In a rut, what re-motivates you?
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creesama
Posts: 125 Member
I’ve been logging in 303 days in a row, lost 40lbs, but haven’t weighed myself in 3 weeks and have “fallen off the wagon” in a sense. I’ve kept logging in to keep my streak lol but I’ve not been eating well. I’m trying to dig deep and get back on track, but I just feel like I’m in a weird mental place and can’t feel the inner drive anymore. What gets you guys back on track? Or keeps you going? My struggles are: getting more water, getting exercise, and dinners. My breakfasts and lunches have kept in line with good lifelong changes thankfully.
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Replies
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I take occasional diet breaks. This does NOT mean an all out excuse to give-up and binge - but rather eating at what I euphemistically refer to as 'generous maintenance.' Usually my diet breaks last for 1-3 weeks with some days still very near deficit. After that, I can't wait to re-commit and get back to reduced calories. If my diet break weight gain is within 3 lbs., I'm happy, since I know that will easily disappear within the first week back at calorie deficit. YMMV
I still log all my food, but enjoy things that normally wouldn't fit into a deficit day - like a big plate of spaghetti and meatballs, baked goods or a big Sunday chicken dinner with corn, baked potato and dessert.
I recently finished a diet break and am now back to deficit eating with a renewed sense of optimism and motivation. The scale is once again moving in the right direction and suddenly it all feels effortless.
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Same as MsCzar, I take deficit breaks. It's hard work on your body to stay motivated while depriving yourself day in day out. I commit to a certain time frame, say 12-16 weeks of lower calories/more precise deficit work and intense exercise and afterwards PLAN for a time of maintenance. The important thing is holding myself accountable for the length of my maintenance and not just going until I 'feel' like getting back to it (the "I'll start on Monday" problem).
During my deficit break I usually tone down my exercise intensity to give my body a chance to rest, and it usually revolves around finishing some sort of fitness program or accomplishing a goal. I take this time to think about new fitness and exercise goals and to plan for how I will best use my time and create a routine or find a new program or challenge for the next period. By the time my maintenance time is over, I am excited to get into it and push myself.
I find this works a lot better for me than the more traditional cheat day or cheat meal mentality that would always either undo all my weekly hard work or just make me feel guilty or gross afterwards. Whether during my deficit or maintenance periods I fit in things I want to eat and enjoy and find ways to enjoy treats and healthy foods alike and most importantly try to enjoy my foods and my workouts so no matter what day or week or month it is I want to be participating in my healthier lifestyle.4 -
Just to say where I’m coming from, I’ve lost 100+ lbs and have been maintaining for years. But to lose 100 lbs I had to reinvent my plan about 4 times. I think we achieve weight loss success by riding trends. Somehow we find sweet spots where we are losing without an all out fight. But trends, by their nature, are going to come to an end. How to get it back?
Some things that helped me- don’t quit. Just because you aren’t losing is not a reason to sit by and gain. I watch a lot of stock market news. Not because I have a lot of money but I like to think that I might someday. Stock market news talks about trends a lot. Sometimes a stock will gain a lot but then start going sideways. They call this consolidation. That’s how I tried to view the times when I was stuck, as periods of consolidation. I had to have time to adjust to my new circumstances. I was trying to lock in what I had done so far.
Then there’s the law of diminishing returns. There were reasons you started. What were they? Likely you’ve seen benefits from losing 40lbs. What are they? What do you want to accomplish from here? When I started I had HBP and back pain. Those were both gone when I got stuck after losing about 65 lbs.
What if you don’t lose anymore? Does it matter? A big reason I was stuck at about 215 lbs was that my life was pretty good. Vastly better than it had been at 285 lbs. How do you want to live? What’s the difference between your ideal and reality for losing weight? How hard is your program when its working? Can you make some compromises that get you back to losing that don’t seem like you are giving up a lot.
Last thing. At some point I had to admit that what I had learned losing the fist 65 lbs wasn’t much help getting lower. When we have success doing things a certain way, there’s a tendency to double down on what worked before. This how people end up doing 90 minutes on an elliptical machine 7X per week. Step back and try to look at where you are as day 1. Maybe calculate your maintenance number and aim for that just to regain the feeling that you are driving the bus. You can adjust the numbers when you’ve got control of the process. Hope something here helps you. Good luck.
