Staying motivated

DrifterBear wrote: »

I've struggled with this as well. There's nothing 'wrong' with you or uncommon about starting with a ton of motivation that is gone within 3 months. This can happen even if you are seeing progress along the way. It's important to look at times where you became discouraged and try to understand what happened so you can better identify and respond when you see yourself repeating a past trend.

As an example, you may have a small setback from eating too much either because of a weekend celebration, vacation, or falling off on a binge. You get on the scale and see weight has gone up and will take two weeks just to get back to where you were. Then consciously or subconsciously say *kitten* it and keep going and doing more damage.

Instead, if you can identify why the scale went up, what were the circumstances, what was your mindset, why didn't you stop, what could you have done differently, you'll be able to take control of your choices in the future. Most importantly, have self-compassion and accept that it has happened and that you may have some work to do getting back to where you were. Instead of focusing on the time it will take to get back to your lowest weight or NSV, realize how long it's taken you to get where you are and that you don't want two weeks to become three or more.

In short:
1) Accept the things you cannot change (past)
2) Focus on the things you can (future)
3) Develop the ability to determine which things are #1 or #2

Motivation in this case is foregoing short-term or instant gratification for long-term results and happiness. Eating or binge watching shows is a short-term pleasure that leads to long-term costs. You can make working out and eating healthy a short-term reward, but generally speaking it is the harder short-term road to walk. So you must remind yourself daily why you are on it, why you chose to skip the drive through or head to they gym. No matter where you are today, you will be somewhere else in 1 year and that will be determined by the sum of choices made in each of the 365 days between now and then. They won't all directly contribute to your long-term goals so your motivation is to make the average as high as possible.

The last thing I'd say is to spend time, however it works for you, processing that you are never going back to the "easy" or less disciplined path. Never means not now, not when you achieve your final goal, it means never. That doesn't mean you won't break your healthy habits from time to time, but means you fundamentally don't want to live your life that way. When you over eat or don't exercise, accept it as a choice you made but take time to tune in and be mindful about how it makes you feel. You may realize you feel sluggish, less sharp, maybe you have a stomach ache after eating too much sugar or feel less energized from skipping a workout. Tune into those feelings and you'll see the short-term "reward" actually came with more short-term cost then you had realized in the past.

quiksylver296 wrote: »

I don't stay motivated. I build habits that carry me through when the motivation wanes. I've been really struggling lately and not wanting to go to the gym. But I've been going at least four times a week for over five years now and that habit prevails even when I don't have any motivation.

I also have minimum goals, medium goals, and lofty goals for daily success. My minimum goals are getting to the gym 4 times a week and doing my compound lifts, at least 7,000 steps per day, and logging my food. Medium goals - adding in my accessory lifts, adding in focused cardio, and keeping calories under maintenance. Lofty goals are anything bigger than medium goals. Success is hitting minimum goals.