Living The Lifestyle, Tuesday, April 25, 2017
88olds
Posts: 4,517 Member
Everyone says it, but just how do you do it? How do you take the guidelines of the WW program and turn them into a lifestyle you can live every day...from now on? That is what we are here to explore. Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Newbie? Join in! Veteran? Join in! Your thoughts may be just what someone else needs to hear.
Monday -- RedSassyPants
Tuesday -- 88olds
Wednesday -- goldenfrisbee
Thursday -- imastar2
Friday -- Al_Howard
Today's topic: Motivation: Fact or Fiction
In the interest of full disclosure, its not easy to admit, but I've been looking at another MFP message board. Posting sometime too. There's an entire board called Motivation and Support. So of course there are a lot of "Looking For Lost Motivation" threads.
Some of us have taken the position here on GOAD that motivation is overrated as a weight loss concept. It seems to me, reading the typical motivation thread, that the posters are looking for that good old day one enthusiasm and can't move ahead with out it. What say you?
Have you remained motivated through it all? Found new motivation as you went? Running on empty? Found a different path? How do you keep going?
Monday -- RedSassyPants
Tuesday -- 88olds
Wednesday -- goldenfrisbee
Thursday -- imastar2
Friday -- Al_Howard
Today's topic: Motivation: Fact or Fiction
In the interest of full disclosure, its not easy to admit, but I've been looking at another MFP message board. Posting sometime too. There's an entire board called Motivation and Support. So of course there are a lot of "Looking For Lost Motivation" threads.
Some of us have taken the position here on GOAD that motivation is overrated as a weight loss concept. It seems to me, reading the typical motivation thread, that the posters are looking for that good old day one enthusiasm and can't move ahead with out it. What say you?
Have you remained motivated through it all? Found new motivation as you went? Running on empty? Found a different path? How do you keep going?
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I think I have in fact stayed motivated. My motive to stay on plan is:
1. To remain (or lower) my current weight.
2. To fit into clothing without worry.
3. To insure I control the things I can to have a healthy retirement etc.
Once I started losing weight, the motivation was to see the number dropping. Then it switched to how I felt, as clothing became loose and new clothes were purchased and I looked an felt better. Then came my activity level increasing...the fact I can easily walk/run a decent duration and speed.
Each one of these items came to me as I was losing and the thought of losing those items keeps me motivated. I know I lean on habit day to day, but I can say I have yet to have a time or day where I thought it was OK to just stop. My worst behavior is deciding to eat something I don't normally in a larger quantity than I do normally. I even do that as a conscious decision.
I do wonder at times if I will hold up in the event of something really tragic/devastating. But for now I've weathered storms but was still motivated to stay with it.
Final comment...I believe the social media aspect (this forum; WW Connect) helps me because I see regularly I am not alone.1 -
Chicken or egg? Does motivation lead to success, or success to motivation?
Or does success lead to the "I've got this", which usually proceeds an impending gain?
No answers here, just more questions.1 -
I suppose at the most basic level, there is motivation behind everything we do. You are motivated to get up in the morning (have to earn a living or you'll be on the street), get dressed (Can't work in my underwear), brush your teeth (hate the idea of tooth decay). But you don't really consider those motivating factors, you just do what is necessary.
What I have seen in motivation discussions around weight loss and maintenance, however, is that an absence of motivation is generally given as the reason (excuse?) for failure. "I just couldn't find the motivation, so I 'slipped' and gained 20 pounds." I think you need to get past the reasons why and just do it. You track, because that is what you do. You avoid trigger foods, because that is what you do. It is a matter of discipline and habit, without constantly examining your inner feelings to look for today's motivation.1 -
@DavidKuhnsSr - "Just do it" - that pretty much sums it up for me.
What's that saying? Motivation gets you going, discipline keeps you going? Or maybe it is habit that keeps you going?
I'm a firm believer in building healthy habits so that I don't have to give it much thought each day. It takes no more mental energy to pack my lunch bag each day as it does to brush and floss my teeth. They are just ingrained habits.
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Over my four years my motivation has waxed and waned over periods of time. My first dip was after hitting the -100# mark. That amount was a first for me, it got me to Twoterville and afterwards I was just happy not gaining back what I lost. That had been my pattern.,, lose and gain it all back PLUS MORE!
The words of my WW ML when I lost 100# were not just congratulations but a strong NOW don't you quit! Those words stuck in my head, knowing my past times thinking why pay money and go to meetings when I KNOW WHAT TO DO?
My motivation returned in 2016, I joined a WW challenge on old Community BB "Lose 52 pounds in 52 weeks". I thought I can do that Easily! I lost 37#
So my motivation is back and I made up my mind to set some goals for 2017 and so far I'm still motivated BUT it's only April!
Goals help with my motivation.
I agree with @Al_Howard on asking WHETHER Motivation leads to successful WL or does WL lead to staying motivated! I need BOTH to keep going.
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This is so timely. I was just thinking about the whole motivation thing earlier this morning!
When I first rejoined WW in 2002, my motivation was to NEVER see the words, "This __ year-old obese female..." written in my medical chart again because I *had* seen that written in my chart at my doctor's office. An additional motivation was to come off BP meds which I had been on for a couple of years.
