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I have lost about 25 pounds from my highest weight, but I still have a long way to go. I know I can lose weight. I know how to lose weight. I have done it before and totally believe I can do it again. Usually with me, it's just a matter of motivation. How badly do I want it?
Right now I'm going to Weight Watchers and it has helped. Good program and I do better going than NOT going. But right now I'm just stuck. There are tons (no pun intended) of reasons why I should lose weight. Appearance (always big with me if I'm honest), health reasons, etc. But right now I'm just stuck. Right now my head just doesn't seem to be in the right place to get the job done. (Doing enough to maintain weight, but not enough to continue losing.)
What motivates YOU who have or ARE currently successfully dieting? Can you give me any motivational strategies? What do YOU tell yourself when tempted to not make the right choices? Help!!!!!
I don't have very many pictures of myself because I'm usually behind the camera, but seeing a photo of my thinner self is VERY motivating for me so when I feel defeated I take my skinny pics out.
When I'm tempted to cheat I will talk myself out of it, OUTLOUD. I guess it's easy to ignore my own thoughts sometimes otherwise
I'll say things like "you don't need that!" "find a better choice", "don't go backwards" and the occasional "what are you doing fat*ss!?" when the food is about to hit the lips.
I find I hear myself better when I vocalize the words rather than mentally talking to myself. I'm quite the character in the grocery store when I do this, but it keeps my shopping cart clear of the crap food.
I don't have very many pictures of myself because I'm usually behind the camera, but seeing a photo of my thinner self is VERY motivating for me so when I feel defeated I take my skinny pics out.
When I'm tempted to cheat I will talk myself out of it, OUTLOUD. I guess it's easy to ignore my own thoughts sometimes otherwise
I'll say things like "you don't need that!" "find a better choice", "don't go backwards" and the occasional "what are you doing fat*ss!?" when the food is about to hit the lips.
I find I hear myself better when I vocalize the words rather than mentally talking to myself. I'm quite the character in the grocery store when I do this, but it keeps my shopping cart clear of the crap food.
LOL, yeah, that could look kinda interesting. Photos of thinner self would probably be motivating to me too. I don't think the audible self-talk would.
What got me, when I was at 207 lbs this past March, was not being able to squeeze into size 36 pants anymore. My gut looked really unattractive, I was having alot of Acid Reflux and lower back problems, not to mention my knee problems, and lack of energy.
Since then, I have lost 42 lbs, by changing my diet routine (eating a BIG breakfast, and tiny fruit/veggie snacks during the course of the day, including dinner), and exercise. Here is a link to my before and after photos, including a more detailed description of how I do it:
I find the photos highly inspirational, and I KNOW that I do not want to go back to that. I no longer have Acid Reflux issues, my back problems have practically disappeared, I have energy out the ying-yang, and I look YEARS younger. Its the ultimate "high"! My wife cannot get enough of me, and I can easily keep up with my 2 youngsters. At work, people just gawk at me, and are always telling me how good I look, and want to know my secret! Talk about a morale booster!
Just keep telling yourself you can do it, think of how much you will be able to do once you get to your weight goal. Think about how many more years you will add to your life, and how much more pleasure you will get out of it, not being diabetic or out of breath all the time. Think of all the great clothes you can get into... one thing I have noticed, is that when clothes are on "super-clearances", all the Large to XLarge and above are taken, yet the small and medium clothes linger, as most people are overweight. Think of the selection you can have for bargain prices! I have completely redone my wardrobe, which includes about 20 new shirts, polos, button ups, and about 7 pair of size 30 and 32 pants for under $150!
Well, here's a totally different and perhaps novel(and strange?) way to motivate yourself(or, kick yourself in the butt).
Grap any newspaper. Turn to the obituaries. Take a look at the pictures. Do you see yourself on that page? No? Well, that's great!! Now keep it that way(for now, anyway!). Course, if your photo were there than, well, ......never mind.
Just take a look at the dearly departed. Then tell yourself that you're not looking to be on that page anytime soon. And there ya go!! Avoid "him".
What got me, when I was at 207 lbs this past March, was not being able to squeeze into size 36 pants anymore. My gut looked really unattractive, I was having alot of Acid Reflux and lower back problems, not to mention my knee problems, and lack of energy.
Since then, I have lost 42 lbs, by changing my diet routine (eating a BIG breakfast, and tiny fruit/veggie snacks during the course of the day, including dinner), and exercise. Here is a link to my before and after photos, including a more detailed description of how I do it:
I find the photos highly inspirational, and I KNOW that I do not want to go back to that. I no longer have Acid Reflux issues, my back problems have practically disappeared, I have energy out the ying-yang, and I look YEARS younger. Its the ultimate "high"! My wife cannot get enough of me, and I can easily keep up with my 2 youngsters. At work, people just gawk at me, and are always telling me how good I look, and want to know my secret! Talk about a morale booster!
