Motivation. How do we KEEP it, and how to get it back once you feel you lost it...?

[motivation]

I have lost it. My motivation.

I had been food logging religiously,

then started slacking... I try every day to keep up, but procrastinate,

and then 2-3 days go by ,

I have have missed a meal  or 2 each day... 

BLAH!!!!

[datcat]

I to have had problems with motivation, but have found that it is within me, only I have the power to make changes within myself - NoOne can do that for me. 

Staying with fitbit and have friend to push/challange and stay with you is a great help.. I love my fitbit friends, when I dont show up or I am laxing the message me... but at the end of the day day... it is MY choice...

good luck and friend me if you like, i will help to cheer you on..

[DanaC]

Hope you found your motivation again - see that this post was a few weeks ago.  I was reading something, and it said that when you make a mistake/fall off the wagon, talk to yourself like you would to a dear friend - with positivity, kindness, etc.  We tend to be our own worst critics.

[motivation]

Thanks Dana! I am told that alot, I am too hard on myself!!!  🙂

[dayatatime]

Try creating a vision board, put pictures, saying, expressions-anything that inspires you.  Put it in a place where you will see it first thing everyday.  Talk to other people who want to get fit, stay fit, and get support.  Do you have anyone who will workout with you? This morning I woke up and it was raining, I did not want to get out of bed.  I had already made pans with my friend to go to yoga-ACCOUNTABILITY- she txt me and I went.  So glad I did, and I knew I would feel better about myself afterward.  These are some of the tools I use to stay on track and stay motivated.  Good Luck.

[motivation]

Excellent!!!!  Thanks for reply!  🙂

[lessplusmore · Accepted solution]

A similar discussion took place on MFP and a member posted a blog (don't remember who or where) raising the point it is more losing your self discipline than losing  motivation.  For some reason this hits home for me and when I start sliping remind myself the motivation is there but I need to dig deep for the discipline. 

[motivation]

I think you may be onto something there.
Hmm. Excellent point to remember, self discipline plays huge part in addition to motivation!!!

[Jabrat]

Accountability is a big, big motivator - have worked with a group of the same people for a year and have been successful in shedding 40 pounds - because in my mind - they look for your posts during the day - I have been on Weight Watchers for years - and never, and I say never, have I been so motivated by my Fitbit - I am crazy over it !!  Truly!!  Paid all that money all those years - I find the leaderboards highly motivating and just seeing other people working out - just gets you going!  

[Jabrat]

I constantly try to better my numbers with my Fitbit - I challenge myself - if I want to have some friendly competition - I participate - I love the motivation that my Fitbit gives me.  I set silent alarms to get myself going in the morning too.  Best little piece of plastic that I ever bought - it's a great addiction   🙂

[KyleDubyew]

When I started my journey with weight loss about a year and a half ago, I was actually 352 lbs, looking back at my profile it doesn't accurately reflect this. Today I am at 253, which is pretty significant. The one thing that was motivational for me was watching the counter on my Ultra tell me how many calories I've burned... in the begining it was like "earning" my meals and I took care to not exceed my earnings... I treated it much like that for the first few. Then I began to make better decisions and on a daily basis I would weigh myself to account for the fluctuations not really related to weight loss.

As I lost weight, I began to notice several changes including improvements in my ability to focus on my daily tasks, no more dozing off while driving, reduction in back pain, more energy, and all in all just better sense of well being... this also led to more motivation.

I stopped wearing my FitBit for a while due to a scare about rain once (I was wearing it and the rain seemed to affect it?) so I put it away on a tenative basis until I could find a solution to the rain concern. Lost it in a move and recently found it. 

Finding it again has re-ignited my motivation as it was like a game before... I was sneaking into buildings to scale their fire escape stairs so I could get my points up... now I am looking forward to seeing my old scoreboard again! Since I began I've lost 100 lbs, in the begining I thought it would take forever, it didn't.

My activity level was moderate my diet was always the problem. The Ultra taught me that I was never going to be able to work off the amounts I used to eat. I had to realize that I was craving food because I was eating the wrong things and though I still struggle I now know it's possible to get back to my pre-marriage weight of 195.

So, for me, motivation can be found in the observation of the little point gains because over time the little points add up to a lot, seeing results will generate more motivation.  Good luck and have fun.

[foxy4001]

I'm going to keep this safe on my phone so I can turn to it if I ever have a problem with motivation!!!! Brilliant Thanks 

[RJWhitney]

So many great ideas....  My motivation has been increasing steadily but I am still not showing very good results.  Although I have started to move more definately and eating so much better.  I worry that it will be so hard, getting older, lots of kids..... I just dont want to give up on this process.  Your remarks are great, do any of you have any ideas about increasing my motivation/counters inspite of having a large family and full time job?  I wont stop just need some ideas for increasing productivity on an odd schedule......  LOL

[FatalStephy]

i am so happy i found this post. I needed to read this. I feel like i am not the only one going threw this. i have days where im extremly motivated and confident and then out of no where i binge and loose track and become angry, frustrated and upset at myself. i get mad that i messed up and that sometimes  i cant keep promises with myself. and i feel hopless.but the times that i do mess up i use it as a reminder to myself. i write down how awful i felt and disgusted and i remember the feeling and so when temptation comes I re-read what i wrote and decide accordingly. In part I think our mistakes are what keep us in check and remind us why where doing this in the first place. it reminds us why we started. I found a quote on pinterest that I absolutly love i dont remember it word for word but it was something like this...

