Weightloss and motivation advise

[Zaza84]

Hi, I posted something similar over in the Fitbit flex 2 forum.

Im 33 and overweight & I would really like to lose some weight and be more healthy.  

I have bought a fitbit charge2 and an apple watch previosly but I took them both back after a day.  Mainly because I wasnt as ready as I thought and felt one: it would simply not be used and it was a waste if I wasn't committed and 2: I wasn't overly keen constantly looking at screen, when you have to put in the hard work.. I just wasn't there... BUT I really really want to be.

Im really curios about re purchasing maybe a flex 2 but my question is how did/does a fitbit help/motivate you from being inactive to weight loss. I want to believe this tiny gadget can help nudge me and motivate me.  But as soon as I purchase it I cant see how it can be done and dont even try.

 I do walk quiet abit every week & run around after a toddler. But other than that id rather have my feet up. & when i make a fitness plan or think about heading to the outside gym or even a jog, the thought makes me feel negative with extreme resistance and I dont even end up trying to go.  

I want to be motivated and I wonder if a fitbit can help that??  My daughter is my motivation so I can enjoy a long life with her but that "ill start tomorrow" never comes with me and I just put it off.. week after week.

Also Id like to know, on my charge 2 it would say how many steps i need to take to complete a goal, would taking those small steps every day make a difference in the long run?

Im sorry if these are silly questions, I just see so many people losing weight and being motivated and i just wonder how did you get from A-B.. I think A is the hardest step and I need some help finding what will work and maybe a fit bit is the way for me.. not sure...

Just want my size to change 😞 Any help would be lovely 

Thanks

[betpchem · Accepted solution]

@Zaza84I hear you. Taking that first step is the hardest thing ever. But it is so worth it.

I find the Fitbit very motivating. I never used to be able to exercise or even want to. But I like to watch the step numbers increase. I like to beat someone in a challenge. When I first started with my Fitbit, I couldn't jog in place for 2 minutes. Now I can do an hour or more. It's also motivated me to eat better and more healthily.

I encourage you to take that first step. Get the Charge 2, and start walking. Even the little steps during the day will add up and they will come easier and easier. And whenever you need more motivation, come here. We'll be here to help.

[Lindsye]

I find that when I use my Fitbit and join a Stepbet (app on your phone), I am motivated to get my steps in.  Stepbet takes what you normally walk and pushes you to walk a bit more than that 4 days a week and two days are stretch days.  Those days you push.  I have found that it is a very effective tool for me.  Just competing in Stepbet and watching my diet, I have lost 40 pounds.

[Esya]

@Zaza84

While the FitBit is a great tool, it is still going to be you who is going to put the work in. There is no changing that. And yes, taking those small steps every day will make a difference.

I feel you are overwhelmed by it all? If so try to make small changes that you can maintain and get comfortable with those and then change the next thing. This way you can build a lifestyle that will last instead of going all in at once and not being able to keep it up. It also makes every next step that much easier to take. Health is more than just steps, it is also exercise and diet. It is going to take time and it is easier if you can ease into it than to go full in. Start making small changes by seeing where you can easily cut out sugar in your diet or where you can get some extra steps in and start from there. Next month you can add some more small changes.

You don't need a FitBit to start making changes, so maybe try making changes before buying one? The forums are open and available to everyone and very motivating and a great place for information.

[Dominique]

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@Zaza84 wrote:

Im 33 and overweight & I would really like to lose some weight and be more healthy.  

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One thing I’d like to add is that although exercising is important for weight management and general health (and a Fitbit tracker definitely can motivate you to be more active), weight loss is usually 80% about nutrition and 20% about exercising. It’s very hard to lose weight with exercising alone (sometimes put as "you can’t out-train a poor diet"). In other words, you’d also need to make changes to your eating habits. Fitbit can help with that too (if you choose to use it to track your food intake), either using its own tracking feature, or that of a third-party app like MyFitnessPal (which can be linked to your Fitbit account). You can also find a lot of advice and support for that in the Fitbit Community. And as @Esya noted, you don’t even need to buy Fitbit products in order to have access to the community: just hang around for a while if you feel you’re not ready to commit yet.

[Zaza84]

Thank you so much, yes I think I am going to do it and just take small steps. I appreciate the support.

[Esya]

@Zaza84

You could also get the app already. It might not register your steps and sleep without a FitBit device, but you could log your water intake for example as that might be another easy change to make. And as @Dominique suggested you can log your food. Then if and when you decide to get a tracker you are already more familiar with the app.

[Zaza84]

Hi yes that is very true.  Anytime anyone asked me about nutrition or food, id say "well I dont really eat much and when I do its healthy" well after downloading myfitnesspal. I couldn't be more wrong and was going way over on a daily ammounts and the things I thought were ok, were high in carbs etc or there was no real 'nutrition' going on at all. Like @Esya said Its overwhelming.... im pondering over food, nutrition and what I should do to lose the weight and then look in the mirror and start thinking about what I can see. So anyone time I think about losing weight the thought of changing it all is confusing and then... well... I just stop thinking about it all together.  I suppose im someone who struggles with over thinking and then never gets anything done!   So would you recommend me maybe learning about nutrition and what im eating etc before focusing on exercise or getting a fitbit or vice versa.  

**The only way I can describe me thinking about losing weight.... is.. Opening that dreaded messy cupboard and it being to much to even think about and then closing it again for another day.**

[Esya]

@Zaza84

Good for you for facing that dreaded messy cupboard. Just realise that dreaded messy cupboard does not need to be cleaned up in one go or one day. There must be 1 item in that cupboard that is the easiest to start with to put away and by doing so you make it easier to do the next and the next. Take your time for it.

