5 days in and failing

steveko89 wrote: »

Teamleslie wrote: »

Jams29 wrote: »

What seems to be the main issue? Do you get too busy and forget to log after breakfast? Or is it more of a motivational issue?

Definitely a motivational issue.

The common thread through most of the above replies has to deal with habit-forming and structured discipline. Relying solely on motivation isn't sustainable when you allow yourself to decide regressing to your unproductive comfortable habits is ok. Pre-logging, meal planning/prepping, and changing your mindset about your "why" can all contribute; the way I think about it "how can I make the right choice, the easiest choice?"

Some suggestions:
- Never go to the store hungry or without a plan. Within this plan identify foods/meals that allow you to stay within your daily calorie/macro goals and only shop for them. At the very least, identify some trigger foods or foods you have difficulty with self control (I believe you mentioned Cinnamon Toast Crunch in a post last week? Are you still buying this?). Find substitutes for calorie dense indulgences you can opt for to satisfy a craving without torpedoing your day or pad your calories to allow for a sensible portion of a treat you like
- You shouldn't think about exercise in terms of "how many calories will I burn doing X?" or "I have to exercise for X minutes so I can eat Y." or as punishment for eating too much or something you feel you shouldn't have. I know this is easier said than done for a lot of people, but exercise should be a hobby; something you enjoy and has a purpose. Maybe that purpose is to existentially improve one's health, get better at doing a specific task or activity, to get stronger, or to try and shape your body a certain way (gain muscle). If you make exercise something that's intrinsically important to you, rather than just important for the sake of trying to lose weight, it becomes something you look forward to and don't need "motivation" to go do. Also, it's really hard to out-exercise a poor diet, despite what the fitness industry tries to sell, if you don't enjoy it, how much is it really worth doing?
- Like @amusedmonkey stated, when you fail (your word), which you will, really take a forensic approach in examining why you failed, learn from it, and take steps to fail better next time.

Over time you'll learn about yourself and how you need to approach certain things to develop the habits and system that works for you and puts you in the best position to succeed.