Can't get motivated...

[Smutty]

I've had my fitbit 2 weeks or so now, but I just can't get motivated to change my eating habits & exercise more. I work 18 hours a day 5 days a week so on my days off all I want to do is relax and veg out. Help! 

Smitty

[reuel]

if you work for 18 hours day, 5 hours a week, it means you are seriously overworked  and your body chemistry is very messed up. its kind of expected that your mood is down and you would prefer up-pers like sugar, caffeine, salty and fatty food.

i hope you would get a better sched soon ... your job is literally killing you.

[WendyB]

Thats a lot of hours so I dont blame you for wanting to veg out after words.

May I ask why so many hours? Any way to reduce them? I agree it is really not good for your body

[eandersen]

I work a lot too but try to plan ahead. Try to get rid of things that won't help you if you  do not have ability

to moderate. Make meals ahead and freeze single servings. If you like salty treats get single bags of

low calorie and the same for sweets. The challenges are fun - some people do amazing steps - not sure how they do it but still they do it. 

You can do it - this is the good community for support!!

Eileen

[smhermione]

Wow! 18 hours a day is a lot and your body legitimately needs some rest at that point. @eandersen has a good point about planning individual servings of foods ahead of time, hopefully making it easier to make better eating choices. With your limited time this is probably going to be the largest part to your success. One thing to keep in mind on your days off is that exercise releases endorphins that help to reduce your stress. While it is always hard to start a workout, it is a great stress reliever when you do.

[Jon_P]

Unfortunately, many of us have some horrible work hours.  Something that seems to work for me is setting a reasonable goal for steps and trying to achieve that during the day.  If I don't I make up when I get home on the treadmill.

I started by just monitoring what I did on an average day then looked to increase it.  Some of the tricks I use?

 Park farther away from where I need to be so I am forced to walk.  Take a little time a lunch to walk somewhere fun.  All the time, I am telling myself I am getting ahead of my goal and won't have to "catch up" when I get home..  It worked to get me started..

[Smutty]

I work 18 hours a day because I have to not because I want to. If I could I would . There isn't anyway for me to reduce the hours I work unless I landed a job making 34k + a year. 

[Smutty]

As I already said it's because I have to & no there's no way to reduce them... 

[SuperStephSteph]

I'm guessing that in actuality you're probably moving plenty based on the fact that you're working so much. Keep in mind that the body will hold on to weight when you're under rested, and when you're working that many hours in a day you're literally never getting enough rest. 

Through college I worked a full time and a part time job with full time school so I definitely feel your pain. The best thing I did for myself was to prep food ahead of time, that way when I needed a quick bite to eat I'd have a healthy snack/meal already ready. One of my favorite things to do is to make salads in mason jars on Sunday for the week following. If you keep wet and dry ingredients separate everything will stay fresh until the weekend. You can also big batch and freeze healthy snacks, with an hour's work or so you can have healthy snacks ready for a month or more. The crock pot is also a savior of those who work too much. Personally I like to hit Pinterest for healthy recipe ideas. 

It'll be crazy difficult the first few weeks but if you try for a few weeks to set aside 2 hours to make healthy food ahead of time before you know it your body should start feeling better. I've had a few times in my life where I slipped into eating junk all the time and I didn't realize the toll it was taking on my body until I'd been eating well for a couple weeks and started feeling better. 

With all that said, the fact that you're probably getting less than 5 hours of sleep per night means that you probably can't expect too much weight loss even with a healthy diet, but you can expect to feel better physically and to be healthier overall so it's definitely worth it! 

[Smutty]

Thank you Steph you've been the most helpful out of all the responses. 

[James_R]

If you're working those hours then meal planning is going to be the key to helping you achieve your goals. 

I'm one of those terrible fad followers and used to cart a 6-Pack bag around everywhere, but you don't really need anything more than a bit of tupperware and a decent meal plan. Getting food in little and often will help to keep your body in an anabolic state which'll help with the weight loss, and should help to boost your mood too. 

Things like chicken breast and aspagrus are great for you and so quick and easy to throw together, and investing in a crock pot or slow cooker is a godsend as you can just set it rocking the night before and pot it up in the morning for the day ahead. Fruits and nuts are great little snacks to keep you feeling boosted (ignore the hype about high fat in nuts, unless you're shovelling them down it won't hurt), and stay hydrated with lots of water. 

When in doubt, look for complex carbs to give you a slow release throught the day, like wholegrain pasta and rice. As long as you control the portion sizes you're golden. 

[LocoMutant]

if you really want to lose the weight you can start by changing what you eat and track your calories I use myfitnesspal.  With the fitbit you can try little things here and there like using stairs instead of the elevator, parking at the back of the lot, go the long way instead of short cut.  good luck on your journey it's a hard one but worth it in the end.