How do you get motivated diet -wise?

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  • eapple87
    eapple87 Posts: 50 Member
    I have a hard time with over indulging, especially on my favourite things.

    Could it be the experience that you love? Maybe you could eat before going to the pub and then limit yourself to half of what you'd usually eat and maybe do one drink to one water. Same at brunch, eat super clean before you go and limit your intake. This way you're still having the enjoyable time but with half the calories?

    As for the wine and cheese, sounds like me with tea. It's just something I really enjoy and almost get a relaxed sensation from. I like a nice scoop of sugar in there so I know it's really contributing to my weight gain.

    Good luck!
  • Jankatherton
    Jankatherton Posts: 70 Member
    eapple87 wrote: »
    I have a hard time with over indulging, especially on my favourite things.

    Could it be the experience that you love? Maybe you could eat before going to the pub and then limit yourself to half of what you'd usually eat and maybe do one drink to one water. Same at brunch, eat super clean before you go and limit your intake. This way you're still having the enjoyable time but with half the calories?

    As for the wine and cheese, sounds like me with tea. It's just something I really enjoy and almost get a relaxed sensation from. I like a nice scoop of sugar in there so I know it's really contributing to my weight gain.

    Good luck!

    Sounds like you get where I'm coming from. It's definitely the experience that I enjoy and that sensation of unwinding at the end of the week. I will try your idea of eating before we go to the pub next weekend. Maybe then I could just enjoy a couple beer without all the fatty food. It's still wouldn't be perfect but would be a start.
    As far as the wine and cheese I actually have to sample them ( well the wine at least) for the course that I'm taking ( WSET)

  • Jankatherton
    Jankatherton Posts: 70 Member
    entropy79 wrote: »
    Have you looked into meeting with a personal trainer? Also it can depend on what you are doing at the gym. If you are only doing cardio without any weight training it may not be as beneficial. I totally understand how hard it is when you want to enjoy stuff like pub food and drinks. The important thing is to eat clean as much a possible and not just during the week. I find it helpful to educate myself on what others are doing, especially people who are fit. They will enjoy cheat days, but they are usually between longer spells of clean eating. I hope this helps. Good Luck

    I don't have a personal trainer but I have joined a women's weight lifting group on Sunday's. It's a group of about 8 ladies and run by an excellent trainer.
    I've revamped my training a little recently and it now looks kind of like this:
    Monday - kettlebell class
    Tuesday- ballet barre/pilates or spinning
    Wednesday - off
    Thursday - ballet barre
    Friday - crossfit style class ( real crossfit instructor but done with a ladies only group
    Saturday - spinning
    Sunday - weight lifting group
  • wkwebby
    wkwebby Posts: 807 Member
    Try subbing out your Tuesday or Thursday with weight lifting. If you gain more muscle mass, you could potentially afford more calories in the long run. Perhaps that will tip the scales to allow you a pub night a week.

    But yes, twice a week sounds like a lot to me. I allow the "non-log" or splurge days to only be 1 day/week and that is usually only one meal for the whole day (so I can eat all the calories at once). But that is me. Not everyone can eat just once and be ok with it.

    Good luck on finding your solution to this dilemma! :D
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    I have lost 64 pounds or so over the past two years while having 1-2 alcoholic drinks on most days (sometimes more) cheese 2-3 nights a week as a dinner course, and the occasional pizza, burger, steak frites, etc.

    Here's how I do it: I've never been a huge breakfast eater, so I have a couple cups of coffee with 1% milk and a slice of buttered toast. Keeps me going until noon. I have a light, fiber- and protein-rich lunch (e.g. sandwich with whole-grain bread and turkey, or hummus with lots of raw veggies). I exercise most days for 45-60 minutes, and when the weather is decent, I bike 6 miles (round trip) to work. Finally, I eat my treats in moderation: when I have cheese at dinner, I'll cut a one-quarter ounce piece from each of three different cheeses, and then move the plate back to my wife's side of the table. I'll have one or two slices of pizza. I'll drink a glass of water for every alcoholic beverage (well, that's the plan, at least!).

    I also do some endurance cycling events. When I've burned 3000 calories on a 6-hour long bike ride up and down steep gravel roads, I eat whatever I like for the next couple of days!
  • Jankatherton
    Jankatherton Posts: 70 Member
    bwogilvie wrote: »
    I have lost 64 pounds or so over the past two years while having 1-2 alcoholic drinks on most days (sometimes more) cheese 2-3 nights a week as a dinner course, and the occasional pizza, burger, steak frites, etc.

