Need motivation

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joewill2848
joewill2848 Posts: 17 Member
edited June 2018 in Introduce Yourself
Ok so I'm weighing in at 269 which is ridiculous considering in 2013 I weighed 278 and by 2014 I weighed 204 and my goal is 195 so I was almost there. Between workin 70 hours a week and hurting my back in 2015 everything went down hill and I gave up. Well I'm back determined to find that place I was in when I lost all the weight. Mentally I was up for the task...right now I'm unsure. Need guidance.

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  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    Unfortunately, only you can get yourself mentally prepared for weight loss. Is there something specific you are struggling with?
  • vivicious
    vivicious Posts: 1 Member
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    Just encouragement from others with same goals....weight loss. I need to lose 35lbs
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
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    True motivation comes from yourself.
    You have to want it bad enough to keep going through all the ups and downs of your life.
  • harry7446
    harry7446 Posts: 3 Member
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    I'm struggling too - did a 60 day juice fast and lost 38 lbs. but didn't have a plan for an acceptable maintenance plan so I slowly gained it back. I'm now a half week into Keto way of eating and it should be maintainable after I get to the transition to burning fat and not carbs. I'm just after a healthier way to eat which I can develop into a habit and stick to. Good luck with your wt loss Joe.
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,217 Member
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    Screw motivation. Motivation is flaky and unreliable. Start by cultivating positive habits and structured discipline to make choosing the right path the one of least resistance. It takes time, but making small changes with a little forethought can go along way towards keeping yourself accountable and consistently working towards your goal.

    Some things I've learned to do:
    - pre-plan meals as much as possible, as many days in advance. I'm to the point that I'm borderline obsessive about this. If I don't know what I'm going to eat for the entire next day when I go to bed the night before it stresses me out. That's only because I know that when I have to improvise is when I'm most prone to make poor choices. I hate going to restaurants spur of the moment or without the ability to look at the menu and calories ahead of time to decide precisely what I'm going to order. I also enacted a policy for eating out that once I've logged something, I've locked it in to avoid last second thoughts like "well I was going to get the grilled salmon... but that cheese and bacon stuffed whatever that's on special sounds amazing".
    - set out my workout clothes and preworkout the night before. I definitely don't like dragging myself out of bed when the alarm goes off at 5am so I can lift before work, but I workout most consistently when I do. The easiest way for me to accomplish that was to remove as many obstacles as possible between my bed and me working out. It's not fool proof but it definitely ups my batting average
    - stop carrying small bills for vending machines. I would get some garbage out of the vending machine if I was bored at my desk almost daily, automatic 200-600 unplanned calories and it was effecting my progress. I completely stopped carrying cash for a time and broke the habit.
    - think about your goals when grocery shopping and shop accordingly. I'm fortunate in that my wife and I are fairly well aligned when it comes to our ideas about trying to eat healthier, but we're both fat kids at heart who love sweets and snacks. We often will shop together and hold each other accountable for what goes in the cart and subsequently comes into our home. It's a lot harder to go ham on a pack of oreos if you don't have any in the cabinet in the first place.
    - get meticulous about logging, make it a point to log as consistently and accurately as possible, and log everything, planned food, junk food, if you blow your calories for the day, still log everything. Seeing those red numbers, and seeing them consistently lets you know you have work to do. There's also no mystery if you aren't losing the weight you're expecting to. I've found extraordinary value in being able to be forensic about analyzing food patterns and requisite weight changes to learn about what my landmines are. Granted, it takes a level of mental toughness to not let a big red number knock you completely off your game, try to take a scientific approach of it being an exercise in data collection and not some assessment of self-value. I encourage a similar attitude with scale weight.
  • evilsmudge
    evilsmudge Posts: 7 Member
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    the harsh truth. for motivation is done by yourself if you love cheeseburgers and chips, beer and pies its going to be harder to go on a weight loss program/ routine without giving up, it takes time. start with small steps for a change of lifestyle (cutting out different fatty foods on a weekly basis etc) if you struggle with the cal count start pushing breakfast back a few hours a week, then just give up on breakfast altogether this is a method/tool for intermittent fasting but will help for the cal on the other two meals. hope this helps.
  • joewill2848
    joewill2848 Posts: 17 Member
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    I'm working on it. I've lost 3 pounds this week already so getting myself back on track. Would be riding my bike but I'm waiting to finish antibiotics because they are killing my energy levels, 2 more days and I'm finished with them.