What is your Motivation?

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khaosoreo88
khaosoreo88 Posts: 2 Member
in Getting Started
I recently started MFP again, and I started off doing pretty good. As time has gone on though I've gotten worse at keeping on track. I thought i was doing this for my ex, well us, we've been off and on for a while and as of late I think I'm getting subtle hints that's it is finally over between us. That's no excuse for my giving in to temptations, but I'm slipping more and more.

My question is, what keeps you going and staying on track!? I need to find motivation for myself. Anyone of you have any stories to share, your Motivations.

Replies

  • aubrie917
    aubrie917 Posts: 41 Member
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    Right now my main motivation is my horse and my goals with riding. It's hard to excel in riding if I'm overweight. Also, it's mean for me to ask her to work out five to six days a week if I don't do it. Fair is fair, right? Motivations change. It's important to be able to do this for yourself but it's also really difficult to. Losing weight makes you feel better physically and gives you more energy. When you see results, it helps keep you going. Also I like wearing cute clothes sometimes but I don't like being heavy in cute clothes so that's a motivation.
  • girlwithcurls2
    girlwithcurls2 Posts: 2,267 Member
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    I totally get the folks who say that motivation is fleeting. Totally true. However, success motivates me. I finally dropped my "winter chub" weight. Getting past the slow weight gain, stop gaining, start losing those few pounds that crept back on... that was motivating, but you need to get that ball rolling. Once that happens...

    Now I'm back to working out because "it's what I do." People at work ask how I find the time with a job, family, blah, blah... "It's what I do." I'm the poster child for Nike's old slogan, I guess. If I give myself the option not to go, there are too many reasons why I wouldn't (I won't even tempt fate by listing them, but believe me, I've thought of them ALL.)

    In the end, it's now part of my day, part of my week. On my rest days, I have to remind myself how valuable and needed they are because I am so accustomed to just packing my bag and heading to the pool. And I'm a crappy swimmer, for what it's worth... But I do. Because it's what I do. No motivation needed when it becomes routine.
  • KendraMonster
    KendraMonster Posts: 46 Member
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    I spent nearly all my life trying to figure out what was wrong with me medically, finally the conversation turned from "its all in your head" to "well with how heavy you are...". Finally got a diagnosis: Not only did I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis a low thyroid disorder that caused me to gain weight rapidly due to my lowered metabolic rate. I ALSO had fibromyalgia which causes extreme debilitating pain. I apparently have a predisposition for autoimmune diseases so I decided I needed to do something. I am tired of being stuck in this vicious cycle of "you're sick because your heavy-you're heavy because your sick". Time to end the madness and fix this!
  • cassandramarie7587
    cassandramarie7587 Posts: 3 Member
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    Honestly my motivation at this point is fear. I'm 25 and have always been bigger... but I have noticed I gain about 20 or more pounds a year as I get older..as of now my weight doesn't appear to effect regular life nor cause heath issues..but i know it eventually will and i fear what I will be like when I'm 40 if this continues. I fear I won't see 50 if this continues. So I guess I have some choices to make.
  • S1na3dy
    S1na3dy Posts: 850 Member
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    My motivation is to be fit and healthy to start my own family with my fiancé. No pain no gain... Iv always lacked on dieting but now I'm working so hard and I will... Not try but I will loose the weight so I can have the best for my children when I have them. There will be big hurdles to jump over but I'm so ready. Only I can make that change and I will :)
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    To delay diabetes as much as possible. I had a close brush with it a few years ago and it isn't pretty with most of my food preferences involving carbs.
  • 50extra
    50extra Posts: 751 Member
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    Well for me its two parts.

    The first is what "motivated" me?
    I was big when I was young, I was fat when I was in college, now I am obese as an adult/father/husband
    I have a nice piece of property at a lake and I don't like being with my shirt off - this causes problems when the reason for buying the property was to go boating all summer.
    My daughter is now one, I don't want her grow up with bad eating and exercise habits
    I have a sexy little wife 5'7" and 127lbs, I'm 5'10" 242, that is just not fair for her

    What keeps me motivated now?
    Knowing that by following CICO it is possible to lose weight at a sustainable healthy rate
    Posting onto my news feed exactly when I exercise and what I eat
    Reading about my MFP friends and the success that they are having in their quest for a healthy life
    Setting small goals to work towards
    And I would say one of the biggest ones is posting weekly photos of myself on my motivation journal. I don't like being around people I know with my shirt off, let alone posting for potentially millions of people to see. Every time I post it puts more drive in me to keep going, I am sick of looking at my current self and want to get to the point where I look at my new self.
  • almanelly_
    almanelly_ Posts: 1 Member
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    Losing weight is an everyday struggle. Sometimes I do better than others, but I want to keep going because I fell better. As some of you had said, small steps helps to keep going and manage stress.
  • goyabean
    goyabean Posts: 28 Member
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    My motivation is feeling good. Several years ago I lost several pounds only 20 lbs away from my goal and then I got in my own way and gained my why back plus an additional 20 lbs. I remember feeling good and feeling happy and content and beautiful. I want that again. I never envisioned myself overweight in my 50s and now that I'm 46 I'm getting worried that I will never feel that way again. I want to be the one in control. I want to control my weight and health not have it control me as it had been the past couple of years. I need to see results to stay motivated without that I'm scared I will give up. I worked out religiously before with nothing then I found out I had hypothyroidism now I'm medicated and that is under control is time to reel in the rest of my life.
  • ama3387
    ama3387 Posts: 242 Member
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    I'm getting married in September of 2017. I want to look like the bride I always pictured myself being. Also I want to have my energy back that I used to have.
  • BenOsen3
    BenOsen3 Posts: 121 Member
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    I am 41 and I see a lot of people I went to school with who look like they've kind of just given up. I don't want that. The mental aspect of throwing weights around is a plus also.
  • samchez0
    samchez0 Posts: 364 Member
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    That person looking back at me in the mirror. I want to be able to enjoy things more and I can't do that at my current weight. I have no energy to play with my kids as much as I'd like and that sucks for me and them.
  • khaosoreo88
    khaosoreo88 Posts: 2 Member
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    Thank you all for sharing. I see motivation can come from many different places and I just need to find mine and then stick with it. All of the replies I've gotten have helped and I am ready to work toward my goal now. Once I get over the hill I'm sure I will have all the motivation I need, I'll just have to hang in there through the beginning.
    Thanks again everyone for your sharing and great reasons to keep going.
  • SisterSueGetsFit
    SisterSueGetsFit Posts: 1,211 Member
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    Health, happiness and partly this if I'm being honest...
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