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I take occasional diet breaks. This does NOT mean an all out excuse to give-up and binge - but rather eating at what I euphemistically refer to as 'generous maintenance.' Usually my diet breaks last for 1-3 weeks with some days still very near deficit. After that, I can't wait to re-commit and get back to reduced calories. If my diet break weight gain is within 3 lbs., I'm happy, since I know that will easily disappear within the first week back at calorie deficit. YMMVmaroonmango211 wrote: »Same as MsCzar, I take deficit breaks. It's hard work on your body to stay motivated while depriving yourself day in day out. I commit to a certain time frame, say 12-16 weeks of lower calories/more precise deficit work and intense exercise and afterwards PLAN for a time of maintenance. The important thing is holding myself accountable for the length of my maintenance and not just going until I 'feel' like getting back to it (the "I'll start on Monday" problem).
Thank you for taking the time to respond! This was helpful. I’ve taken 1 week breaks in the past, but this time I just keep having a hard time restarting. I think a lot of it is things aligning poorly- stressful time at work+PMS+Easter holiday, things just kept colliding into the next with constant exhaustion on top of it all. 2 little boys that don’t consistently sleep through the night add another layer to the mental challenge of everything lol
I think I’m feeling the pressure to get back at it though, enough at least to reach out on here. And I’m having my husband pick up propane so we can start grilling soon. I’m hoping trying something new (never been much of a griller) will give a little excitement again New skill and healthy eating at the same time, fingers crossed 😉4 -
Just to say where I’m coming from, I’ve lost 100+ lbs and have been maintaining for years. But to lose 100 lbs I had to reinvent my plan about 4 times. I think we achieve weight loss success by riding trends. Somehow we find sweet spots where we are losing without an all out fight. But trends, by their nature, are going to come to an end. How to get it back?
Some things that helped me- don’t quit. Just because you aren’t losing is not a reason to sit by and gain. I watch a lot of stock market news. Not because I have a lot of money but I like to think that I might someday. Stock market news talks about trends a lot. Sometimes a stock will gain a lot but then start going sideways. They call this consolidation. That’s how I tried to view the times when I was stuck, as periods of consolidation. I had to have time to adjust to my new circumstances. I was trying to lock in what I had done so far.
Then there’s the law of diminishing returns. There were reasons you started. What were they? Likely you’ve seen benefits from losing 40lbs. What are they? What do you want to accomplish from here? When I started I had HBP and back pain. Those were both gone when I got stuck after losing about 65 lbs.
What if you don’t lose anymore? Does it matter? A big reason I was stuck at about 215 lbs was that my life was pretty good. Vastly better than it had been at 285 lbs. How do you want to live? What’s the difference between your ideal and reality for losing weight? How hard is your program when its working? Can you make some compromises that get you back to losing that don’t seem like you are giving up a lot.
Last thing. At some point I had to admit that what I had learned losing the fist 65 lbs wasn’t much help getting lower. When we have success doing things a certain way, there’s a tendency to double down on what worked before. This how people end up doing 90 minutes on an elliptical machine 7X per week. Step back and try to look at where you are as day 1. Maybe calculate your maintenance number and aim for that just to regain the feeling that you are driving the bus. You can adjust the numbers when you’ve got control of the process. Hope something here helps you. Good luck.
Thanks for your response! It’s all good insight. And it completely makes sense that what worked at 271lbs (my start weight) won’t be the same as 231lbs (my current weight). I think I need to really start committing to the fitness aspect. Now that I’ve cut down some weight and know the food routine, I think exercise needs to be my next goal. Unfortunately I’ve never enjoyed exercise, even when I was younger. I “developed” early and always felt uncomfortable running/jumping/lifting/etc. But with little boys now, I feel embarrassed and sad that I can’t run with them. I need to refocus on my WHY which is them. I want to be a healthy mom who is going to be around a long time.
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It's extra challenging when you are having to deal with family meal schedules and menus. Little kids usually mean lots of little snacks and it's super difficult not to join in. Same goes for hubby food. It might be helpful to move away from the notion of restarting. That implies that you are either on or off/good or bad. Even worse, it's all too easy to catch a case of the Mise-wells... as in, 'Oh, I've so far eaten leftover Easter candy and a large muffin, so I mise-well forget about today and restart tomorrow.'
