I am 42 and just weighed myself again at 285 'OUCH'. The new year is coming and here I go again with my resolution. I want to stick to it this time. I seem to always have no motivation to get up and exercise. I tried to take a picture of myself in my scibbies I hid the picture because I would cry. I want to know what everyones motives they use to stick to losing weight and how to start. My doctor tells me what to do like watch my portion and no sweets, well thats "easier said than done". He also suggests walking and swimming. he also diagnose me with arthritis in my back so I am in a lot of pain when I do alot of standing or walking. so its like damn if I do and damn if I don't. The pain is not a good motivater so I need some suggestions .
I have the same resolution as you-year after year. This year I definatly have some motivation though. First of all I need to be here to watch my kids grow up. Second of all ,my brother died this year and left behind 2 beautiful little girls. I don't want my kids to suffer the way my neices are. He was a very young man(38). And he died from something he could have prevented, that's what is so bad about it. That's my motivation. As far as what to do to get started-I don't know what to say. Try to find a walking buddy if that is possible. I know I always do better If I have someone there to push me get up and go everyday. I do need an excercise buddy too. Anybody in NE nebraska?lol-probably not
Try not my method! Visit to emergency room at hospital at age 18. Medication was "nitro glycern" .[if spelled wrong 'pills that stop heart attack'] Weight 600+ and by myself. I lost weight since then to 210 Lbs. Method 'simple ' start slow and one step at a time. Change one thing at a time.DO NOT START AT NEWYEARS!!!! It is easier to stick to it if you start at correcting one thing at a time. And!!!!! then make it two things corrected, then three,etc,etc,etc.
Go sit in a McDonald's parking lot for 20 minutes and watch the people that go in and out. Or one of those giant buffet places. Then go home and look in the mirror. This helped me realize I had to make a change and stick with it.
As for exercising, do it first thing in the morning. Yeah, you'll need to make time for it, but you'll need to make time for it at any time of the day. Only if you do it in the mornings, you'll have done it and there won't be any excuses later not to, since you've done it! I also find if I exercise in the mornings, I'm less likely to eat poor foods throughout the day.
With your arthritis, even if it's just a 15 or 20 minute walk in the morning, you're up and moving, feeling good about yourself, getting energized for the day! Ask your doc about a body ball. I have a bad back and neck, and it's the only home exercise gadget I can use that doesn't hurt me.
I cannot agree with Dutch more. Being overweight causes serious health problems either now or down the road. I can personally attest to this, as well.
Also, the baby steps is critical. New Year's is a great time to make a decision to get healthier, lose some poundage, tone up, get active, try some new menus/foods/recipes, but these are all habits that really need to be developed and it does take some time and adjusting. Working on one meal at a time was the charm for me. I perfected a healthy, low-cal/low-fat, nutritious, TASTY breakfast until it was second nature, then lunch, then dinner.
Lysne
Last edited by StenoLady1; 12-29-2005 at 05:05 AM.
My motivation was not wanting to be sick. My doctor diagnosed me as borderline diabetic in April and that did it for me. I got up and went and got a personal trainer in October and that's how I started. I've had a treadmill for 2 years with the intent on using it and now I have no problem hopping on it every other night while I'm watching t.v.
Just take baby steps. Just remember that when you start out excercising, it's mostly about duration and not intensity but work hard enough to sweat a little. If you weren't doing anything before, getting up and doing something is going to have instant effects. And don't get on a scale! Measure your success by the way you are feeling, atleast for the first month or so. (ie...lose pants, more energy, not sighing when you have to walk a short distance)
I seem to always have no motivation to get up and exercise. I[B] want to know what everyones motives they use to stick to losing weight and how to start.
I think the trick is to come up with as many reasons as you can that DON'T have to do with how you look or how much you weigh. I think too many people exercise and/or eat right just because they want to lose weight. Well, that's the wrong attitude to have. First of all, it may not be enough motivation. Second, what's going to happen when you finally lose the weight? That's why I'm consantly telling myself all the benefits that come from eating right and exercising, but I'm making sure not to include anything that has to do with weight loss. For example, I hate exercise and if the only reason I gave myself to exercise was to lose weight, I would either lose motivation as I got closer to my goal or I would think my goal was too big and just give up.