I accomplished both of those things. Unfortunately, the high BP reared its ugly head again after I had been at goal for several years. At that point I think my motivation dropped a bit. The old, "Why bother?" came into play.
I am the only person who can motivate me so I don't look to others for motivation. Support? Yes. But motivation? No. Right now my motivation is knowing that I'll be turning 70 next February. I would prefer to be the healthiest I can be when I reach that milestone. Yes, it's also a little bit about vanity; but not much.
As far as how to keep going -- one meal at a time, one day at a time. I just keep plugging along and do the best I can do. Do I slip and fall? Yes. And I spent about a year slipping and falling -- the whole, "Why bother?" thing seemed to be there. Seeing the nurse record "149" as my weight at my doctor's appointment on April 7 really pissed me off! That was 20 pounds higher than my lowest weight after reaching goal. I thought about that the whole drive home and made the decision that, right then -- not tomorrow, not next week, not next month -- I would get my rear in gear.
My next doctor's appointment is scheduled for September 2017 and I will NOT see 149 recorded as my weight at that time! THAT'S my motivation! I will prove to myself and the doctor that an almost 70-year-old woman on a BP med that causes weight gain CAN turn things around!
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@beachwoman2006 - that's what I need when I go in for my next WI - balloons!!! LOL!
As for comments on my medical records, I remember the phrase "well nourished" which was code for obese in my case.0 -
My daughter's swim coach, last night, said something that rings true to me on this topic:
"If you want it, you will always find a way. If not, you will always find an excuse."
For me.. I think I see a lot of people (especially those just starting out) that aren't so much motivated to succeed, but are excited about the idea of succeeding... and failure can come from the difference between these.
True Motivation comes deep from within.. it is something that compels me to act, because I'm not just excited to see the results, but I WANT to do the things that are going to get those results... even if I don't immediately succeed, that's ok, because the motivation is to do the things (doing them becomes it's own reward, not the end result.)3 -
In the end I think it got down to determination. I was in a bad way when I started my WL journey. As in my weight was going to kill me or hurt me in a way that would be difficult to recover. Sleep apnea, HBP, back pain, knees. On the way up, at a mere 226sih I had joined a high class gym. They told me I should weigh 204. I realize now that they were trying to get me to lose 10%. Instead I became a gym owners dream member, someone hooked in a contract who doesn't show up at the gym. My weight went up and up to about 285 lbs.
By the time I was able to get back down to about 218 on my own, I was a gym regular. I trained with weights. I bought good clothes that fit and looked good in them. My CPAP was long gone. No more bad back, HBP, bad knees. I think my motivation to lose waned because so many of my physical goals had been met. But that voice, that nagging little voice in my head said 204, 204. I joined WW. I wanted to get to 204 lbs.
Then when I got to 204, I didn't think it was enough, but as Al notes, by then I was neck deep in the WW KoolAid. My WL success was running on its own. But I still think in the end it was more grin and bear it than rush of enthusiasm.
PS. Re: momentum. Al notes that WL success can lead to more success. My whole time at WW I've been interested in the failure to credit your own success train wreck, losses that aren't big enough, or the process taking too long. Letting the "not good enough" idea take over your thinking is a motivation killer. About 3 months before I left the Chicago meeting, one of my favorite people was a guy who had started well over 400 lbs. He had lost about 75 lbs the day he showed up worried about what he was going to do about the lose skin he had just noticed that week. Never saw him again.
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Like Dave I suppose there is something basic that gets us out of bed. Beyond that (maybe semantic) it is just a persistent something I do without hoopla or shouting. I don't jump up and down and shout slogans.
I don't think of it as motivation any more than sleeping,showering, brushing my teeth, going for my morning walk, going for a bike ride or other stuff done daily.1 -
I too am a plodder-alonger. It's largely become habit borne of choice. I choose to weigh less. I choose to move better. I choose to have a healthier body, hopeful that it will serve me and my loved ones longer into the future than my prior version. With these choices comes a tradeoff: I can't eat and drink like I used to.
I'm a 'link-in-the-chain' kind of guy. I accept that weight loss takes time, that I've got to keep making the same trade-offs if I want to maintain the body I now have. I understand the opposite too: that it won't take much time coloring outside the lines to get back to where I used to be.
For the time being, that combination is all the motivation I need.1 -
This subject is as vast as the many people who are looking for some motivation. Personally for me I have been at a point of 400 lbs and very excited over the progress I've made over the last 6 years. At this point though in the last 3 plus years I've been where I go under 300 then back over 300 and my motivation is to lose the weight no matter what it takes. I'll be 70 in July so as I have mentioned before I'm literally running out of time age wise and must continue on the hunt to get this fat off me. So I decided to take a different approach and get some help. I am still pursuing that help in a couple of different ways. I'll out line them below because this is a work in progress and I will be determined to get this fat off me hopefully with professional help and without doing Bariatric Surgery which I am not considering at all. I don't have it figured out yet but believe me I will.
I have a new program which I will do my best to post tomorrow and seek out any comments or dialog that anyone may have. I will say this much at this point it is based on calories not the WW points so I'm taking a departure at this point and will outline it in a separate post. I have been extremely busy with my work.
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I admire your determination and perspective @imastar2 !1
