Long Term Motivation Support/Ideas?

i have tried all different ways in the past to lose weight and over the past year, ive struggled even more, i think it may be something to do with the menopause, im not sure but, ive been a diet for 4 weeks now although ive only been on mfp for a week i have lost 8.5 lbs so far by cutting out all fried foods and junk and having my meals on a healthy portion plate and also doing exercise every day, even if some days its only 10 minutes if im pushed for time. it seems to be working at last , im losing about 2 lbs a week. i also make sure i have a treat a couple of times a week. good luck.

I've only been on MFP a few days, but I've been trying to loose weight for some time. My son was born in June and I am down to the last 2-3 kg of baby weight (it is not coming off easy, I've been at the last 2-3kg for about 3 months now). After that I still have minimum 10kg to go, probably more like 20. Looking at it like that though is seriously overwhelming. So I am looking at the 2-3 first and then the 10 and then I will see if another 10 is necessary or not, that isn't a decision for now. But I find having an "off day" every now and then helps. Meeting an out of town friend for dinner and a couple of drinks? Have a good time, maybe have a dinner salad to even out the drinks if it makes you feel better. Family reunion coming up and Aunt Tina made that fantastic Chile cheese casserole thing, have a serving and don't look back. Just make sure your "special occasions" don't happen too often. You can always go out to coffee with friends and have a skinny latte or just water.

Im 42 and have faced this problem for too many years, my bad weeks usually out weigh my good resulting in yo yo weight fluctuations and the resulting moods swings skinny/happy-fat/miserable etc and generally having no control. Looking back I truly believe it was unhappiness and I turned to the one thing that I had within my reach that gave me pleasure. My way of overcoming this was learning what the triggers were and changing the food i put in my mouth. Many years ago I stopped dieting and made some "lifestyle changes" (high cholesterol, diabetes results and being classified as obese when I didnt actually think i was prompted this).

The changes were step by step I have never been good and giving something up cold turkey (as soon as i say im on a diet i WANT TO EAT lol) , so I made baby steps. white bread for wholegrain, no drinking through the week, take away max once a week and then it could only be certain things- lamb & salad skewer, chinese steam veg, steam rice and a chicken dish and finally learning what nutritional and calories were actually in food. Keeping a diary like this is a fantastic way to see where you have gone wrong before your too far gone and enables you to adjust your next food intake or excercise more so you dont fluctuate to much. Exercise as much as I hate it MUST be a part of your life 20-30 mins a day (or less as long as you do it) makes a world of difference. Funny how I would drive 20 minutes to get take away and binge but balk at exercising for the same time lol! And my girlfriends are actually starting to enjoy the fact that I take them on a 40 minutes walk before our friday night drinks.

There are too many hurdles that we face daily that can impact our resolve STOP beating yourself up if you have a bad day-just make an effort to not let it spiral out of control and redeem yourself the next day. REMEMBER there are no bad foods only food nothing should be off limits if its in moderation, if you exercise and if the bulk of your diet is healthy. Thank our lucky stars everyday that we have a body that functions (the least we can do its look after it) and at the end of the day it is empowering to make positive steps, 30 yrs of emotional binge eating I can say there is light at the end of the day. And once you allow yourself to prove how strong you are.. you will be loving yourself sick!!:flowerforyou: