Those who have lost a significant amount of weight, how did you stay motivated for the long haul?

I ended up having a session with my trainer on my birthday last week. I wasn't happy about it because it was my birthday dang it and I didn't want to go to the gym on my birthday. It was the only session I could get though so I agreed to it. OMG I was so happy though as I finally achieved goal #2 to back squat 100kg. Yusss! I even did a wee victory dance.

As a friend pointed out, I've started my 45th year as I mean to carry on. So true, I hadn't thought of it like that. My heart was telling me 'it's your birthday so don't do anything that requires too much effort, take the day off from the gym' but fortunately I didn't listen. So it boils down to habit doesn't it. When motivation has up and left, what you're left with are habits. Achieving my goal was the best present ever.

I'm down 153lb currently after a little regain
I keep going because I don't want to go back to being 387lb and barely able to move
I deserve better than that and so do my family

Down 100+ lbs so far. I have a fear that the same motivating switch that turned on when I started making significant changes will suddenly turn off again at any moment. It's happened before with various hobbies, and sometimes losing weight feels like a hobby too. For me, that's a dangerous way of viewing it. Hobbies can be picked up and set aside at any time. Weight/obesity management needs to be different and permanent. So I remind myself that fitness and calorie control isn't temporary and can't just be dropped when it's tedious.

I do what some others do to stay on track. I set up my environment to minimize choice. The less I need to test my undependable willpower, the better. So, When I wake up, my workout clothes are ready, and I'm out the door as quickly as possible. I don't let myself choose each day whether to exercise or not, I just go because that's what I need to do. No daily decision required.

Food is harder. I have mental tricks and roadblocks set up to help take away the decision process of what to eat or not eat. For example: Make the hard choices at the grocery store not the kitchen pantry. Don't keep high calorie snacks laying around. Eat only at the dining table. weigh measure track, don't watch pizza commercials. whatever helps. you know, tricks and roadblocks. Minimize the need for constant food decisions. Minimize the need for motivation.

I make lots of mistakes, and have yet to reach the maintenance stage. Those who've mastered maintenance are absolute rock stars! If they offer advice, listen.

For me I was tired of feeling bad both physically and mentally. I was not comfortable going out with the family, missed kids school events because I didn't want them to be teased for having a fat dad. The list of why's can go on an on...

Now that I have lost over 100 still have more to go. But it isn't a race anymore for me. It is coming off and will continue to. I no longer allow a burger or a chocolate to throw me into a spiral of "all is lost" I just log it and move on. Thinking I will never indulge in fast/unhealthy food is a joke.

I have a completely different outlook on life/eating then I did during my yo-yo dieting days. I am much happier eating everything I want just not as often or as much. The health benefits are great, but I am a happier person on the inside that is what counts the most. I have sagging skin on my stomach, maybe one day I will address that but who knows if not I am and will be a happier person with some sagging skin then a person embarrassed to leave the house. I am not going to let food control me, watch ideally by as my children's lives go by with me in the shadows.

Taking care of my body used to be my very last priority. Faith. Family. Work. Community... these things all were far, far ahead of spending time or energy on myself. And then I had a major reality check. Its impossible to take care of all these responsibilities if my body falls apart.

My mom reached 525+ lbs. She had four strokes. She suffers from charcot fractures in both her feet. She has lymphedema that makes her feet and legs swell up so much like water balloons the skin bursts. She gets constant infections; yeast and bacterial. She can't toilet herself. She can't sit or lay comfortably at all, and she can't stand unassisted, and forget walking entirely. She suffers from heart palpitations that leave her gasping for air as her heart is enlarged to more than 4x the size of a human heart. Her blood sugar being out of control has destroyed her kidneys. She has a prolapsed bladder, and she's almost entirely blind. She's 61.

Not all of her problems are caused by weight. Many of her problems have roots into bad genetics, bad health care, and just plain bad luck. But ALL of them are made more challenging because she got so heavy.


I don't want to be my mom. You don't want to be my mom. Nobody wants to be my mom, not even my mom.

So one day I stood on a scale, and honestly looked at the number and said "wow. This is really getting out of control. I'm headed down the same awful path. I can't do this. I can't let this be me." And I realized that yes, my weight was affecting my health and my stamina and my ability to be the person I want to be and do the things I want to do. My weight was officially A PROBLEM, and I finally recognized it.

And that was that. 3 years and 115 lbs later I'm no less aware of just what a terrible toll having a lot of excess weight did to me, or does to my mom and anyone else. If anything, I'm more aware. I'm aware of how much easier it is for me to move and to do things and live and just be. Walking and eating with a conscious maintenance goal is the price of life being much, much easier, and my odds of being miserable and making others miserable are so much lower. Even if I do become completely disabled, my care will be tremendously easier that it would've been and that alone makes it important.

Taking care of my body is important, because it is my responsibility that must be fulfilled to meet my other responsibilities and desires. And I guess that's a motivation that just isn't going to dissipate as long as I've not given up on life.

p.s.
Mom is down to 300 lbs now from 525. She's going for 200. My only regret is that we didn't recognize how important maintaining physical well-being was many, many years ago.