Motivation Needed

I've lost almost 150 pounds doing nothing more than walking and eating better. I have no interest in joining a gym. Congrats on making better choices for yourself. Keep it up! Remember that this is about your health overall.

I joined a week ago and I plan to lose the weight through eating healthily, walking my puppy and doing the odd bit of exercise here and there. I lost 8lbs in my first week so I'd say it definitely does work.

I joined a gym last year, it didn't interest me whatsoever and I wasted a hell of a lot of money (didn't lose any weight either). If you're not sure whether you'll use it, don't; there are plenty of ways it can work for you!!

Best of luck xx

I do not like to work out in front of people either, so I bought an elliptical from a yard sale and put it in my basement. Little by little, mostly from yard sales, i have aquired my own home gym, nothing fancy... but i can now work out in my home anytime i please. And I don't have to pay monthly to do it.

Maybe you need to crank up cardio, add a jog in your walk every couple minutes.

The only thing preventing you from getting rid of weight is yourself! In my case, I had to NEED it not want it.

Join the gym as a couple.

Well.....I do belong to a gym, haven't been there since November 2011 (although I'm still paying for it - duh) and have lost 33 lbs since November! I've done 30 DS, RI30' and 3 days left of KBT - all from the comfort and convenience of my home! I plateaued for a couple of months so I started walking and I'm losing again! Walking is great. You really have to find something you enjoy doing as it needs to be a life-long commitment. You can do it - be patient and committed!

Lweber -

I could cheerlead and say keep doing what you're doing - but it's not working, so why go that way?

You wouldn't build a house just by grabbing some lumber and nails. You wouldn't bake a cake just by taking some ingredients in the pantry and throwing them together. That's just guessing.

You need a plan. Then you have to adhere to it.

This VERY FIRST thing you need to do is determine how many calories a day you should be eating. MFP's recommendation is an okay place to start, you can fine tune it later. MFP's protein/carb/fat ration is NOT a good place to start - too much carb. Take their calorie recommendation and manually change the ratio to 40/40/20. A high protein diet is essential to fat loss.

The next thing you need is a goal. Weighing such and such pounds is not really much of a goal, it's a guess. Body fat percentage is a quantifiable goal. Women ought to be in the 20% range, 16% if you want nice abs. Buy a body fat caliper, Accumeasure is available online for less than $10.

Finally, you need a fitness plan that isn't something stupid like The Ab Rocker. There are plenty available - Beach Body's P90 or Slim in 6, Jillian Michaels, etc. That will take the guesswork out of your exercise regimen. AVOID any plan that says it's going to put you on the cover of Women's Health with only 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week. That's BS. If it were that easy, everyone would look great.

That's it - it's simple. It's just not easy.

Good luck!

Keep up with the walking. If you don't like the gym, it will be a challenge to go. A really good book to read is "Walk Yourself Thin" By David Rives. It's an easy read and has a lot of good tips on how to lose weight by just walking.

I am in desperate need of some motivation/ inspiriation. I know much of it has to come from "within" but I need help finding it. I thought I was doing very well- the past week I was getting up every morning and taking my 2 dogs for a 2 mile walk, then after work I would take them for another. I haven't lost any weight- but I have been feeling better, and just said I would keep going and working towards it- because the weight wasn't going to fall off over night. I gained 40 lbs in 4 years- I won't lose it over night.

My husband comes to me this morning and tells me- you should join a gym- this walking thing is not working for you. (he has gained 75 lbs in the past 4 years) and says I need to do it as well. i am not a gym fan- I hate working out in front of people.

I am so discouraged- I dont know what to do! Help please

When I made a committment to exercise and eat better it took EIGHT months before I saw the scale move or saw any results! I told myself the same thing: it took 6 years to put the weight on, it's not going to come off overnight! I had a lot of up and down moments, like why am I even bothering. BUT you have to keep your mind straight and keep going. I also do not workout in a gym...I workout at home. Pick up a DVD video. I started with videos from Lindsay Brin-Mom's Into Fitness (you can google her) and Turbo Jam by Chalene Johnson. Currently, I've added running to my workouts. Also, walking is one of the best exercises you can do.
Some advice...when I started I still thought I could eat whatever I wanted and just use portion control since I was exercising. It wasn't until I adjusted my food/diet that I started to see more results. Remember you can't out exercise a bad diet! And take baby steps. If you need to modify your food, transition slowly so you aren't feeling like you are depriving yourself. Losing weight is about 60% exercise and 40% diet (and I never mean being on a "diet" I mean food choices).
I think the fact that you are at least feeling better is what you have to remember...that's an excellent first step! You want to feel better ultimately! Another thing I learned is to just look at it longterm: this is my lifestyle change and I am a work in progress...it's going to take time. Congrats on what you have done so far!!
Feel free to add me as a friend. I love encouraging people & I always leave my food diary open.
"The number one reason why people give up so fast is because they tend to look at how far they still have to go, instead of how far they have gotten."

I hate working out in front of people, too. Including my fiance. I have found that what works best for me is DVDs that I can do at home.

My fiance and I will walk the dogs together, but my main workouts include Turbo Jam, Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred or Brazil Butt Lift. They require little equipment and are fun and motivating.