So now whenever I think of whether I should exercise, I tell myself the following: It'll give you more energy, it's good for your heart, it'll help prevent muscle loss, it'll strengthen your bones, it's good for your immune system, it'll help relieve stress, it'll put you in a healthy mindset which'll make eating healthy easier, it's good for your skin, it'll make you rest better, it'll make sex better (if and when you do find someone to have sex with).
And when I'm wondering what I should eat, instead of worrying about my weight, I think about how a given food will affect my health. Will this food be good for my heart, my skin, my cholesterol, my blood pressure, etc.? When I look around, I see so many people who are sick, out of shape, taking a bunch of prescription pills, and complaining about the cost of health care. I can't feel sorry for them because I'm too busy wondering how many of their health problems were the result of their own actions. So if you're looking for motivation, just look around at everyone else and see how their unhealthy lifestyle is slowly killing them. And ask yourself if you want to be a burden on your spouse, your kids, or your grandkids. Ask yourself if you want to continue making doctors and health insurance companies rich. Don't even think about your weight. Eating healthy and exercising should be something you want to do if you really care about your health. Think of losing weight as a bonus that comes with taking better care of yourself, not the ultimate goal.
I think the trick is to come up with as many reasons as you can that DON'T have to do with how you look or how much you weigh. I think too many people exercise and/or eat right just because they want to lose weight. Well, that's the wrong attitude to have. First of all, it may not be enough motivation. Second, what's going to happen when you finally lose the weight? That's why I'm consantly telling myself all the benefits that come from eating right and exercising, but I'm making sure not to include anything that has to do with weight loss. For example, I hate exercise and if the only reason I gave myself to exercise was to lose weight, I would either lose motivation as I got closer to my goal or I would think my goal was too big and just give up.
So now whenever I think of whether I should exercise, I tell myself the following: It'll give you more energy, it's good for your heart, it'll help prevent muscle loss, it'll strengthen your bones, it's good for your immune system, it'll help relieve stress, it'll put you in a healthy mindset which'll make eating healthy easier, it's good for your skin, it'll make you rest better, it'll make sex better (if and when you do find someone to have sex with).
And when I'm wondering what I should eat, instead of worrying about my weight, I think about how a given food will affect my health. Will this food be good for my heart, my skin, my cholesterol, my blood pressure, etc.? When I look around, I see so many people who are sick, out of shape, taking a bunch of prescription pills, and complaining about the cost of health care. I can't feel sorry for them because I'm too busy wondering how many of their health problems were the result of their own actions. So if you're looking for motivation, just look around at everyone else and see how their unhealthy lifestyle is slowly killing them. And ask yourself if you want to be a burden on your spouse, your kids, or your grandkids. Ask yourself if you want to continue making doctors and health insurance companies rich. Don't even think about your weight. Eating healthy and exercising should be something you want to do if you really care about your health. Think of losing weight as a bonus that comes with taking better care of yourself, not the ultimate goal.
Beautifully said -- err, written. I hope everyone reads this. I vote for it being a sticky!
Lysne
P.S. I went ahead and got some cottage cheese to try with my oatmeal tomorrow morning based on our last discussion. I hadn't tried cottage cheese in the mornings. We'll see if I'm sleepy
Thanks alot to all of you. I am on my way to the grocery store to buy healthy food for my new way of living. I do have the ball and I just pumped it up. Now if I can figure it out on how to use it properly. I will be checking back regurly to share my losses hopefully. good luck to all too
wedding dresses! Well that is one at least. I got engaged a couple of months ago and recently started trying on wedding dresses. Those run small, for one thing, and I am not that pleased with the plus size selection or the way I looked in some of the ones I tried on...
But the more important goals, and I have lost fifteen pounds, are things like pain.
I have a rare nerve problem and the doctor says that weight loss, especially in the abdomen (nerve entrapment in abdominal wall) will help. And I have fibromyalgia so weight loss can help with potential back problems that spring up with that. And it is supposed to help with my GERD, though I have yet to see evidence of this.
Mostly I try to focus on how I will feel. I am young now, 22. I got sick a couple of year ago and now i am worried about down the road- that had nothing to do with weight. And I don't want to have an illness that is preventable. I also had a knee injury this fall after a literall fall that is still slowly healing and that makes me think about my knees in terms of weight and how that might contribute.
