Struggling with my motivation

To get motivated look through all the success stories. i was never motivated. before coimg to mfp i had gone for aerobic, gym and everything where i could lose weight. but nothing worked. i used to come back home feel tired and keep eating. just recently i joined. and reading all what other mfp pals and going through the success stories. i have changed my eating habits and right now i am doing the 30 day shred. completed day 20 of level 2. never have i worked out at home for these many days. and i feel so happy. shirts which i couldnt button up at the end , i can now. and one more motivation get dress that is tight for u and u want to wear. that will surely help. if any doubts in mind. post it here. u will surely get replies. we all a team dear. keep trying. u look great now and lttle more trying and u will look fabulous.

My motivation list:

My wife
My children
My friends (real life, in person)
My Facebook "friends"
My future job training
Myself.

I'm horrible at logging on here and entering all my food and exercise stuff. I find it tedious to do this every day, so I haven't been doing it. I know that's a bad thing, since that's one of the points of MFP, but I still use MFP to post my progress and read other success stories. Knowing other, every day normal people just like me have done it, means *I* can do it, too!

I also use Facebook to post my C25K progress. Posting it online for all to see sort of gives you motivation to make sure you keep updating it and when people comment on it, that inspires me to keep going.

Of course my wife gets to see my progress first-hand, and we both reap the benefits.

My kids were one of my original motivators to lose some weight. We were in a grocery store checkout line when my son walks over and hugs me, and makes a comment about how he likes my belly and it being like a pillow (his head was at the same height as my belly). Of course, he said it loud enough for everyone around me to hear it, so they all looked at my gut. I was mortified. Sometimes embarrassment is a great motivator. That's the worst kind of motivator, but it sometimes works. Now they've seen my progress, and they've seen that eating right and exercising is a good thing, so hopefully it'll motivate them to follow in my footsteps (so to speak).

Some of my friends actually started the C25K program before I did. They were talking about it one day at one of our monthly gatherings for dinner. So, i looked into it and decided to try it. It helps to have friends and/or family who share your common ideals and goals, and to encourage you.

I also used my future side career as a motivator. One of the requirements of this new career will be running after fugitives, so I figured learning how to run and getting in shape for it would be a good idea! LOL.

And of course, *I* am my biggest and most important motivator. I wanted to do this for all the reasons listed above, but I wanted to do it to challenge myself, too. I have a desk job so I wanted to get "up and out there" and do something physical. I wanted to do it to see if I could do it....

And I did do it! After 2.5 months I lost more weight than my origianl goal stated. NOW that's a huge motivating factor to keep it up and keep going with it!

And I didn't go on a diet. I knew that wouldn't work. Now I just I eat more often and smaller meals. I didn't eliminate anything from my eating or drinking habits other than regular soda and alcohol (both have a lot of calories that go right to your tummy). I have a huge sweet tooth but I didn't eliminate sweets, I only significantly reduced how much of them I eat. Moderation is a good thing to keep the cravings away. Plus, when you start really getting into exercising, you'll start watching what you eat because you don't want all your hard work and sweat to go right out the window by eating a ton of junk food.

You really have to set your mind to it. Our brains are the biggest demotivators out there. If you have a good attitude, keep a positive outlook, and keep telling yourself you CAN and WILL do it, then you will. It might take time. It might take a lot of effort. It might be tough. But no one said reshaping our bodies was going to be easy. But it will be worth it!

It's a lifestyle change, for the rest of our lives.

And if I can do it, anyone can do it.