More than a diet, it's a lifestyle!!

Congratulations on getting started! With regard to eating better, I really didn't need motivation as much as I just needed to get back to the healthy habits I had abandoned. I made that transition fairly easily. It was the exercise and fitness part of a healthy lifestyle that I struggled to adopt. I was so discouraged when I first joined MFP that I actually had no intent of ever changing my activity level. It was my friends here who motivated me to do that, not by hammering it into me that it was important, but just by doing what they were doing and logging it for me (and others) to see. When I saw other people logging exercise, it made me want to get out there and move!

Aside from being motivated by friends and their successes, I also motivate myself by making very small changes and incorporating change slowly. I don't set big goals right away. I start very, very small with something I KNOW is attainable. The more often I accomplish those small attainable goals, the more motivated I become to up the ante. It's the "success breeds success" idea. In 3 months I've gone from being completely sedentary (seriously logging over 4 hours at a time on my *kitten*, several times a day, every day) with zero purposeful exercise, to getting in 200-300 minutes of purposeful exercise a week. I accomplished this by first taking the stairs to my office instead of the elevator (4 floors up). I parked farther from the door. Soon I started closing the laptop for 20 minutes a day and taking a slow walk up and down the street. I now cycle or run/walk at least 3 times a week.

Motivation is a personal thing, I think. What motivates one may not at all motivate another. I had no idea that the success of others would motivate me so much, but it really has. That's what I LOVE about MFP!!!

Good luck to you!:flowerforyou:

It's hard at first, you really have to force yourself to get motivated by visualizing your end goal. Then after a month it should be a habit. And then when you actually see results, that's when you realllly get motivated. Good luck!