Turbo Jam and Brazil Butt Lift are a little more expensive, they're from the Beach Body workouts like P90X but you may be able to find them cheaper on amazon or ebay. For these you need a yoga mat and dumbbell weights and a resistance band respectively.

Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred is only like $10ish at WalMart. All you need is a yoga mat and a set of dumbbells which are also fairly cheap at WalMart.

I am in desperate need of some motivation/ inspiriation. I know much of it has to come from "within" but I need help finding it. I thought I was doing very well- the past week I was getting up every morning and taking my 2 dogs for a 2 mile walk, then after work I would take them for another. I haven't lost any weight- but I have been feeling better, and just said I would keep going and working towards it- because the weight wasn't going to fall off over night. I gained 40 lbs in 4 years- I won't lose it over night.

My husband comes to me this morning and tells me- you should join a gym- this walking thing is not working for you. (he has gained 75 lbs in the past 4 years) and says I need to do it as well. i am not a gym fan- I hate working out in front of people.

I am so discouraged- I dont know what to do! Help please

Honestly, I've come to the conclusion that "motivation" is a myth. It's not a real thing. You either do something, or you don't. You either want it, or you don't. So if you want it, you do it. You adopt a mantra of "Do it now," and you do it without procrastinating or making excuses. Learn the difference between excuses and reasons, and don't accept excuses from yourself. Plan ahead. Plan when you'll do your exercise, and do it at that time. Plan your meals and snacks at the beginning of the day (or the day before), and stick to the plan. Make a point of just doing it, and after a couple of weeks it'll be habit and you won't have to push yourself so hard.

If you need rewards, find some. Maybe you don't let yourself watch your favorite tv show until you've done your exercise for the day. Or maybe if you stick to the plan for a week, you reward yourself with a new nail polish, or a night out at the movies with your friends.If you stick with it for a month, you get a new cute top that you've been eyeing. Don't use food as a reward, ever. But if rewarding yourself helps, do it.

If you want to join a gym, do that. If you don't, then don't. Either way, whether you join or not, you'll need a plan. If you join a gym, know what classes and exercises you'll be doing, and stick with that plan. If you don't join, come up with another exercise routine you can do at home. Don't just have this diaphanous idea of "I'm going to exercise" floating around. That's not useful. You need a concrete plan. The plan can change, but you can't change it unless you have another concrete plan to replace it with.

You don't have to do it your husband's way. If you're happy with how you're feeling now, keep doing what you're doing. But if you want to change things, do it. It's all for you. Get what YOU want.

Don't give up!!!!

The goal is to change lifestyle habits for long term health benefits --- unless you think you can change your personality to like the gym --- that's not a long term solution. You haven't been walking the dogs morning and night long enough to know if that is going to help you yet, but if it doesn't make a difference you are happy with in couple weeks, you might need to adjust your lifestyle a little more. Adjusting gradually makes the process feel more natural and bearable -- which also may make these new habits stick! Weight loss and living a healthy lifestyle isn't a sprint it's a marathon!

I lose weight differently than my husband. He's tried to tell me I'm doing it all wrong before, but I never had a weight problem till I met him ) so that's my new response - a kiss and a reminder that before I met him I was perfectly capable of keeping myself healthy and in shape and I more than capable of getting back there using the techniques that work for me. I know me - I know what I like, what I will be happy doing every day. His "helpfulnees" comes from a good place, but I take his suggestions with a grain of salt, read lots of diet and exercise suggestions from fellow dieters and try the ones that sound like they are MORE likely to work for me in the long run.

Soooooo --- my advice --- find things you LIKE to do or that you think you can grow to LIKE to do and add those to your daily life. There are lots of exercise options out there that don't involve a gym. The last thing you want is to be dreading going to work out. This should be a positive process --- you are doing a GOOD thing and you should feel good about yourself while you are doing it!

On the dog walking portion specifically ---- I don't know how your dogs are when they walk, but I had a hard time getting my heart rate up with our puppies. They liked to stop and sniff and mark a little too much. So I ended up changing our walking schedule to a fast walk by myself (that I eventually brought up to a jog than a run --- intervals are a great way to train yourself to walk faster/jog/run) and a "cool down" walk with the pups. That worked much better for me and for them --- the dogs still got exercise and got sniff around as desired without me tugging on their leash and getting frusterated --- I got my heart pumping (and burned more calories) AND I actually fit in the post exercise cool down that I am horrible at making myself do. Plus in the end I ended up exercising longer and for a greater distance. If you can't pull this off both times you walk them --- try to fit in this adjustment one time a few days a week and see if that works for you.

Good luck figuring what healthy improvements will stick with your lifestyle and CONGRATULATIONS for starting down the path of healthy lifestyle changes!

I just recently read an article about this very subject...walking and not seeing the weight loss. It was said, that if you want 2 miles a day for 7 days..it would take 30 days to lose one pound. You see, the issue with walking, at least for most of us, is that we don’t do it at a speed fast enough to raise our heart rate into the aerobic levels which is needed to burn fat. My suggestion would be to increase your speed and distance and see if you notice a difference.
Also, make sure you feed your muscles after working out. You have a “magic window” of 45 mins to feed your muscles with lean protein. This not only rebuilds the muscles but it helps keep the sugar cravings at bay.

Hope this helps