I would suggest to start with the thing that seems to be the easiest for you to do and maintain. Whether that is food or exercise or getting some extra steps in. Soon you can add the next thing. It might not be the best thing for fast progress, but it is better to make a small change that you can implement and keep up to create a new lifestyle than to go for fast progress now and not be able to keep it up.

When I started I just made small changes too. Here are a few of the things that I did when I was new to this (about 2 years ago when I was your age):

- Trying to limit added/refined sugar as much as possible. For me this was learning to drink tea without sugar and to replace other drinks with water. Also not going to congratulate colleagues on their birthday as there would be cake and at that moment I was not yet strong enough to refuse the cake if it was in front of me. I would congratulate them outside the cake event in the hallway.

- Get up every hour and move for a bit. I have a desk job and sitting long times on end without getting up really increases the risk for heart disease. I made it a point to get it into my habits to get up every hour. That did not happen at once.

- Logging the amount of water you drink and hit the daily goal.

While you get used to a few changes you can educate yourself on nutrition in the meantime and see where you can make easy changes to your diet. Maybe start by replacing your breakfast after you got used to the first few changes.

Try not to focus on the big end goal that is very daunting. Hardly anyone can keep that up. Instead we create mini goals that we can meet in a week or two. Anything can count as a goal (like drinking enough water). Before you know it you have 4-5 mini goals going at once without much trouble to meet those.

[Zaza84]

Thanks! that makes sense. I am thinking way to hard on the end goal and far way it is. I think ill start like you said making the small goals and work on achieving them.. Thanks guys really appreciate the support and advise 🙂

[Dominique]

@Zaza84: information overload is a real problem, especially if/when it holds you from actually taking action (whether it’s with eating or exercising).

I would suggest you go through the five short videos by Dr. John Berardi of Precision Nutrition that are referenced in this post.

They cover everything you really need to know before getting started, both for nutrition and exercising. They do not try to sell you on one particular diet, or one particular way of exercising. They have been of tremendous help for me (glad I found them right when I was starting my journey) and I keep going back to them.

If you have any unanswered questions after watching them, just ask!

[Esya]

@Zaza84

Seeing you are so overwhelmed and prone to overthinking, I would also like to suggest to start a journal. You could write your motivation (doing it for your daughter) on the first page. Then you could write down for each week (or whatever time frame) what your goals are for that week. Whenever you feel you are overwhelmed again, you can pick up your journal and stick to the plan you created for yourself.

[Mukluk4]

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@Zaza84 wrote:

I want to be motivated and I wonder if a fitbit can help that??  My daughter is my motivation so I can enjoy a long life with her but that "ill start tomorrow" never comes with me and I just put it off.. week after week.

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This should be your motivation, and the fitbit is a tool to get you there.  If she isn't enough, there's nothing that wrist device will do to enhance that.

[Megzzzx]

No device and nothing can make you do something if you don't want to. That part is all on you. It seems like maybe you need to do some thinking. I didn't use to be a lazy person, it didn't happen till I got an office job. Once you move, it is easier to move. You have more energy and drive to get things done. So before since I wasn't sitting, I wasn't stopping. I was just go, go, go. When I stopped, I got sick, I got high blood pressure, I was always tired and never had energy to do anything. I couldn't take it anymore. So I made the choice and I forced myself to move and move. The fitbit helps because it gives me a number. I'm a gamer so to motivate me I need a score, I need a challenge, I need trophies and badges and competition. So it is great for me. When I challenge others, I push myself more.

But not everyone is like that. So it is really up to you to figure out what motivates you. And it is up to you to decide to make a change. As Yoda says, "Do or do not, there is no try." 

[Hera]

I bought my fitbit chargehr last year and once I bought it synced it and loaded the app I was hooked. I had been wanting to lose some weight for quite awhile. First I simply tried getting the minimum 30 minutes per day of exercise. I found that I lost little to no weight. I bought the fitbit to motiviate me to live a healthier lifestyle and it has done just that. 

I soon realized I needed to implement diet intake changes and I began tracking everything I ate. Soon it became apparent that I was consuming too many calories each day and not burning enough calories. I upped my workout to my current goal of burning 400 calories miniumum per day. This usually works with my 1 hour workout. I have found that losing weight takes both counting calories and burning those 400 calories per day or more on top of the normal calories that your body burns.

It is difficult to say what can motivate each of us but my daily goal is to burn those 400 calories during exercise so that I burn a miniumum of 2000 calories per day. To lose weight I try to intake only 1200-1300 per day. I don't hit that every day, sometimes I mess up but overall I've lost 9lbs in the last 8 months. 

I feel much healthier working out daily and much happier meeting my 2000 burn every day.

The Fitbit app motivates me to do this because I can set my goals and attempt to hit them daily and you can see what you've done in a visual way.

Now whenever I see my dr. for a yearly visit and they ask me, how often do you exercise I can say, daily with confidence and not be a liar. 

Exercise really does give you more energy too, that's no lie. I guarantee you'll feel better but the first step is just getting "into" the routine. Once you are in that routine, I think you'll like it and feel and look better too.

[Zaza84]

Thanks so much. The replies Ive got im really grateful for and have inspired me. I think the fitbit forums or fitbit community on here is brilliant!  Now I know how to use the data to my advantage im excited.  Like you said its a bit of both exercise and what you eat.  First step for me is upping my steps. It sounds like a small step but its a start 🙂  I really was interested in the fitbit flex2 but having one that tells you how many steps you need to reach your hour goal would be helpful. Like you said its just getting 'into it' once im over that hurdle I think that will really help.