Can GET motivated, but trouble STAYING motivated

jennyi27
jennyi27 Posts: 114 Member
in Motivation and Support
I have this problem...I start out really strong when I try to lose weight, but then I fade and start to gain weight. In the beginning, I eat super duper clean, exercise, and track my calories super closely. I drop some weight, and I get excited about it. After awhile, the clean eating isn't as clean, I still exercise (but maybe not as religiously), and my tracking gets lazy. The question I want to pose, is does anyone else have this problem, and what do you do to STAY MOTIVATED? After awhile, tracking every little morsel of food that goes into my mouth just gets really old. I had a couple of months where I fell off track, but I want to finish off this year just as strong as I started. I am really proud of how far I have come (down about 60ish pounds), but it would be fantastic to go down another pants size before Christmas! For the past 3 weeks, I have started getting up at 4:30a.m. to go to the gym, and I have gotten back to my water aerobics classes. I feel like my exercise is in a good place, but my food/tracking needs improvement. If anyone has any advice, or if anyone is in the same boat and wants an accountability buddy, please let me know. I really want someone who I can cheer on and be in communication with on a DAILY basis. I am serious about making this happen, and I am looking for someone in the same boat.

Replies

  • jenniferkorzeniewski1
    jenniferkorzeniewski1 Posts: 3 Member
    I've been in similar situations. And had a family emergency so I fell off from everything. Have just started back to logging my food and walking again. I have just been miserable since the weight I lost came back on. So if you want a buddy add me, believe I need all the help to keep on track that I can get.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited August 2016
    Perhaps rather than trying to go all gung ho and doing a lifestyle 180 why not simply log what you're eating and try to stay at your calorie goal? You don't need to eat clean to lose weight. You don't need to exercise religiously to lose weight, although it's good for your health, obviously. Baby steps are the best way to create lasting change.

    I have seen a lot of people come and go in the 5.5 years I've been using MFP. Some of them start out like you and fizzle out and drop off my feed within a few months. 6 months or a year later they might come back and usually heavier than they were before but with the same exact mentality of "all or nothing". The ones who have lasted the longest and seen the most success are the ones who made small, gradual changes to their lifestyle and stuck with it. They aren't just motivated, they're dedicated to their health and committed to doing the right things most of the time. Motivation comes and goes, it's the dedication, habits and commitments that carry you through to the end.

    I get the desire for quick weight loss and the desire to get it over and done with, honestly I do, because I was that way myself for far too long. Then I realized that quick weight loss wasn't really what I wanted. What I wanted was to lose the weight, keep it off, and live a long, healthy, active life. Once I made that my priority things got soooo much easier for me. I stopped starving myself and beating myself up because I ate a cookie. I started doing exercise because I liked it. I started running because I liked challenging myself. I started weight lifting because I realized that the changes it would make to my body fit in with my goals. Am I perfect at it? Of course not! But since I don't have an end goal it's easy to simply pick up again tomorrow and the day after that.

    I weigh nearly as much now as I did when I realized I was overweight but I fit into the clothes I was wearing at my original goal weight because my muscle mass is more compact than the fat it replaced. That's the kicker for me. I can eat more and still have the body I want. Even more importantly, the things I'm doing are easy for me to sustain for the rest of my life and I plan on it being a long and healthy one.
  • BasicGreatGuy
    BasicGreatGuy Posts: 857 Member
    1. Write down the reasons you want to make a change in yourself.
    2. Write down the reasons (read: excuses that you convince yourself of) that keep you from being where you want to be with your goals.

    If the second list is a lot longer than the first one, are you really at a point in your life where you want change for the better? If so, make sure that the goals you have set for yourself are manageable (time wise)

    Set daily goals for yourself. If need be, place postit notes reminding yourself of your daily goals, as well as your short and long term goals.

    While it is important for us to never forget the trials and tribulations we have gone through, (in whatever area(s)) it is also important that we don't constantly look back at our old shadow. If is very difficult to walk forward in any meaningful way, if one is always looking back.

    Last, and certainly not least, don't keep beating yourself up over the past you. Acknowledge the past actions for what they were, take ownership of them, forgive yourself. Don't keep going to your personal graveyard and digging up what was already buried.

    Keep reminding yourself that you can achieve your goals. It may take a little longer than you anticipated, and that is ok. The main thing is to not give up.

    Inspiration begins and ends inside of you.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    You don't need to feel motivated every day. I suggest creating some habits, a routine, a plan, then follow the plan regardless of how you feel that day. Make a couple small changes to start, then build on those as you go along.
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
    lorrpb wrote: »
    You don't need to feel motivated every day. I suggest creating some habits, a routine, a plan, then follow the plan regardless of how you feel that day. Make a couple small changes to start, then build on those as you go along.

    Yup, just this. I'm not really all that motivated, and yet I've been doing this for over a year and 130 lb. lost. I don't go crazy on exercise - 3 hours/week of planned training split between strength and cardio, then as little or as much unplanned exercise as I feel like - and all of those unplanned things are things I genuinely enjoy doing.

    What I do to stick to my calorie goals is plan. I plan my next day before I go to bed at night, and I eat what I planned. I don't log what I eat, I eat what I logged.

    I also didn't make any drastic changes - my goal wasn't to be perfect, my goal was to make the smallest changes necessary to reach my health and fitness objectives. There are a lot of further improvements I could make, but I don't - they aren't important right now. All I really track are calories, protein, and fiber, and the last just for my personal medical needs.

    It's really important to have a system that you can do even when you're not motivated.
  • chimonetabron2014
    chimonetabron2014 Posts: 57 Member
    I feel you! Once I start I can do the daily grind but once I stop its HARD to get back on the saddle & stay motivated but you can do it!!! Feel free to add me :)

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