One big thing for me is blood pressure. Latley it has been a little high, and I know that is bad. And that losing weight can help that and make it go down. So that is something I can control and do. I had better do that.
So I think that if I lose weight I will feel better. I will have more energy. I will feel more excited about dressing up. I will feel confidant in my success at weight loss. I will feel strong.
And I like to look at before and after pictures of other people who have lost major weight and kept it off and read how they did that. Motivates me.
Plus I read somewhere that it takes about 21 days for a new habit to become a habit. So that means try try again. If you slip up just remind yourself that you have x number of days left and keep at it. Pratice makes perfect, after all.
Vanity, Vanity and Vanity...in that order. It causes me to count every calorie and slave at the gym til I want to CRY!
If I am going from here to the end of my life, it is going to be looking as good as possible. If I had their money, I'd have all the face and body work that Joan Rivers and Carole Burnett can afford. I'd go into the plastic surgeon with a picture of Brad Pitt and Antonio Sabato and tell the best plastic surgeon in Brazil (where the best work is done)...anywhere between these two is fine, here's the credit card.
I got a lot of mileage out of a fat picture of me in a pair of Speedos that I kept pasted to the refrigerator and set as my computer desktop background. It was and IS a good reminder of where I don't want to go again...EVER!
The mirror tricks you but Pictures tell the truth. Looked at the picture and decided ENOUGH is ENOUGH.
I had huge boobs. I saved my money and got a breast reduction just four weeks ago. Also got some abdomen lipo. This has motivated me. I have 30 pounds to lose. I have lost 18 pounds since surgery from the pounds taken out plus my "bland" diet. I don't want to gain anything back. I'm learning how to eat.
Now my goal is to find a workout. I have a treadmill. I started walking on it very slow about two weeks ago. I think once my doctor gives me the ok to exercise, I will take this bootcamp or kickboxing class. I am ready to be a perfect size 8. The fact that I can fit "regular" clothes now, is my motivation. I use to get my satisfaction from purses, jewerly, and shoes.
thanks you, so far so good on eating healthy. I think I am going to buy something in a size I want to be and hang it up untill I can fit into it. Has anyone tried this?
I say just try something that you can do pretty eazy..the dieting and excerise... let your mind/body be your motivator....it's ones own fault for being over weight....no on shoves the food in my mouth but me.
Motivation? I was a 60" waist line when I was 18,Needed New pants,so I went to clothing store that had 'big sizes for men' . I could not find anything in his store at all!He had one pair of ugly pants at 58". He offered to special order the 62" that was needed.I made a deal with him, save aside the one pair for one month and when I fit into them I promised to be a steady customer. It fit me one month latter and until that store shut down I drove 40 Miles to buy clothes. I now years latter ,I wear a 38-40" Waist.
Before last summer, I was fat (240 lbs) and I wanted to stay that way. I enjoyed the buffets, I had lots of fat clothes (2x), and I had no compelling health reasons to make me need to lose. But in July, I started taking some medicine that made me queasy, and by the time the queasiness went away, I had lost twenty pounds. At that point, I realized that I didn't have to be fat any longer, and I started to enjoy the process of losing weight even more than I used to enjoy the buffets. The weight continues to drop, and now I am a slim 163.
Lessons to share:
1. Embrace anything that lets you lose a few pounds in a few days. If you get a stomach virus and you feel lousy for a few days, consider it God's way to give you an excellent starting point towards permanent weight reduction.
2. Once your stomach shrinks, listen to it. When it feels full, stop eating, even if you just started your meal, even if you just paid a lot for it and you can't stand to see food go to waste. That was the hardest part for me.
3. Don't eat food you don't like. Instead, listen to your cravings. For some reason, I was craving bananas. So I ate two small bananas a day for weeks. Now I have that same craving for grapes (the big globe variety). Your body probably needs more vitamins and minerals since you're eating less, plus these fruits are much more filling and rich than something dry like salad or raw vegetables.
4. Give up all drinks except water (or coffee or tea). Don't kid yourself and think that you can drink diet soft drinks. They are bad for you, plus the carbination causes your stomach to expand, which is the last thing you want. I drink one cup of black coffee every morning (down from two).
