From 1 to 10, how motivated are you TODAY?

kommodevaran wrote: »

Motivation is pretty irrelevant. I just focus on building and maintaining routines to make eating well and moving more, easier and more pleasureable. Everything became easier and more pleasureable when I stopped adding on unnecessary rules and gimmicks.

Agreed. It also helps not to restrict too much.

For example, I always have a mid/late evening dessert. What I have depends on what fits within my calories that day, but there's always something.

I also made a point of going to several different grocery stores and markets to find all the foods that would fit within my calorie limit and would still be delicious. After all, if all of this is going to become habit, it's got to feel normal and be relatively easy.

My motivation today is a 5. Saturday through Monday I was at a 7 or 8, but yesterday was a bit discouraging.

andiiknapp wrote: »

For those who think motivation is irrelevant, i do not agree at all (different opinions). Everything we do in life is because u r motivated to do it (either we have to or we want to). If not, there is no reason for it. That’s a difference between, for example, people with depression and people with no depression. Severe depression leads to not doing things in the long run, even when we have to do them (work for example), there is no motivation for anything (this is just an example out of many). So yeah motivation for me is a must in everything we do in life. Yes, this lifestyle has to be a habit, but that doesnt mean we are motivated (or not) to do that habit. Habit and motivation are completely different things. Let’s think of bad habits such as smoking... motivation to smoke? A response to stress, or relaxing, or whatever, and unless u are motivated to quit that habit, u r not quitting it.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your motivation to brush your teeth this morning?


Yes, habit and motivation are different things. Habit is what you'll do because it is habit ... it's what you do, motivated or not. It's habit to get up at a certain time and go to work ... whether I want to or not. My motivation for doing that might be a 2. But habit says, "This is what you have to do".

And habits aren't just bad. Habits can be good, bad or neutral. So when it comes to weight loss, start doing things regularly that will help the weight loss ... and they'll become habits. And you'll be able to keep doing them whether you feel motivated or not. It's my habit to eat certain foods at certain times. It's just what I do. And since I know that those certain foods at those certain times will fit within my calorie limit, I can set that aside and let habit take care of it, and I can focus on other things.

I also go for walks at lunch and after work. I've been doing it so long now, it feels really odd not to do that. Yesterday and today I've been extremely tired (university + work) ... but even though my motivation wasn't particularly high, I walked after work. It's what I do. It's habit.


Now you'll have to excuse me ... I have to go look at the moon. That's motivation, not habit.

My motivation has disappeared today. I started seeing some progress and was feeling great about it but then for the past couple weeks despite all of my efforts it went in reverse and then just stayed there. And I try to tell myself all of the things I usually tell others and be logical about it, it's just not working.

I mean, I can eat whatever I want and maintain just fine, what's the point of busting my *kitten* and eating rabbit food for the same results? Do I really need to lose 10 lbs? I already gave up half of the things that I enjoy eating, if I have to make even more changes and give up the other half I'm not so sure it's worth it.

And I can hardly put up with the gym anymore. It's so crowded and filled with annoyances. It's getting tough to justify squeezing it in my schedule most days, it's just becoming more of a pain in the *kitten* than it's worth.