    Here's how I do it: I've never been a huge breakfast eater, so I have a couple cups of coffee with 1% milk and a slice of buttered toast. Keeps me going until noon. I have a light, fiber- and protein-rich lunch (e.g. sandwich with whole-grain bread and turkey, or hummus with lots of raw veggies). I exercise most days for 45-60 minutes, and when the weather is decent, I bike 6 miles (round trip) to work. Finally, I eat my treats in moderation: when I have cheese at dinner, I'll cut a one-quarter ounce piece from each of three different cheeses, and then move the plate back to my wife's side of the table. I'll have one or two slices of pizza. I'll drink a glass of water for every alcoholic beverage (well, that's the plan, at least!).

    I also do some endurance cycling events. When I've burned 3000 calories on a 6-hour long bike ride up and down steep gravel roads, I eat whatever I like for the next couple of days!

    I definitely like this!
    Do you log everything? How often are you eating pizza? I would be willing to sacrifice a lot to keep my pizza and alcoholic beverages!

  • Jankatherton
    Jankatherton Posts: 70 Member
    I wonder if just adding an extra spin class would help? I was thinking of maybe doubling up one day a week
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    Jankatherton wrote: »
    I definitely like this!
    Do you log everything? How often are you eating pizza? I would be willing to sacrifice a lot to keep my pizza and alcoholic beverages!

    Of course I log everything. My log is my honest report to me of what I have eaten, and how much. If I didn't log everything, I'd be lying to myself.

    I do have to say that my pizzas, 3-6 times a month, are usually frozen pizzas for lunch these days, usually 400-500 calories for my share. I work from home 2 or 3 days a week and I like a warm lunch from time to time. For dinner, I usually cook something, and rather than make a pizza, I'll do something like beef Stroganoff (tonight), coq au vin (yesterday), or tacos (Monday). None of those are exactly low calorie, but if you measure ingredients accurately, you can figure out how much you can eat while still sticking to your calorie goal. When I do have pizza for dinner, I work it into my weekly calorie goal and enjoy it without guilt.
  • dougpconnell219
    dougpconnell219 Posts: 566 Member
    I look at exercise as putting my skin in the game. If I overeat, all that exercise was wasted effort.
  • draco706
    draco706 Posts: 174 Member
    I have a picture of a very nice picture of the Vivian Westwood handbag I am going to buy myself 30 pounds from now. I put it as the background on my phone. I look at it when I go to the pubs or restaurants or grocery stores and I have little treats (a shot of Jameson, dark chocolate) but I really try to stay away from the bad stuff.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    Jankatherton wrote: »
    I wonder if just adding an extra spin class would help? I was thinking of maybe doubling up one day a week

    One extra spin class is maybe 500 calories if someone your size is working at high intensity. For 1/2 lb per week loss you need a deficit of 250 per day, or 1750 per week. 3-4 additional spin classes on top of what you're doing already would get you closer, since for all intents and purposes, you're likely at maintenance. Personally based on what you described I would probably pick either Saturday or Sunday to go out on the weekend, just like that I'm guessing you would save yourself a lot of calories by cutting the outings down by half. Just don't replace it with sitting around at home and stuffing your face like I might :laugh:

    Also it's pretty clear you've been at this a while but you may wish to review some of the forum stickies. Frankly if you're lucky, you may find a sneaky couple hundred calories here and there that you weren't logging, and maybe decide you don't care that much for the item, and easily eliminate some calories as a result (like if your wings are being dipped and battered in all kinds of stuff you don't necessarily care for, you could get em naked instead...). That sort of thing.

  • roystonmcgee
    roystonmcgee Posts: 7 Member
    I just look in the mirror with no clothes on. Instant motivation.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Jankatherton wrote: »
    Hi just wondering if anyone can offer me any advice on how to get motivated diet wise?
    I am super motivated with my fitness and am at the gym 5 days a week without fail over consistantly for the past year. However I just can't seem to stay motivated diet wise. I have not lost a single pound in this last year and feel I have wasted all my time at the gym because my diet sucks.
    I do pretty good through the week but every weekend my husband and I go out for dinner at the pub ( so eat things like wings, pizza , beer) plus often go to Sunday brunch as well. I also enjoy a couple glasses of wine over the weekend ( I'm taking a wine course) and usually paired with some nice cheese. These are just things I enjoy so much in life and look forward to all week. I just don't know what to do or how to give this up or if I even want to! I am so torn! How can I enjoy life and reach my goals at the same time? Is that even possible?
    Help!

    log fewer calories during the week to save calories for the weekend .. but keep logging as accurately as you can until you work out how to adjust your diet to a weight loss basis

    or stay like you are

    weight loss is kitchen based
  • Jonealex63
    Jonealex63 Posts: 9 Member
    Lots of great advice! Just thought I would add a tip I use- filling up on low calorie, high fiber foods before I go have the meal out. If you want to go out and have wings then do it! But don't do it on an empty stomach! Salad or veggies, fruit, juice, even a small baked potato are low calorie options to take the edge off. At the end of a meal of low or high calorie foods we feel the same- full, so help yourself get there with less calories. Cheers!
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