What do you use as motivation?

Stay Imperfectly consistent even on days you don't feel motivated or feel sad or anxious. Just tell yourself you LOVE YOURSELF enough to do this even though you don't want to. You are doing this for you!

Today it might not feel great but tomorrow you will be glad you pushed yourself. And then the results becomes addictive and it keeps you going. Even on days you can't tell if you see changes at all, just know that if you put in the work, the results will show. And on days when it feels really slow or non-existent and you are a minute away from quitting, ask yourself 'what if I'm only a day or two away from progress, do I want to throw away all that work I have put in? I can endure another few days!'

It gets easier, it really does.

I want the next 30 years to be the best 30 I can make them.

I don't really rely much on motivation, as far as I feel - it's not one of my stronger muscles, especially now. (I'm retired, don't have to do anything I don't want to, generally. I'm sloppy self-indulgent.)

I like to feel good, enjoy life. I have a long enough history of being obese and inactive that I know that feels worse, limits enjoyment. Is that "motivation"? It doesn't feel like it. It feels like wanting to be happy, thus willing to put a manageable (small) amount of time and energy into that.

Primarily, for me, maintaining loss involved (involves) a focus on sustainable habits that are happy (enough) in a day that most of the time they can operate mostly on autopilot.

There are moments when the habits break down, but those tend to be short as long as I don't catastrophize about them, consider myself a bad person, or otherwise self-dramatize. It's just a choice I've made, to go off routine habits; then I go back on routine. Most of the time, treating my eating/activity routine like brushing my teeth or grocery shopping works, i.e., it's just a thing I do. Reminding myself of that works, in the overwhelming majority of cases. (Note: It's essential, in that context, that I do actually enjoy my eating habits and activity routines (exercise and otherwise).)

The key, for me, is that those basic habits are easy and pretty happy. Experimenting, finding those, grooving those in: That's where my limited "will power" and "motivation" focused. Most of that happened during weight loss, which took just under a year for 50+ pounds loss. I'm now in year 6+ of maintaining a healthy weight, after around 3 previous decades of overweight/obesity.

There's no wagon to fall off, IMO . . . just habits, and the occasional exception to them.

I'm not mentioning exactly what my "happy habits" are: I think that varies hugely by individual. Personalization is key, IMO.

Willpower is a finite resource and motivation is a fleeting emotion. Very often the issue is that one's regimen is too regimented. There is no flexibility and it becomes an all or nothing kind of thing. All or nothing doesn't work because it's not remotely realistic and it drives cycles of "on the wagon/off the wagon". There is no wagon. I tend to look at things in the big picture...what am I doing most of the time, and is that conducive to my short and long term goals. What I'm doing most of the time is what matters...what I'm doing will never be 100% perfect, and it doesn't have to be. As an example, I've just started training for a sprint triathlon and have a whole 14 week plan mapped out to August 7. I already know that I won't be able to 100% stick to the training program because things happen...work schedules, vacations and family trips and other goings on in life. It's ok though...as long as I'm hitting about 85% of the plan, I'll be fine for the event. I'm not going to just give up the training if I miss a run or a swim or whatever. Same goes for diet...I don't just give up on my nutrition because I had some pizza on a Friday night or something...it's immaterial to the bigger picture.

I also think it's important to really sit down and evaluate what is realistic and what is sustainable in the short term vs long term. In the short term I can be very regimented with both diet and exercise...but in the long term I have to be much more flexible. I gave the example of my sprint triathlon training above...it is a very short term goal and for those 14 weeks I can be pretty regimented about my training without much issue...but as a long term thing it wouldn't work as it is overly structured for what I typically enjoy which is by and large active outdoor recreation...namely MTB, cycling, and hiking. It is just something I set out to do years ago and never completed due to an injury and I want to check it off my list. I can pretty much guarantee that after 14 weeks of training I'll be done with a heavily structured training program and more than happy to just go back to hiking and riding my MTB.

Exercise wise I think it's important to find things that you enjoy that are also active. Exercise doesn't have to be punishing workouts in the gym and the whole, "no pain no gain" thing, or droning away on stationary cardio equipment or jumping around your living room to DVDs and YouTube videos. Many of the healthiest people I know do very little in the way of a "workout"...they're just active people and enjoy the activities they engage in...they're just having fun playing outside.

As diet goes, unfortunately people also tend to have a very myopic view of nutrition and "healthy." Quality nutrition can absolutely be delicious, it doesn't have to be bland or boring or endless salads and chicken breasts. I'm personally of the opinion that most home cooking is pretty healthy unless you're going out of your way to junk it up, and where weight management is concerned, a lot of it comes down to portions and simply not overfeeding. I don't think I've ever gone back for seconds because I was actually still hungry.

Ultimately a lot of this comes down to breaking down bad habits and replacing them with new, better habits. That takes some work and honestly is just kind of a "just do it" kind of thing...there is unfortunately no magic wand that can be waved. I understood my why and it was just up to me to make the changes. For myself it was largely my health which was deteriorating, and at the time I had a 2 year old and a new born at home. The thought of not being around to watch them grow up or being around but being to sick to really participate in their lives was pretty much a non starter for me and got me moving in the right direction. It was definitely baby steps...but baby steps turn into bigger steps and are cumulative over time. You don't have to change everything about your life all at once.

Another vote for habits, specifically, using discipline to create habits.

You may find the following useful. (Warning: language is "salty.")

http://www.wisdomination.com/screw-motivation-what-you-need-is-discipline/