The most important thing is not losing any hard-won ground. Perhaps put deficit eating aside for just a moment and move to a healthy maintenance plan until you find your balance. Give yourself a time limit - say, two weeks - and reassess. Again - that does not mean merrily binging - but rather crafting your meals to best serve where you are now and where you want to be.
Adding activity shouldn't be all or nothing either. 72 lbs. ago, I started exercising - if you call it that
- for a mere five minutes a day. At that point, it wasn't so much about the calorie burn as it was just getting into the daily habit. Now I rarely skip my daily 30 minute cardio workout. So please don't think it won't do you any good to do 10 calf-raises and 1 minute of step-ups on a stair before calling it a day. Just create the habit and when you're ready, you'll already have a mindset for daily exercise time.
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Go back through your former questions and you will find a wealth of information
with heartfelt replies.
Here's a couple of them to help you get going again.
"How do you recommit?"
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/45460883#Comment_45460883
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10803610/falling-off-the-wagon-hard#latest
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10801154/how-do-people-like-exercise/p1
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10818201/half-year-mark-need-a-boost#latest
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Just to say where I’m coming from, I’ve lost 100+ lbs and have been maintaining for years. But to lose 100 lbs I had to reinvent my plan about 4 times. I think we achieve weight loss success by riding trends. Somehow we find sweet spots where we are losing without an all out fight. But trends, by their nature, are going to come to an end. How to get it back?
Some things that helped me- don’t quit. Just because you aren’t losing is not a reason to sit by and gain. I watch a lot of stock market news. Not because I have a lot of money but I like to think that I might someday. Stock market news talks about trends a lot. Sometimes a stock will gain a lot but then start going sideways. They call this consolidation. That’s how I tried to view the times when I was stuck, as periods of consolidation. I had to have time to adjust to my new circumstances. I was trying to lock in what I had done so far.
Then there’s the law of diminishing returns. There were reasons you started. What were they? Likely you’ve seen benefits from losing 40lbs. What are they? What do you want to accomplish from here? When I started I had HBP and back pain. Those were both gone when I got stuck after losing about 65 lbs.
What if you don’t lose anymore? Does it matter? A big reason I was stuck at about 215 lbs was that my life was pretty good. Vastly better than it had been at 285 lbs. How do you want to live? What’s the difference between your ideal and reality for losing weight? How hard is your program when its working? Can you make some compromises that get you back to losing that don’t seem like you are giving up a lot.
Last thing. At some point I had to admit that what I had learned losing the fist 65 lbs wasn’t much help getting lower. When we have success doing things a certain way, there’s a tendency to double down on what worked before. This how people end up doing 90 minutes on an elliptical machine 7X per week. Step back and try to look at where you are as day 1. Maybe calculate your maintenance number and aim for that just to regain the feeling that you are driving the bus. You can adjust the numbers when you’ve got control of the process. Hope something here helps you. Good luck.
Thanks for your response! It’s all good insight. And it completely makes sense that what worked at 271lbs (my start weight) won’t be the same as 231lbs (my current weight). I think I need to really start committing to the fitness aspect. Now that I’ve cut down some weight and know the food routine, I think exercise needs to be my next goal. Unfortunately I’ve never enjoyed exercise, even when I was younger. I “developed” early and always felt uncomfortable running/jumping/lifting/etc. But with little boys now, I feel embarrassed and sad that I can’t run with them. I need to refocus on my WHY which is them. I want to be a healthy mom who is going to be around a long time.
I know you didn't ask for opinions on this specific matter, but if you don't mind I'll just offer this little piece of advice: try wearing a sports bra that gives you proper support. It makes all the difference in the world, I promise! (I say that from personal experience).
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I have a real soft spot for people who want to lose because of their kids. People will say you can’t do it for someone else, you have to do it for you. Well, yes and no. I looked at it as a matter of what kind of parent I would be. What kind of example I would set. So I guess that’s about me. And about them.
Beware. Exercise is overrated as a weight loss strategy. Lots of terrific benefits from exercise. But not really weight loss. I went from couch potato to a gym regular. I ran my kids into the ground in the parks in Orlando. But I was still overweight then. If weight loss happened in the gym I wouldn’t have been stuck for so long.