5. Eat just two meals a day, no snacks or anything between those meals. This bugs my wife because she grazes all day and she's skinny, so she told me that I need to graze as well. But that doesn't work for me. If I eat three or four meals a day, I would gain my weight back in no time. The whole purpose of having a smaller stomach is to consume less calories. If you can eat 1,000 calories in a single meal, then two meals equals 2,000 calories and three meals equals 3,000 calories. In a week, you save 7,000 calories, which means you lost an additional two pounds.
6. Be positive about your abilitity to lose weight! Weigh yourself every day, several times a day. Each day, be proud of what you've accomplished. Brag on yourself to everybody around you. It's fun to get compliments for a change.
First of all, you should NOT embrace something that lets you lose a few pounds in a few days. We all want to lose weight rapidly, but we should do it in a healthy way. Second, I think it's a mistake to just listen to your cravings. That's how I lot of people become overweight in the first place. They crave something sweet so they eat a candybar. Problem is the sugar crash makes you want to eat more. Sometimes, it's good to eat things that you may not like. I personally hate vegetables. If I only listened to my cravings, how would I ever get something as important as vegetables into my diet? Third, how can you tell people to only eat 2 meals a day? That's terrible advice. Your wife is right. Grazing is the best way because you spread your calories out and keep your energy levels up. Eating 2 or 3 big meals is why so many people are overweight. They're giving their bodies too many calories in one sitting. Lastly, it's good to be proud of yourself, but don't brag about it. No one wants to be around someone who brags. You won't get compliments if you're seen as a braggart.
One other trick to keep yourself motivated is to try and make yourself even more self-conscious of your weight. One of the mistakes most people make when they gain weight is that they try to hide it. They wear looser fitting clothes to hide their trouble spots. The problem with that is that you become more comfortable with the way you look. And the more comfortable you get, the less motivated you will be. Why do you think so many want to lose weight for the summer? Cause they know that they won't be able to hide behind as many layers of clothes. Now I'm not saying you should walk around wearing clothes that are too small or too revealing. But if you've gained weight and your clothes are tighter, don't run and out and buy new ones. Continue wearing what you have and the discomfort will motivate you to lose the weight you gained.
I'm 21 years old and 5'2''. My main motivation to lose weight is that my entire family (for many generations) has had diabetes and obesity. The majority of the deaths in my family were due to some complication of diabetes. 4 years ago I weighed 160 pounds and was a size 16. 3 years ago I turned to a low-carb lifestyle and regularly hit the gym. My weight was down to 115 pounds and I was a size 5. Over the last year or two I managed to get away from the gym and soon after, my diet changed as well (oops ). Thank God, I have only gained 15 pounds and now and size 9-11, but that is too much, lol. I remember how hard I had to work to lose the 45 pounds and I never want to have to work that hard again. 3 weeks ago I started back to the gym and now that the holidays are over I will be starting back to the low carb life-style. I cant wait to get the muscle back and drop the fat once again!
Last edited by 330exGirlOrl; 01-01-2006 at 11:05 AM.
Wow alot of interesting theories on motivation. I just weighed myself and I have lost 6lbs. this is a big motivator because now I really want to continue and feel good about myself. The only problem I am having is my stomach is always growling. I am trying to drinks lots of water and that seems to make my stomach growl not feel fuller, but I am not giving in. thanks all and have a Happy New Year
I hid the picture because I would cry. I want to know what everyones motives they use to stick to losing weight and how to start. My doctor tells me what to do like watch my portion and no sweets, well thats "easier said than done". He also suggests walking and swimming. he also diagnose me with arthritis in my back so I am in a lot of pain when I do alot of standing or walking. so its like damn if I do and damn if I don't. The pain is not a good motivater so I need some suggestions 
.
Re: What is your motivation to lose 
). Thank God, I have only gained 15 pounds and now and size 9-11, but that is too much, lol. I remember how hard I had to work to lose the 45 pounds and I never want to have to work that hard again. 3 weeks ago I started back to the gym and now that the holidays are over I will be starting back to the low carb life-style. I cant wait to get the muscle back and drop the fat once again! 
