09 Mar 2015

A question about : How do you stay motivated?

I seem to lose motivation very easily. I've been trying to eat healthily and lose weight but I seem to give in so easily that I've hardly lost any weight at all. I am trying to eat less processed carbs and I try to keep a food diary on myfitnesspal.

I have about 40lbs to lose in the long term, but I've set myself smaller goals - I'd like to wear a certain dress in 6 weeks time which is a dress size smaller than I am currently (this has been my goal since January). After that, I would like to be wearing a different dress for my 30th birthday in July - again, a smaller size. I would like to lose the bulk of my weight by September when I go on holiday.

I know all of these goals are do-able, but I never seem to keep at it long enough to make much of a difference. So if anybody has any tips that I can use to keep motivated that would be great! They dont have to be diet tips, just anything that would help with willpower in general.

Thanks in advance.

Best answers:

  • My thing is to just keep very busy! I have surprised myself by losing 11 lbs in 5 weeks just by cutting out biscuits, cakes and chocolates during the week and going for a 20 minute walk 3-4 times per week!
    I find I am ok during the day but my weakness is after a meal watching TV at night, I used to crave the bad things so now I have some tinned fruit, it is something sweet to take the edge off. I do allow myself small treats at the weekend though, a slice of cake or a few chocolates.
    I am just aiming for half a stone at a time as my goal, so that it doesn't seem so daunting. I have about 10 more lbs to lose and then I will happy
  • Well done for your weight loss secretarybird
    My danger zone seems to be any time after work, so perhaps you are right and I need to keep busy rather than sit about and let myself think of bad food! I try not to buy chocolate or biscuits or crisps on my weekly shop but I seem to find myself buying something extra round about midweek when I've run out of something. Sometimes my willpower disappears entirely and I end up at the shops buying an incredible amount of junk when I've got perfectly good food in the fridge at home.
  • Avoid TV cooking shows, they're lethal!
  • Haha, the only one I tend to watch is River Cottage. Mainly because I know its going to be far too much effort for me to recreate anything. I had to stop watching the Hairy Bikers though!
  • Are you meal planning for the week ahead? I find that it is much easier to follow a plan, if you have everything you need and a set schedule ahead of the week. Also helps with budgeting and no last minute buys - very MSE! Even if you then miss a meal or even a whole day, it won't make too much of a difference.
    Also, what also causes you to lose the willpower? And what time of day are you visiting the shops? I find allowing myself 'treats' on a certain day, or everyday but in small amounts, stops me caving completely.
  • I have joined DietBet. I have to lose 4% of my total weight in 4 weeks otherwise I lose Ј20. If I succeed I stand a chance of winning money.
  • I don't buy anything that I know I will snack on, like chocolate, biscuits or crisps. If it's in the house I will eat it, so it's easiest to just not have those things in the house. The "treating" myself on a certain day doesn't work for me personally, I find it much easier to avoid the food altogether and don't even miss them.
    Also, try going food shopping when you're full, that way you will be less tempted to pick up things you don't need.
    Work out a weekly meal plan, so you know exactly what you are eating on what day, and exactly what you need to buy, and only buy that.
  • I try to plan, but I know that I'm not very good at it. For example,I'll buy a week's worth of food, stick some in the freezer then not take it out in time so then I would buy rubbish instead. I have been trying to do batch cooking so then I can reheat it from frozen.
    I haven't tried having a treat day so it could be worth incorporating that into my diet to give myself something to aim for until it becomes habit.
    I tried the 5:2 back when the BBC showed the Michael Moseley documentary. I found it hard but it gave me results. It's worth trying again.
    I used to be able to cut processed carbs easily and lose weight so that is what I've been trying. I guess it's just trying to find something that suits me now.
  • Thanks all, my "thanks" button seems to have disappeared since I'm on my phone. Oddly enough, I'm fine with exercise, I've been going to Zumba twice a week and doing HIIT 3-4 times a week, but as I'm cheating so often with the diet it's not having much impact.
  • I lost 3 stone by setting a single long term goal and a set of shorter term goals.