Find a modest calorie deficit you can live with and try to string together some losses. When the voice in your head starts telling you it’s not enough and you need to go faster tell the voice to shut up. The trend is your friend.4 -
Initially it was being thin but that, alone, no longer works for me.
Now it's goal setting, overcoming challenges, and achievement!1 -
Just to say where I’m coming from, I’ve lost 100+ lbs and have been maintaining for years. But to lose 100 lbs I had to reinvent my plan about 4 times. I think we achieve weight loss success by riding trends. Somehow we find sweet spots where we are losing without an all out fight. But trends, by their nature, are going to come to an end. How to get it back?
Some things that helped me- don’t quit. Just because you aren’t losing is not a reason to sit by and gain. I watch a lot of stock market news. Not because I have a lot of money but I like to think that I might someday. Stock market news talks about trends a lot. Sometimes a stock will gain a lot but then start going sideways. They call this consolidation. That’s how I tried to view the times when I was stuck, as periods of consolidation. I had to have time to adjust to my new circumstances. I was trying to lock in what I had done so far.
Then there’s the law of diminishing returns. There were reasons you started. What were they? Likely you’ve seen benefits from losing 40lbs. What are they? What do you want to accomplish from here? When I started I had HBP and back pain. Those were both gone when I got stuck after losing about 65 lbs.
What if you don’t lose anymore? Does it matter? A big reason I was stuck at about 215 lbs was that my life was pretty good. Vastly better than it had been at 285 lbs. How do you want to live? What’s the difference between your ideal and reality for losing weight? How hard is your program when its working? Can you make some compromises that get you back to losing that don’t seem like you are giving up a lot.
Last thing. At some point I had to admit that what I had learned losing the fist 65 lbs wasn’t much help getting lower. When we have success doing things a certain way, there’s a tendency to double down on what worked before. This how people end up doing 90 minutes on an elliptical machine 7X per week. Step back and try to look at where you are as day 1. Maybe calculate your maintenance number and aim for that just to regain the feeling that you are driving the bus. You can adjust the numbers when you’ve got control of the process. Hope something here helps you. Good luck.
Thanks for your response! It’s all good insight. And it completely makes sense that what worked at 271lbs (my start weight) won’t be the same as 231lbs (my current weight). I think I need to really start committing to the fitness aspect. Now that I’ve cut down some weight and know the food routine, I think exercise needs to be my next goal. Unfortunately I’ve never enjoyed exercise, even when I was younger. I “developed” early and always felt uncomfortable running/jumping/lifting/etc. But with little boys now, I feel embarrassed and sad that I can’t run with them. I need to refocus on my WHY which is them. I want to be a healthy mom who is going to be around a long time.
Look online for good sports bras... they do exist for us larger chested gals! I’m a runner and I like the Freya brand underwired and then wear another soft stretchy sports bra on top for extra compression and support. Also, in my opinion running with correct form can help minimize bounce so you might want to look up “chi running” or “the pose method” it’s made a world of difference for me so I always recommend this, the aim of these methods is to make running easier on the joints which is also a plus. I’ve been running this way for 7+ years and not had any issues. Good luck on your journey! 4 -
Breaks are needed but the mirror and my aching knees always resets my motivation. But discipline is always better than motivation.1
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I'm trying to get out of a rut too.
I listen to "Fit Happy & Healthy" Podcast on the way home to motivate me to work out. They have a very positive and friendly vibe and it makes me want to try my best.
For staying (relatively) on track with nutrition I have a post it note in the pantry, and another in my work cubby, that says "Remember Your Goals". This helps me pause and think first before I snack between meals, or grab freebie snacks at the office.
You say your next goal is to exercise more as your nutrition is in a good place. I recommend finding what works for you so it is something you want to go back to. Set yourself up a running/swim/bike schedule that you can realistically follow. If you like full body strength and cardio, I recommend Jessica Smith TV website, she has a bunch of free youtube videos and her site has some schedules that you can follow (complete with links to the workouts suggested). It helps me to take the guess-work out of how to structure my workouts, I can just press play and start moving.
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life0
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Yup, I feel ya. I have been not logging my food and floating up and down the same 5 lbs for .... I can't believe it... 7 months! Where is my motivation to make progress?! I just started logging again yesterday, and feel like summertime approaching will give me some incentive to stop messin' around!0
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