
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    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.
  • crystalcarv
    crystalcarv Posts: 3 Member
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    I'm dealing with the same questions! I'm ready to make change but somehow I seem to get distracted easily and unmotivated quite quickly. I'd love to team up and help with accountability/support/motivate if you are looking for a fitness friend! Best of luck to you with your fitness journey.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    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."
  • meltedkeys
    meltedkeys Posts: 63 Member
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    take a picture of yourself and measure your waist, hips, chest, thighs, wrist, and neck at the beginning and do this weekly for your journey. throw away your scale as weight can fluctuate with water gain/loss and muscle gain/fat loss. the pictures help alot because you can see the difference by flipping through them quickly. also if you gain three lbs but lost three inches on your waist, who cares! you still dropped size!!!
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    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.
  • jillmarie125
    jillmarie125 Posts: 418 Member
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    hollydubs85 wrote: »
    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.

    this.

  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    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.
  • KingRat79
    KingRat79 Posts: 125 Member
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    simple! don't rely on motivation, if you only do things when you're motivated you will get nowhere and fail as soon as you don't feel motivated. just do it! make weight loss part of your daily life, make it a lifestyle, make it something you do regardless of how you feel.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    edited October 2014
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    "rkgray1 wrote:
    That makes 2 of us. I know what I need to do but can't make myself make that effort or I'll do really great for 2-3 days and then not want to do it for 2-3 days.

    Then you havent made the commitment and its not important enough to you.
  • Justin_34
    Justin_34 Posts: 15 Member
    edited October 2014
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    Hi Trish, For many it can be really hard to motivate yourself to eat healthy and exercise regularly. What keeps me motivated is thinking about how exercise will make me feel each time I do it. The more you exercise the better you're gonna feel right?

    ...But that's just the beginning. You already know that you want to lose 20-25lbs. Great!
    • Imagine what you will look like in 6 months time if you take action today!
    • Imagine how you will look better in clothes.
    • Imagine the praise and compliments you will receive from your friends and family.
    • Imagine how enjoyable exercise will be when you feel lighter, healthier and more energetic

    If you just allow some these thoughts run through your mind as often as you can, you will feel more motivated to exercise and eat healthier.

    This is what helps me every time I feel lazy, down and make a ton of exercises why I don't want to go to the gym.

    You can also watch fitness motivational videos on You Tube to get you in the mood.

    But the best thing is to get up and start without waiting around to feel motivated.

    Hope this helps!

    Now go em sexy lady! ;) Let nothing hold you back.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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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.
  • trishpsl
    trishpsl Posts: 30 Member
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    Thank you all...I appreciate your feedback and you all are absolutely right..dont wait around just do it! You all helped me more than you know.
  • fitmomforu
    fitmomforu Posts: 80 Member
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    A partner! Find someone to that can inspire you and check in. This app helped me so much. I know have a 1 year old and have changed my life!! Add me if you want to chat!! You got this!
  • ViolaLeeBlueberry
    ViolaLeeBlueberry Posts: 182 Member
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    So far I'm finding this site really helpful -- mostly because it's easy. I'm totally lazy, so it's all about easy :smile: 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. :smile:

  • Arizona_C
    Arizona_C Posts: 1,476 Member
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    The first two weeks are the hardest because you make the effort but don't see the results yet.

    Make yourself the promise to give your BEST for 2 weeks, then messure. You'll see a loss of weight and/or centimeters. Put in into a graph. Make an estimation what it'll be like in 3 months if you continue like that.

    Keep filling in on your graph once a week. Seeing the weight going down helps you stay motivated, because you see it works.

    Do take a "before" picture as well, and a new one every month. You'll see you're getting slipper, fitter.

    You'll like the direction you have taken so you'll want to stick to it to make this great transformation continue...
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    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
  • korkyrn
    korkyrn Posts: 18
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    It's as simple as this. You either want it or you don't!!! You have to be motivated in order for it to become a way of life. By saying you want to lose weight you are saying you want to get healthier and in order to be successful your going to need to change your habits. I hate the word diet because we all know that every single diet will and has failed because as soon as you hit that weight that you want to be you go right back to eating what you had before. In order to be successful you must make a "lifestyle change" by cutting out some of those late night snacks or fast food runs. I've found that in order for me to keep myself on track I have to log everything that I put into my mouth and also keep an exercise log. At first it was a pain but now its just second nature and it really has helped to keep me on track and thus the end result is....... I'm losing weight and feeling better both inside and out.

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