Just keep telling yourself you can do it, think of how much you will be able to do once you get to your weight goal. Think about how many more years you will add to your life, and how much more pleasure you will get out of it, not being diabetic or out of breath all the time. Think of all the great clothes you can get into... one thing I have noticed, is that when clothes are on "super-clearances", all the Large to XLarge and above are taken, yet the small and medium clothes linger, as most people are overweight. Think of the selection you can have for bargain prices! I have completely redone my wardrobe, which includes about 20 new shirts, polos, button ups, and about 7 pair of size 30 and 32 pants for under $150!
Just my .02. I know you can do it, Kay!
Ian
Yes, I looked at your before & after thread! Good job! Big difference. Thanks for all the reminders of why I should want to continue losing. Yes, I have some health issues too which I think would be helped by more weight loss including GERD, borderline high blood sugar, cholesterol levels, feet problems, back problems..... Gonna go back and read your thread more closely.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Y'all smile now! Grandpa?
Well, here's a totally different and perhaps novel(and strange?) way to motivate yourself(or, kick yourself in the butt).
Grap any newspaper. Turn to the obituaries. Take a look at the pictures. Do you see yourself on that page? No? Well, that's great!! Now keep it that way(for now, anyway!). Course, if your photo were there than, well, ......never mind.
Just take a look at the dearly departed. Then tell yourself that you're not looking to be on that page anytime soon. And there ya go!! Avoid "him".
I don't think fear of dying motivates me that much (maybe I'm in the River de-nial but I do have concern about growing very old and being in poor health.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by MAtheBanker
What motivates me?
Burying my mom 4 months ago.
I'm only 25.
I have lost about 25 pounds from my highest weight, but I still have a long way to go. I know I can lose weight. I know how to lose weight. I have done it before and totally believe I can do it again. Usually with me, it's just a matter of motivation. How badly do I want it?
Right now I'm going to Weight Watchers and it has helped. Good program and I do better going than NOT going. But right now I'm just stuck. There are tons (no pun intended) of reasons why I should lose weight. Appearance (always big with me if I'm honest), health reasons, etc. But right now I'm just stuck. Right now my head just doesn't seem to be in the right place to get the job done. (Doing enough to maintain weight, but not enough to continue losing.)
What motivates YOU who have or ARE currently successfully dieting? Can you give me any motivational strategies? What do YOU tell yourself when tempted to not make the right choices? Help!!!!!
Stuck like the scale is not moving? Or like you are not sticking to the plan?
Scale stuck: Oh well. Stalls happen. Its cheaper to "diet" and be thinner than to overeat and be overweight. I am not a robot so there must be something getting adjusting within to my new habits. Carry on.
Not sticking to the plan: I ask myself why until it I get a POA that works for me. I think you always have to tweak someone else's plan a little bit to fit into your personality and lifestyle. (IE: Being a organic raw vegan will make you lose weight, but it won't matter if you can't afford the food all the time or love meat and just end up ordering a meat laden 10$ pizza.) I spend that stuck time trying to figure out what would work more naturally.
Stuck like the scale is not moving? Or like you are not sticking to the plan?
Scale stuck: Oh well. Stalls happen. Its cheaper to "diet" and be thinner than to overeat and be overweight. I am not a robot so there must be something getting adjusting within to my new habits. Carry on.
Not sticking to the plan: I ask myself why until it I get a POA that works for me. I think you always have to tweak someone else's plan a little bit to fit into your personality and lifestyle. (IE: Being a organic raw vegan will make you lose weight, but it won't matter if you can't afford the food all the time or love meat and just end up ordering a meat laden 10$ pizza.) I spend that stuck time trying to figure out what would work more naturally.
Both! Hit kind of a plateau when I felt I was really dieting well. Didn't seem like scale would budge one way or other no matter what I ate or didn't eat. That's when I got discouraged. After that, it was a quick slide into not sticking to plan.
Plan is Weight Watchers Point System (which is for the most part, simply counting calories which translates into points.) It is pretty flexible. They encourage you to eat mostly healthy, "filling" foods but ultimately you are allowed to eat whatever you want to within your point range.
Have you increased your exercise? We were discussing this in our meeting today. One woman there is training for a 1/2 marathon and has upped her running mileage in prep for that. She's gained weight the last 3 weeks but after doing her measurements found that she had lost several inches all over her body. Conclusion was that it was muscle mass that she was gaining.
Also, eating activity pts. vs. not eating them...I find I do best if I eat about half of them. I also try to stick to 5-10 extra points a week instead of the full 35.
Do you eat the same things everyday to take the "work" out of counting points? Sometimes just changing the things you eat can help, or changing how many points you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I find I lose the most weight per week when I have about 5-6 points for breakfast, 5-6 for lunch 7-9 for dinner and a small snack 3 times a day (after breakfast, at 4:00 pm and then a few nuts or string cheese before bed).
Look over your old journal entries and see if you can replicate a good week that you had in the past. Sometimes that gives me a little jump start which will help motivate me again.
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) of reasons why I should lose weight. Appearance (always big with me if I'm honest), health reasons, etc. But right now I'm just stuck. Right now my head just doesn't seem to be in the right place to get the job done. (Doing enough to maintain weight, but not enough to continue losing.)
I don't think the audible self-talk would.
I don't think fear of dying motivates me that much (maybe I'm in the River de-nial
but I do have concern about growing very old and being in poor health.)
