How to keep motivated when you're in pain

Oh, my, yes. When I'm not feeling well, I have a really hard time sticking to any limits with comfort food.

I think it would pay to figure out why you are having pain. Is it one central problem or a number of peripheral problems? Is there any non-food method that helps with it? (e.g., hot bath.)

This is where you have to get mentally tough. Why? Because WHAT'S THE ALTERNATIVE? There are many many times I get up at 4am, not really motivated to put on clothes, and go outside and walk/run for 90 minutes. But because it's so habitual, I JUST DO IT ANYWAY. Sometimes I want to take the shorter route home, but urge myself on to just complete the 10,000 steps. But you know what's a great attitude adjuster? When you FINISH and know that because you just mentally stayed strong, it got done. And continuity will yield better results. Which intern MOTIVATES you to continue till you're at your goal.
SUCK IT UP. Don't injure yourself, but unless the pain is acute, it's ALWAYS gonna somewhat hurt.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

It can be really, really hard to find the physical and mental energy to do the things to lose weight if you are hurting a lot or are just continuously tired. There is, after all, just that much energy anybody has to spare, and both those things sap some of that.

So, while I agree with others who basically told you that you just have to do it anyway, while I believe that being stubborn and sticking to things is an important part of losing weight, I also think it may be a good idea for you to find ways to make this easier.

Some ideas for that, just of the top of my head. Could you do some batch cooking one weekend say? Something simple you can throw in the slow cooker and forget about for hours that you can then portion out and freeze for easy eating throughout the week? - That way you have to think about meal prepping and calorie counting far less, can just throw something in the microwave when you come home tired and can still accurately log it. - similarly, if you eat pasta a lot, you could just spent a few minutes one day dividing dry pasta into portions and putting them in snack bags, weigh out pasta sauce portions into small containers, and when you cone home from work you know how much pasta and sauce is in the things you easily can grab, making logging simpler and faster. - You can do the same for snacks, too.

If going to the grocery store is adding extra stress for you or is a trigger for buying unhealthy stuff you could get your groceries delivered. If you hate food waste and want to eat more fruits and veggies, but tend not to buy many you also could get a weekly fruit/veggie box delivery. I have one MFP friend whose family really enjoys theirs, and end up eating morevveghies as they hate wasting the stuff. - Grocery delivery nay also just simply give you a bit of extra time for relaxing and/or exercising.

Find a thing that gets you moving that you actually enjoy. It does not have to be an official workout. It just has to be movement. I like going for walks, so that's what I do a lot of the time. (I also like swimming, but the pool is quite a bit away and costs money). My partner likes biking, his mum gardening. - Ic you can find some way to get movinvnyoh enjoy it's a lit easier to stick with it than ic you never liked this thing you feel obligated to do. He'll, it even is easier on the days where you really don't feel like even doing that.

Track your energylevels throughout the day and figure out what time would be the best for you to start moving. Like, do you get up early anyway and, even though stiff and kinda tired, are also full of far more energy than in the evening? Or do you start getting antsy at lunch time at work? Or maybe you are actually more awake in the late evening after dinner? Find that time that works for you and then fit your routine exercise in there. Be it swimming in the early morning, a walk at lunch break, or doing step aerobics at night. (Or any other movement.)

Routine actually removes some of the need for using mental energy on tasks. If you always do sport at x time you don't have to think if/when you should do sport, you just do it. Same for other things.so, find your routine. Stick with it till it IS a routine. - that part is the hard part, because you need to be stubborn even when you don't feel motivated.

Hope there was something in my ramblings that might be useful to you.

The one other thing I ALWAYS mention to clients and/or people who don't want to try as hard.............there are many things you can restart at or try again, but the one thing you can NEVER GET BACK is TIME. So the longer you take to get this done, the less time you have to enjoy the benefits of it.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition