Please HELP ME. How can I stay motivated to lose weight?

One way I motivate myself is that I took a picture of how I looked a month ago before I started dieting and working out. I've lost 25 pounds since I've taken that pic of myself and I look at it all the time and use it as a constant reminder of how I don't want to look. Its what works for me you can probably give it a try and use it to push yourself.

i no longer hide to eat food!
if i have to hide it means i don't need it

jenn102093 wrote: »

I don't know how to stay motivated in order to lose weight. I am miserable and I keep eating a lot of bad stuff. How can I motivate myself to finally change and start losing all this weight?

If you are miserable and feel you cannot control this, maybe a few appointments with a therapist will help. It is not always as simple as "if you want it bad enough you can do it". Sometimes a specialist can help you figure out the right tools to get where you want to be

Try to make it fun. Think outside of the box and explore different kinds of exercise/activity. That way you can burn calories and shed pounds but also have your happy hormones going which might be helpful in curbing bad food choices. Perhaps joining a group class would help you feel supported and keep you motivated. If you don't have the funds to afford group classes (like me), try some upbeat youtube videos. Right now, I have been using Popsugar Fitness 5 minute and 10 minute workout videos. The instructioners have cheerful personalities and their bodies give me motivation to deal with the burn and discomfort.

In regards to food choices, this might be a great reason to start looking up recipes and cooking from scratch. You can find substitutes or alternatives to your favorite comfort foods. For example, instead of fried mozzarella sticks, I could make baked panto crusted mozzarella sticks with an overall lower calorie count. Are you able to meet with a nutritionist? I had one and it helped me. Even though it was embarrassing sometimes when I wasn't able to shed a single pound, she would always give me more advice and tips on what I could do to make some process.

Good Luck!

I reluctantly quote Kate moss
"Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels"

In my experience, people are motivated to do things that they feel successful at. People feel successful when they are able to achieve their goals. I always liked math best at school because I felt successful at it - I was always an excellent student at math. Motivation was never an issue for me. But art was a different story. I felt like I was terrible at art, so I didn't put much effort into it, which of course meant that I would never become good at art because I didn't practice.

In my opinion, goal setting is an integral part of staying motivated, but you have to be careful in choosing appropriate goals. At the beginning, you should be sure to quickly build a sense of accomplishment by setting small, achievable, short term goals. I really like setting goals that focus on immediate positive behavior choices that I can fully control. So I do NOT expect perfection (such as I will exercise every day for x minutes this week) or any kind of time-bound weight loss goal (I will lose y pounds in z amount of time). Setting time-bound weight loss goals sets you up for failure, as you are not fully in control of the rate in which your body will shift fat and water weight.

Make your goals small, realistic, and pertinent to setting yourself up for success. For example, you state that you keep eating "bad food". So one goal you could set would be to get rid of a food that causes you to feel out of control at home and possibly replace that food with something that will help you regain a sense of control. For example, if ice cream is a trigger food for you, you might get rid of it and purchase another kind of frozen treat you enjoy that better fits into your calorie goals. Whenever I try to eliminate an unhelpful behavior, I try to find a replacement behavior that helps me build a healthier lifestyle. That helps me to avoid feeling punished or deprived.

Try setting small easily achievable goals in the beginning, preferably something that you can accomplish in a day or two. You want that feeling that you are successful at becoming healthier. Later, you might be able to have a goal that you work toward over a week or a month. You might have one or two short term goals as well as a longer term goal. Your goals might focus on improved performance in exercise, accurately logging your food, or trying new healthy recipes. Continually setting goals such as these is what keeps me motivated.

aggelikik wrote: »

jenn102093 wrote: »

I don't know how to stay motivated in order to lose weight. I am miserable and I keep eating a lot of bad stuff. How can I motivate myself to finally change and start losing all this weight?

If you are miserable and feel you cannot control this, maybe a few appointments with a therapist will help. It is not always as simple as "if you want it bad enough you can do it". Sometimes a specialist can help you figure out the right tools to get where you want to be

Seconding this. If you have underlying issues with food or self-esteem that you aren't addressing, you're not going to be ready to lose the weight. And while you can work through them on your own (whether that means talking with friends or writing out your feelings -- both things I've done to work out my own issues) seeing a therapist might help jump start it, if you don't know where to start.

Also, yes -- small goals help. First I just counted how much I was eating without changing my habits, to see what I was doing. Then I tried not to exceed my estimated maintenance calories, and then I tried to meet my deficit. It's not all or nothing. Little bits add up over time.

Internal motivation is based on autonomy (you choose how you do it), competence (we are motivated by our own success), and purpose (seeing the Big Reason). See Daniel Pink's TED talk on the Puzzle of Motivation. I went to my 40th high school reunion a couple of years ago and saw the results of a lifetime of poor health habits among my classmates. I do NOT want a life like that. I want to feel strong for many years to come and enjoy my family, friends, and hobbies. That's the big picture. I stay motivated on a daily basis by making a hobby of batch cooking and finding activities I enjoy.

The bottom line is that you can can stay miserable or choose a different path.