When you start to lose motivation- how do you keep yourself going?

enzosmama · January 2015

This is my millionth "restart", or I could look at it as I'm picking back up where I left off when I took a break over the last few months. Buying a house, hosting Thanksgiving, holidays, etc. craziness. I'm back now, and I'm motivated. Day five- woot! I have a meal plan for the week. I have been drinking lots of water. I'm been getting in some activity every day since Saturday. I'm logging all my foods and feeling great. I'm doing this for me, I have a long way to go, and I'm being realistic about my expectations. I know it's going to take a long time, and right now I'm motivated to stick with this through the long haul.

But I know at some unknown point in time, for any number of reasons, my motivation will fade. And I will find myself struggling. At some point soon life will get busy, curveballs will be thrown my way, I will find myself being tired, or cranky, or stressed... Maybe I will start a new job. Maybe I will get sick. Maybe there will be a family or relationship issue. Or maybe I'll just start to get complacent... and this motivation bit by bit will slip away.

When you start to falter, how do you keep yourself going? Where do you get your motivation from? Yes, I could look at "before" pictures (which I will take tonight) and think about where I want to be, or I can look at pictures of myself when I was thinner and healthier, but that won't be enough. At some point, the support, the encouragement, it won't be enough. How do you keep on trucking and get through the slump to come out on the upswing again on the other side?

I hate to sound like a negative nelly, but I've been here before. And I want it bad. I want it so fricking bad. And I'm not killing myself- I am trying to be realistic and create new habits that are maintainable. But realistically, I will hit a slump. And in all the years I've been trying to lose weight I've never been able to keep going and keep it off. I guess that's why we're all here- if we had it all figured out we wouldn't need to be here, right? But I'm looking for feedback, motivation, inspiration, and ideas. New things to try. I'm willing to try just about anything- I want to be prepared so when the motivation starts to slip I have a set of tools, a plan of attack, to get me through and out the other side.

nfowife · January 2015

I'm exactly in the same place as you- so I don't have the answer. But when I started logging again 2 weeks ago (down 5 lbs, yay!) I saw that exactly 2 years ago, I weighed in at 20 lbs. less than I am right now. 20 lbs. That is a lot to gain in 2 years!! I'm so disappointed in myself that I let those 20 lbs. slowly creep back on when I did work hard to get them off. I was big into low carb/paleo style eating at that time and I am realizing that for me, that type of eating just isn't sustainable at this point for the long haul. I can't commit that for the next however many years of my life I won't have chocolate, or bread, or sugar. But at the same time, thinking back over these past 2 years, there is NOTHING that I remember eating and think now "that was amazing and worth it". It just isn't. So this time around I am trying, like you, to be more realistic, and kinder to myself. I have also realized that for me weight loss is 95% my diet, and not working out. Because I have been working out regularly for the past 2 years and it hasn't really made a big difference in my weight. I still do it, it makes me feel strong and good about myself and earns me extra calories to eat. But without the diet piece I will not lose any weight. So, this time I am being realistic in my expectations (it's not going to fall off me) and foods (If I want a small treat, and I have the calories available, I eat the small treat but I don't go hog wild). I do still eat my typical meals with my family, making very small changes and eating smaller portions to keep within my calorie allowance- but I need for my children to see me eating the food I've made at our family dinner table. Fortunately we eat pretty healthy so this is not a huge issue. I still work out 3-4 times a week and try to stay active (skiing, walking, etc). I'm not going to freak out if I hit a bump in the road. But I am going to keep logging and I WILL meet my goal this time. Just keep on keeping on!

StaciMarie1974 · January 2015

What is your goal? If its only 'weight loss' then that could lead to failure. Speaking from experience. When I shifted my goal, to be more about living a healthy & active lifestyle: the whole story changed. Weight loss became a byproduct. And now that I've lost the weight, I'm in good shape because I'm not floundering about looking for a new goal.

Take a look at what you've done in the past - it didn't work. Try a different angle. Good luck!

MKEgal · January 2015

I did a blog post about motivation & encouragement... things explained in more detail there.

- Set small intermediate goals & celebrate every one.
- Take measurements.
- Take pictures.
- Weigh yourself regularly.
- Be flexible; forgive yourself.
- Celebrate the non-scale victories (NSV's)
- Don't give up!!!!
- Don't make any food forbidden.
- Eat real food; less processed is better.

MKEgal · January 2015

Also realize that if you don't do something different, nothing will change for the better in your life.
If you don't like where you are now, you have to put in the effort to make a change.

As you start to have success, make a record of it:
write your weight on the calendar every day, record your measurements every 2 weeks, look back to see that you're doing more exercise (longer, or more intense).
When I've hit plateaus, I look back a few weeks on the calendar to see that I weigh less than I used to, so I trust in science & keep eating a reasonable amount & exercising and know that I will lose weight again.

MscGray · January 2015

Someone gave me some advise, and I cant remember how they worded it.. but in summation : imagine that in 1 years time you could be closer to your goal or weight loss/health/energy, or in that same 1 years time you could be where you are today wishing that you'd stuck with it..

lthames0810 · January 2015

You have learned the limitations of motivation.

After the momentum of movitation wears out, you are down to the day to day reality of eating the way you're supposed to. The analogy isn't precise, but you can think of this like brushing your teeth. You don't rely on motivation to get up and do that every day. It has become your daily habit and you do it whether you're hosting Thanksgiving or not. It's habit that carries you along after the motivation loses it's steam.

I get inspiration from reading these forum discussions. The remarks of other people on here (besides being entertaining) sometimes just click with you. I have learned a lot and my methods have evolved quite a bit over time because of them. Here are some of the things I've read about that derail people:

Switch on / Switch off: They are either all the way on their eating and exercising program or all the way off. The switch goes off as soon as they overeat or miss a workout. It's what you do on average over time that matters. Consistency.

Radical changes: Major changes to the foods they eat and how much time they spend planning and preparing meals wears people out. It's okay to make small changes.

Aggressive weight loss: Just because MFP allows you to choose 2 pounds a week doesn't make it the correct rate for you.

Don't eat enough: People that used to eat too much high calorie foods and got fat as a result, now think they can only eat lean proteins and vegetables while losing weight. They end up filling up on these low calorie, high bulk foods and then don't get all their calories in. Not only is it boring, but they weaken themselves under eating because they mistakenly think they can't eat anything yummy like peanut butter.

This process shouldn't be so dreadful that you quit after only a short time.

When you start to lose motivation- how do you keep yourself going?

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