Staying motivated at the end

manthajill
manthajill Posts: 11 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hi all,

I've been working at weight loss since early 2011, and I started MFP around September of last year. So far, I've lost 36KG, which I'm very happy with. However, I still have 14KG left to lose to reach my goal. I'm finding it hard to stay motivated lately. I think it's partly because my calorie goal has got so low now (as I'm keeping it steady at a 750 cal/day deficit). I'm halfway tempted to increase it a bit, maybe even going up to the maintenance calories for my goal weight, but that would slow my weight loss way down. I'm running my second half marathon in October, and if I keep going at the same rate, I could be very close to my goal weight before the race.

Has anyone else struggled to stay motivated when nearing the end of their weight loss? How did you push through to get the last 20 pounds or so off?

Thanks. :-) I'd appreciate any words of wisdom that are out there.

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,420 Member
    First, reset your goals. You should be at "Lose 1/2" or "Lose one pound" per week at this point in your weight loss.

    It is hard to shed those final 20. Get tough. Hang in there. You have the rest of your life.
  • manthajill
    manthajill Posts: 11 Member
    Thanks. :-) I appreciate the advice. The thing is, lowering my goals will slow things down. It's tempting to do, but then again, if I just keep pushing hard, it should be less than six months until I reach my goal. Then I'll get to go up to more than 1800 calories (before exercise) a day (which will feel like cheating every single day!!). I'm looking forward to that (and to being thinner), and I don't want to push that goal further away!!
  • neutralize
    neutralize Posts: 22 Member
    Yep I'm really struggling with this too!!

    I have the final 18 left and it's SO hard to staty motivated now. Plus the weight loss is so much slower. (I did re-calculate my loss to 1 1/2 pounds a week so it's partly my "fault" I guess.)
    For me it's partly because I'm fitting back into most of my clothes and feeling pretty healthy and fit in general. I'm doing great at the gym and just feeling like a different person in general. At the beginning I was incredibly out of shape and uncomfortable, had no energy, high blood pressure, and nothing fit or looked right on me. I guess I'm now to a point where I feel pretty comfortable. but. but. I'm still overweight and can't quit now!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,420 Member
    Thanks. :-) I appreciate the advice. The thing is, lowering my goals will slow things down. It's tempting to do, but then again, if I just keep pushing hard, it should be less than six months until I reach my goal. Then I'll get to go up to more than 1800 calories (before exercise) a day (which will feel like cheating every single day!!). I'm looking forward to that (and to being thinner), and I don't want to push that goal further away!!

    Then you are going to make it harder than it needs to be. Your body doesn't care about your time table. It only looks at survival. Cut back on food and your body will cut back on your energy stores. It's a pretty easy process. Eat enough, lose the weight. Eat too little, be miserable, and slow your metabolism.

    I gave you my advice. Good luck. If you decide to get in a boxing match with your metabolism, just remember your body keeps a brick in its glove. You will lose in this battle.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    The long term aspect of losing weight and then maintaining isn't easy - I'm a classic case, I lost 22kg and have put 3kg back on.
    But, I've gained a very clear idea of what I need to do (I just don't always do it!), I've learnt to run (which i LOVE) and am so much healthier than I've ever been.

    My advice is to take a bit of time to sit back and think about the big picture.... what is your REAL long term goal?
    Is the only thing you want to achieve with all of this hard work to see a particular number of kg on the scale? Big deal, no one but you will know whether that numbers says 60 or 65 or 75kg. (They'll notice that you're thinner and healthier though). Then what comes next? I hate to be the one to break it to you, but this journey doesn't end when you see that number. "Eat at maintenance" sounds as though ti would be easy, especially if you're feeling deprived at the moment, but it's hard to sustain long term habits without a goal.
    Would a better long term goal be "learn habits that you can sustain for life" - and that doesn't mean extreme calorie cutting and deprivation - it meals healthy eating and regular exercise and strategies to not slide back into old habits (that's been my problem!)

    I think putting a number goal and a time line is just making it harder than it needs to be - eating for your goal weight sounds like a really good plan to me, in fact I think I'm going to reset my goals today to do just that.

    I'm sorry if this is rambling and doesn't make much sense, but I'll thinking as I'm typing because this is an issue for me too - I've realised that there is no "end date" - this is for life if I want to stay at a healthy weight. Good luck with working out what works for you, and congratulations on your great progress so far.
  • manthajill
    manthajill Posts: 11 Member
    Thanks so much to everyone who posted. Yeah, I agree that looking at the big picture is best. I used to be better at that (I guess there's no choice but to look at the big picture when you're starting out 50kg overweight!). Lately, I've just wanted to get to the end. However, my long term goals are to be healthy and happy. Also, to stay fit enough to be able to keep up with my running (I went from only being able to run 80 metres to running my first half marathon in April!). So, maybe it's time to get into more of a "healthy lifestyle" mindset than a weight loss mindset.

    I've just changed my goal to losing one pound a week instead of 1.5 pounds per week. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but it's increased my calorie goal to 1580 from 1330, which feels huge to me at the moment. I'll try that for a couple of weeks and see how it goes. I might also stop updating the goal when I lose weight, and just let the weight loss naturally slow down. I think maintenance calories for my goal weight would be somewhere in the 1800's, so that should mean that I gradually slow down from one pound per week to half a pound per week (if I've done that math right!).

    Part of my problem at the moment is that none of my clothes fit, and I've got tired of buying new clothes that only fit for a month or two before becoming too big. That's one of the reasons I wanted to get to my goal as quick as possible, so that I can buy clothes that I'm planning to stay in for awhile!

    Thanks again to each of you for your help and advice. :-)

    Samantha
  • mariam_mel
    mariam_mel Posts: 13 Member
    My motivation is also low lately and probably the reason is that I hope to lose this weight twice as quicker than I am losing now. Like you I also have about 10kg (20 pounds) more to go and I know it's going to be so hard! But this is the time when we see most of the changes in our body and that's what motivates me. I try to picture my abs and butt 10kg later and I like what I see =))) I have been overweight almost all my life and I am so sick of it. I am guessing that you are not in the US. There are a couple of shows here that really helped me with motivation; one is the Biggest Loser and the other is called I Used To Be Fat - you can watch some episodes here: http://www.mtv.com/shows/i_used_to_be_fat/episodes.jhtml

    By the way I am so proud of your running accomplishments. There are so many people that would be able to lose the weight but never run a 5k not even talking about a half a marathon. So, I would suggest you try to enjoy the journey and look forward to the transformations of your body that are to come soon =)

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