No motivation left.

You don't really need motivation. You need to change habits so it is just incorporated into your life. Start a new small habit like replacing one food with a healthier option. Make a habit of going on a walk after supper with the whole family. If logging in MFP is hard to ger used to, start by writing your foods down on a piece of paper and log in MFP after your kids go to bed. Eventually, you will het faster at it and can quickly track throughout the day.

I think motivation is way overrated. It's generally a temporary thing that's not helpful in the long run because it tends to run out for the reasons you state.

What's important is to make changes that you can live with for the rest of your life. I think some people think weight loss has to be an unpleasant experience, and you have to suffer. That doesn't work long-term.

Look for the easier changes that you can make first...such as swapping out beverages that have calories for ones that don't. Don't force yourself to eat foods you don't like...you can keep eating the foods you want if you control the portion sizes. Don't "ban" any foods that you really love...treat foods can be made to fit within your calorie budget.

Don't over-complicate things with specialty diets...just try to meet a calorie goal every day, but don't beat yourself up if you go over now and then.

This is not a temporary change...you will need to think differently and eat differently for the rest of your life.

As others have mentioned motivation isn’t required. Discipline will help you reach your goals. I would suggest you start small. For the next two weeks change nothing about your diet except to log everything. You can even set your goal in myfitnesspal to maintenance instead of taking a deficit right now. If the calories stress you out right now, just write down what you eat in paper for now. At the end of the two weeks look for small changes to focus on one or two weeks at a time. Example food goal “I will eat one vegetable every day this week”. Example exercise goal “I will take a five minute walk after dinner every day this week.” Eventually after lots of small changes you may find yourself closer to meeting your health goals. Be kind to yourself when you miss a goal. We all miss goals.

You are getting such excellent advice here! If you’ve yo-yo dieted your whole life and you are back up on the scale, what you have done in the past didn’t work. Successful weight loss also means keeping the weight off, which means finding a lifestyle you can maintain forever. There is no finish line.

Start small as others have suggested. I second the advice of doing nothing for the first two weeks other than logging your food. Start with changing the low hanging fruit.

If this sounds appealing to you, I recommend the podcast Half Size Me. It changed my whole mindset. I lost 50 pounds several years ago and have kept it off for years by slowly changing my habits and creating a life I enjoy and that I can sustain through the ups and downs.

And no motivation was necessary! My habits carry me through each day, not motivation. It takes time, but this is forever.

Associations, mechanics, management of your brain hamsters 🐹...

Can't commit to logging, or to your idea of the failed "diets" you followed in the past.

Maybe all of us who post here have drunk the same Kool-aid?

If things haven't worked so far, more willpower and going at it harder won't be the answer.

I can't log? Anything shopping you from weighing what you're about to eat and writing it down? No. Don't limit it. Just write it down. Before you eat it. Everything. Every bite.

At 205 that by itself will take care of a good 10+lbs without any other drama. Because I am fairly sure (ask me how I know) that you're not going to eat the tic tac you were about to eat for reasons other than hunger if you first put it on a scale and write it down. And you will think twice of sampling what you're cooking for the kids...

Then look at what was worth the calories. And substitute. And add things such as veggies and fruits. And tweek. And slowly move towards creating a **reasonable** deficit. With no timelines.

And think. Think what you're willing to keep on doing long term.

This is management of weight. Not diet to lose. Management of calories for both loss and maintenance.

You manage your (nowadays) virtual checkbook and budget. You don't expect to start and stop managing it because you're not motivated, do you? Through you might still splurge for something disproportionately expensive from time to time!😉

Dermo480 wrote: »

Hi, I am 48yo female and have been dieting in some shape or form all of my adult life. Currently at 205lb, probably heaviest ever. I have in the past used weight watchers or mfp to lose a stone here or there but I find now I have lost all motivation and I'm worried for my future. Apart from looking awful, I am suffering from constant joint pain and tiredness. I had been a regular walker up to recently, not huge distances, maybe 3 miles per day and also did kb swings sporadically. I just find now I have lost all motivation. While I want nothing more than to lose weight, even 2 stone loss would be great, I cannot seem to make the start. I have gone to bed many nights saying tomorrow I'll log into mfp and make some changes but then tomorrow comes and work is stressful and the kids need to be parented 😉 and it all falls apart. I am worried now for my health so why am I such a lazy unmotivated fool? Has anyone some good tips to pull myself out of this rut.
Thanks.

@Dermo480, an afterthought:

Others here seem ready to medically diagnose you, such as what's causing your joint pain. That's a thing doctors do better than random people on the internet. What does your doctor say about the symptoms you're reporting?

We random people on the internet tend to make assumptions that other people are like us, such as believing that if they have joint pain due to osteoarthritis, you must have osteoarthritis. Maybe you do, but I'm not your doctor.

One thing I do have, and wonder if you've been tested for, is hypothyroidism. It becomes more common in the population as we age, and is more common in women. Some common symptoms are fatigue (which can involved under-motivation and even depression as side effects), weight gain, joint and muscle pain.

My early symptoms that led to testing and diagnosis were stiffness (especially in the morning), joint pain, tiredness, and other expressions of decreased daily life energy and enthusiasm. My medication dosage has periodically needed adjusting, and I've often noticed those symptoms creeping back in when that need occurs.

I'm not saying you have hypothyroidism, or any other specific thing. However, there are various actual medical conditions that can result in some of the symptoms you mention. Hypothyroidism is one, so is anemia (low iron), certain other nutritional deficiencies (vitamin D deficiency is somewhat common in latitudes further from the equator, but there are other possible deficiencies such as B12).

You write as if you formerly had a higher energy level, felt more able to exercise, which especially makes me wonder if there's some new medical factor in the picture. Symptoms of these things tend to come on slowly, so it's easy to attribute them to aging, under-motivation, etc.

Have you consulted your doctor? Had blood tests or other diagnostics?

I heard an interview with Paul Coll, the current World number 1 male squash player. He said after every point he focuses on the next....asks himself "what do I do next?"
I apply this to my approach to weight loss. Did I manage to refuse that donut we got offered at morning tea? If I did, what helped me say no, so next time it's offered I can refuse again? If I didn't, what do I need to change?
Did I manage my time well enough today to get in some exercise? If not, what do I need to do tomorrow to make it easier to find time?
Focusing on how I can improve, rather than what I did wrong, has really changed my mindset.