Halfway point motivation nose dive

Jbarbo01
Jbarbo01 Posts: 240 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Has anyone else reached the halfway point to their goal weight and had their motivation nose dive? I've lost 40 lbs and want to lose 30 more but the issues associated with my obesity seem to have fixed themselves at this point. I look okay, not great but not bad. I'm about a size 10 in ladies clothing but at 5'3 I could look better. It's just hard to find motivation at this point to keep going especially knowing it's only going to get harder from here. I fell off the wagon but have maintained my loss for the most part and instead of it being motivating to get back on I desperately don't want to. Socializing is SO much easier when you're not counting every bite of food you take and more enjoyable. I don't have anxiety to every outing that's coming up that involves food and people. In theory, I want to keep going and look my absolute best but not in practice.

Has anyone else felt this way and been able to rewire their thinking to keep going and get to their goal?

Replies

  • Angierae75
    Angierae75 Posts: 417 Member
    I lost 25 pounds and went down a size and everyone was saying how good I looked and then I took two months off because hey, whatever.

    Back on the wagon again today. Could you possibly try to lose slower, so it's a little easier? If you were losing 1# a week, maybe drop it to .5#?
  • LuckyMe2017
    LuckyMe2017 Posts: 454 Member
    I have been at my halfway mark for about a month. I am looking forward to my end result. Set a goal and keep at it!
  • rbiss
    rbiss Posts: 422 Member
    I think calorie counting may always be necessary (or a really good idea of the total amount of calories consumed) to maintain any weight. If you aren't tracking when you go out, it will be very easy to re-gain that weight. I would continue tracking, and maybe be strict with it during the week and take weekends off (but don't go over maintenance). If you have a wedding or a really big party, plan your week calories at maintenance and you can stockpile them for the party. At this point, you can also cut back your deficit, any switch to 500 less from maintenance. I am no where near this yet, but I plan on not counting, but giving myself a 3-5 lb buffer. When I see myself gaining, I won't let it get worse than 5 pounds and I will go right back to strict calorie counting.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    Every pound I lost was motivation to lose the next one. The halfway point was especially motivating to me because it meant I was on the downhill side.
  • AndiVentry
    AndiVentry Posts: 50 Member
    I am so here with you on this! I am 5'4 and have lost about 30... I would really like to lose another 20... for the last month I have done everything WRONG! Food, Exercise, EVERYTHING! Today I am back to it - I worked way too hard to backslide... head up and keep moving!!!
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    I'm at the halfway point. I took a break over this weekend. It was GLORIOUS.

    back on the bandwagon today, though. LOL

    Eat at maintenance for awhile if you want a break. That way, you keep the habit of monitoring your food and logging, but get more calories to play with, and won't gain weight. Then, in a few days or weeks (or however long you want to take), get back on your regular program. You could also modify your weight loss to .5/lb a week for awhile if you wanted.
  • jjmusgrave
    jjmusgrave Posts: 5 Member
    I'm with you. I lost 20lbs want to lose another 20 more and have maintained for the last month. To be fair I did go on vacation where I refused to diet. Getting back into the grove has been really hard. I decided to give myself until after the 4th (lots of party plans/food temptations) before I force myself to get back into it hardcore. Figure a little breather can be a good thing by giving my body sometime to adjust. Just make sure you are maintaining and set a date when you are going to get back into it, and do it.
  • Kman4evah
    Kman4evah Posts: 67 Member
    The way I look at it, it's like a mountain. Every pound is another few feet up the mountain. Some are climbing smaller ones than others, but it's still a challenge for everyone.
    You're more than halfway up your mountain. Why walk back down at this point? :)
    Good luck!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I look at good livin' as a lifetime endeavor...so "half way there" really doesn't compute to me. I'll always be working and kicking *kitten*. People tend to look at that arbitrary target on the scale as the end...in reality, you've just arrived at the stating line of the actual race.

    That said, most people can benefit from taking a diet break..this doesn't mean you go crazy...you should still be good livin' just eating to maintenance...it can be very good mentally to take a break, and this also allows for your hormones and what not to normalize again, etc. Just be warned that many people who take a diet break never seem to come back around to it...and often just go off the rails and gain all their weight back.
  • BEC5TR
    BEC5TR Posts: 1 Member
    Don't give in to it! I lost 10kgs for my sisters wedding in March and then thought I'd take a couple of weeks off for my hard work but then just fell back into all my old habits and have now gained it all back in about 3 months. Starting back over again today but I am just so disappointed that all of my months of hard work were all for nothing :( try to stay strong and stick to it!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Okay woman, here's what you do. Go to the grocery, grab one of those 25 pound bags of cat litter (close enough). Stuff it in your pants and grab one of the 10 pounders and stuff it in your shirt. Walk up and down the isles.


    Got your motivation back? Woman, YOU LOST 40 pounds! WOOT WOOT!
  • riderfangal
    riderfangal Posts: 1,965 Member
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Okay woman, here's what you do. Go to the grocery, grab one of those 25 pound bags of cat litter (close enough). Stuff it in your pants and grab one of the 10 pounders and stuff it in your shirt. Walk up and down the isles.


    Got your motivation back? Woman, YOU LOST 40 pounds! WOOT WOOT!

    I love this. I have lost 40lbs so far with 40 to go and sometimes I pick up my son who is 38 lbs and I think I have lost the equivalent of one small human!
  • LiveLoveRunFar
    LiveLoveRunFar Posts: 176 Member
    Yep happened 2 months ago. No motivation just maintained the weight even tho I was eating quite a bit more and exercising less. That went on for a month. Then one day it just came back as I saw I wasn't losing and went back to staying on goal. And I got that initial weight loss of 3 pounds in one week. Some people recommend taking a maintainance break from the stress of calorie counting. It slows your weight loss down but once you go back it , for me it came of quickly like it did when i first started. I think the frustration of not being able to maintain the big losses I achieved at the beginning was getting to me and when I started back up and saw that initial big loss it was a motivator.
  • BioQueen
    BioQueen Posts: 694 Member
    Yes! I am 5'5" and I originally had 60 pounds to lose (181-120 pounds). Once I hit between 145-150 pounds I would almost always slowly creep back towards 165-170 pounds. It was really rough, and this happened about 3/4 different times (mostly through college, and it is hard to lose weight there anyway).

    I finally broke through. I think it was just a matter of not getting comfortable and BELIEVING I could go lower - I had never been below 145/150 pounds before as an adult. I think it was 100% mental.

    Recently I took a month for a sort of maintenance break at 132 and just started back again to lose the last 12 pounds and I think that really helped my mental state to re-tackle weight loss.
  • haydiz70
    haydiz70 Posts: 56 Member
    Yep, I understand. After losing 30 pounds I pooped out kinda. I've lost another 5 since then but I've had to scratch and claw my way for every ounce lost of those 5 pounds. Ha! I now have less than 20 pounds to my goal and I have every intention of getting there but I did have to take a maintenance vacation. Keep logging and exercising but if you need a break from super strict calorie restrictions, take one. It's a long journey. I'm happy to say I'm motivated once again.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    set to maintenance for a month or so and keep logging

    it's no race

    when, and if, you're ready to start again you will

    in the meantime .. stuff anything down your pants you want .. but I'm not coming to bail you out when the store staff react :)

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