"eating one thing bad and then saying i already ruined my clean eating might as well eat bad the rest of the day  is like if your phone falls and hits the floor  and you say might as well smash it against the floor untill its shattered".

I know thats very different then the original but I cant remeber word for word. but that stuck with me. and made me realize that just because of one bad eating indulgence doesnt mean i should ruin things even more and really dig myself in an even bigger whole. I have to move past my mistake and stay on track. Luckly even when I myself dont feel motivated i come on the fitbit community post and vent out or read others stories and remind myself that I can do this. We all can.

[LewWagner]

Wow! You all have amazing and inspirational weight loss stories.  Nice to know I'm not the only one going through this odessey.

I started at 300+ lbs back on Nov 2013, but my "motivation" that got me through this time was I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes.  I'm now down to 191 lbs and putting in around 6 miles walking a day and over 20K steps a day.  My initial target goal is 170 (which according to stanard BMI is still "overweight").  But, I have a stretch goal to get to 165-160 (within my BMI normal weight range) after that.

You are exactly right that will power and "won't" power are very important factors in keeping with the eating and exercise program.  It's amazing how many excuses my brain and body would come up with to either not exercise or have "just one piece of candy or slice of pizza."

Now that I'm so close, I'm pretty OCD about staying on track and getting there.  Reading forum stuff from you folks is just additional reason to keep going.  Thanks!

Lew Wagner

[Lightsinger]

A few years ago, my doctor said "You are definitely diabetic."

Ouch.  I was 52 years old and remembering that my own mother died of complications from diabetes at 62.  I was devastated.  I weighed 200 pounds -- and at 5'3" I was obese and I knew it.  I fell asleep on the couch every night after dinner -- couldn't even get through a television program.  I was tired all the time, and couldn't walk a block without feeling worn out.  My much younger husband liked to go to conventions, but all the walking....I just couldn't keep up.  I had so many things I wanted to do, but didn't have the energy to do them.

Fast forward to now:  I am currently maintaining my weight at 130 pounds, and I have more energy than I had 25 years ago.  Took me about 2 years to completely get off 70 pounds, but I'm keeping it off successfully.  Not only do I go the distance at conventions with my husband -- he's having a hard time keeping up with ME.  I drag him off on long walks and to the exercise room every day, and he's starting to lose weight, too.  My eating habits have completely changed, and my diabetes is in complete control.  I'm not eating any special food, not going to a trainer -- although a few sessions with one gave me some idea about the kinds of things I needed to do -- I'm eating to a regimen that controls my diabetes and helps me keep my weight down.  Just plain food, home made. 

[eupepsia]

I just read a book that I thought was extremely helpful:  Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success. 

This book explains that you need to have several implementations that work in your favor, and have them in your life all at once.  Here are some of the factors they mentioned:

-Turn accomplices into friends: ask family/friends to support you in your change.  You may need to change the people that you are around.  Science shows us that social pressures are EXTREMELY effective.

-Set up rules.  Plan ahead.  For example, if you want to overeat, allow yourself to, but only after you take a walk and call one of your friends who holds you accountable.

-Have specific goals.  It's not enough to just want to be healthy.  Maybe you want to be able to play with your kids and run around with them.  Maybe you want to fit into that new dress. 

-Write down your goals.

-Make it a game.  Keep score, challenge yourself, and compete against other members here.

-Change your surroundings.  If you keep junk food nearby, move it into a harder to reach place.  Make your gym equipment more easily accessable. 

-Make a mantra, a personal statement for yourself, that you repeat whenever you have thoughts about straying from your plan.

You really have to tailor your plans to what works for you, though!

[FatalStephy]

Wow! From 300 lbs and now down to 191 lbs thats like a whole nother person
,. You shkuld be so proud of yourself. Congrats!! I wish you the best on your weight loss goal!!!! 🙂

[FatalStephy]

I need to get my hands on this book sounds like a good read. Whos the author and how much money is the book?

[FatalStephy]

Hearing these stories are so inspirational and just coming to this post helped me a lot more then i thought.

[eupepsia]

If you were talking about the book I mentioned, here's a link to the listing on Amazon!  Looks like it's $10 for the kindle edition, I actually listened to the audio version when working out!

Click

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@FatalStephy wrote:
I need to get my hands on this book sounds like a good read. Whos the author and how much money is the book?

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