    I wanted to get slimmed off for a holiday that was roughly 9 months away so I decided to join a gym that wasn't on my way home to make sure I didn't just drive past it and skip it on the way home. I made sure I drove straight to the gym 3 nights a week from work.
    I had weekly targets to lose between 1 and 3 lbs per week. The first couple of months the weight dropped off easily enough. Towards the end I'd met my target goal early and actually ended up 3lb lighter than I'd aimed for.
    I've since put the about a stone back on over Xmas but I'm losing that again by changing my eating plan and exercising regularly again.
  • Hi Stir_Crazy.
    It's great that you're setting yourself goals for yourself and that you're mindful of dietary areas that need improving. Making small changes to the way you shop and the way you think about food can make all the difference. Make a shopping list - Plan meals for the week and buy only the ingredients that you need. That way you'll be less likely to drop things into the trolley that you don't need or that might go to waste.
  • Oh I am the same. It is so hard finding something to stick with that doesn't involve syns, points etc etc.
    I wasn't one for calorie counting either but my husband has had success with myfitnesspal so I am going to give it another go. I spent last night thinking of lots of foods that I enjoy that are naturally low calorie. So I get 'more for my money' so to speak. Like Aldi frozen berries with low fat (not fat free) greek yog for supper! Can't wait!
    I am also doing a sugar stop challenge which means I am giving up everything with added sugar.
    I am also not gojng to get weighed every week as I find this often demotivates me. I can't exercise due to Fibromyalgia and ME so that's out of the window but I do try to keep active when I can by pottering quickly around the house!!
  • I tend to focus on the behaviours that I want to enact rather than on the end goals. So I have yearly, monthly, weekly and daily goals. That's not to say I always live up to them
    So for today for example my goals were:
    To support x (taking a friend to hospital, everything else is secondary to this today)
    To get as much walking in as I can because of above (normal goal is 12k steps but most of the day travelling to/from and at hospital)
    To eat well and not eat any sugary foods or drink alcohol
    To stretch and meditate
    To ignore my work emails (I'm offically on a holiday day)
    To finally sort out a car problem I've been ignoring
    At the end of the day I sit down, tick off what I've done, note what I've failed to do, and set my list for the next day. It is repetitive but there's something about making the list that helps me focus on what I really want (rather than what I want right now, which might be a slice of cake) and there is something kind of pleasing about ticking off what I've done - though I don't always succeed in everything - I failed in ignoring the emails today
    I think if you focus on building the good habits the good results follow.
    This approach helped me lose quite a bit of weight a few years ago, maintain it for quite some time and is helping me to lose it again now (gained a stone over a very stressful time last year but half a stone of that lost again since Christmas )
  • Thank you all, there are a lot of handy tips from everyone - interesting about the different coloured plates Mojisola, I'd never even thought something as simple as seeing your food clearly could affect how much you eat.
    That is a good idea about ticking off your goals at the end of the day belfastgirl. I think something like that could help keep me focused.
  • I can plan for a couple of days but can't plan for a whole week. So now I plan two or three days or so at a time food.
    I tried 5:2 before but found 500 cals too restrictive. This is the link to the horizon programme with the restrictive diet. Download the ebook which is quite informative and there's links to recipes. I manage with this much better because it allows you 800 cals a day and is a bit prescriptive in what you can eat.
    For example - 1 piece of fruit, 6 portion of veg, there's others I can't remember from memory for protein and dairy. And a list of foods that you don't eat which reminds me a bit of the new slimming world diet (speed/protein).
    On my low cal days I still eat loads I'll have a soup and salad with a bit of quorn for lunch then a plate full of veg and quorn and a piece of fruit. I eat the meals without any snacking in between and I don't really count the calories.
    I've been doing this for a month and the weight is going down slowly.
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