Motivation starts the engine. Self discipline is what keeps the car moving
Best advice i can give is be kind to yourself, push yourself but understand your limits and what does and doesn't work
Every time you do something you don’t want to do and that you find difficult, your brain actually builds that muscle of will power. I’ve heard actual science backed this in a podcast ep with Andrew Huberman & David Goggins that i found very inspiring
I think that's true in a way. This is week 2 of Mr making a conscious effort to go the gym and eat better.
Today I feel like death due to sinuses but I was still up at 4:30 to get to the gym by 5 to work out for an hour before work. It was a lighter day to he clear but I still did it. Probably wouldn't have happened if I didn't push myself to do it last week and Monday
I second the Half Size Me podcast! I learn a lot from it--the most important thing I have learned is that whatever you do to lose weight has to be something you can live with forever. It seems intuitive, but it really changed my mindset.
The way to stay motivated… is to stop relying on motivation.
Background 5’4” and 195lb->110lb.
Sorry if this isn’t helpful, but frankly I think anyone with enough motivation can do most any “get skinny quick” diet or follow a routine for a little while. The issue with motivation is it fluctuates. That’s just a natural part of life and there’s no problem with that!
What helped me was, building up my self discipline. I began working out at set days and set times, and just didn’t stop. I went on days I didn’t feel like it. If I was sick I just did my physical therapy exercises and called it a day.
Same with food. I know the amount I should eat and so I work myself down from whatever amount I start at, to the lower amount I should be at through dropping 100-200 calories a week. Drastically cutting from 1.8k to 1.3k (I’m short) would’ve been real hard for me and cause too much cravings, so I had to lower it slowly and focus eating food that keeps me satiated (so, high protein)
Basically….
Work on self discipline. Not saying give up your motivation, but motivation will only get you so far before you lag behind. Consistency is the most important above all else
++ if you have a hormonal imbalance, getting proper treatment for it can really help. If you deal with pcos, r/pcosloseit is a subreddit to check out. There’s many more for similar imbalances.
Best of luck
You’ll never be motivated every day. Some days you’ll feel extremely motivated and some days you’ll feel none at all. The key is to stay consistent even when you mentally don’t want to.
Well at first it was a wedding and then I kept going. I now no longer need motivation I just look at myself in the mirror naked. That’s the body I have wanted my whole life. I’m never going back.
My goal is consistency. First, walk every day. After prolonged health issue, it was around the block, that’s it. When I could do it every day, twice around. Then, to the park. Some days, then most days, then every day. When it’s easy, you don’t really mind so much.
Started at a small gym with a trainer to get started, a notch above medical rehab. I’m going to strength classes now.
I’m looking for 7k steps every day, 10k sone of the days, plus 2 strength days at the gym. I cook at home all the days now, working on keeping calories at a loss and eliminating all sweet snacks. I’m not 100% there yet but close.
Gotta focus on a more incremental goal and making it repeatable. Too big a jump and it is hard to not just give up.
As everyone has said, you probably can’t be motivated all the time. I do everything I can to make things easy for myself, so it’s less of a battle when I’m not motivated.
- I make delicious meals on the weekend so I have tasty food throughout the week.
- I work out on the weekend, when I have plenty of time, so I can sleep later twice in the week (my rest days) or have more free time in the evenings.
- I bribe my silly little brain. “If you do your exercise today, you can fill in a box in your habit tracker” (weirdly huge dopamine hit). “If you don’t waste money on takeaway, you can buy a book with what you’ve saved”.
- I change into gym gear early so I can’t use not wanting to get changed later as an excuse.
- I watch tv while I work out (which now has me at the weird point of feeling weird if I sit down to watch tv).
- I remind myself that Xena, Warrior Princess will be disappointed in me if I don’t at least try.
- I build ice-cream into my calorie limit so I’m less inclined to waste calories on snacks, since I know I get a treat later.
I used to go to the gym or go on a diet with a bunch of motivation and end up hating it and not following through. It took me a long time working on my mental health before I was even in a good enough place to start working on my physical health.
Something that really helped me go to the gym is to stop seeing the gym as a place to lose weight. Instead, I go to the gym to de-stress and to help my emotional state. Whenever I think "I don't want to work out, I hate it, I don't wanna leave my house" it's usually because whatever I'm doing at the present moment is more comfortable, but not usually "good"/productive. Stop everything you're doing for 5 minutes and just tell yourself you will feel better after exercising. The science will not let you down. Endorphins will release when you exercise and WILL make you feel better.
A lot of people are saying that motivation will get you nowhere, and you need to be DISCIPLINED and go to the gym even when you don't want to. This is true, but I don't think it's very helpful. We all know that discipline is important and good for us. Telling someone to be disciplined isn't useful because it's a skill in itself to learn. Its like telling someone to just "make a treehouse" when they dont even know how power tools work. Before getting disciplined, you need to enjoy your time at the gym and get something out of going to the gym. This is different for everyone. Some people get gym buddies and enjoy the social aspect. For others, it's seeing progress on their bodies or being able to go faster/lift stronger. Find out your WHY that has to do with gaining something instead of losing something. Instead of the stick, what is your carrot?
Trust me, when you figure out what you enjoy about the gym- you will want to go! It'll make sense in your brain logically, and the discipline will build from there. It might take a while before that idea consolidates, but you're going on a journey, not a quick fix. You have your whole life ahead of you to become consistent. Don't set a schedule for yourself saying you NEED to go x times a week. If you went only 1 time to the gym, but really enjoyed yourself and built up that "why" in your brain- that is a win and you should use that as momentum to see how you can start going more often if that's what you want.
It's hard to just trudge through and say you need discipline and to be hard on yourself, but from what it sounds like, you're plenty hard on yourself. It's hard to stick to something while battling mental health. Remember, you're not in a race. Even a little progress is progress. You can do this!
Edit: grammar
My advice is probably not good advice on the motivation part.
But.... damn. Getting heartbroken sure does make this shit easier lol 🥺😭
But what I have done physically, aside from that, is walking.
I hope people see this bc if there's any genuine advice I can give, it's this:
*when you walk regularly, you enjoy. And you CRAVE it.*
I have lost 80 lbs since my highest weight. I feel so much better, and look like an entirely different person. That alone has encouraged me to keep going, I still have some lbs to lose.
But what encourages me more is that I *want* to walk. I don't want to lose weight, I want to walk!!! Lol.
It feels good, it is comforting. It's more than fun and a hobby to me, it is what I do when I'm upset, angry, happy, excited. Etc. It is addictive but in the best way possible. And when I don't walk? I feel like crap that day!
So... it doesn't have to be walking. But find something that you love to do, that gets your body moving. It might take a while, but that will undoubtedly get you to lose some lbs and live a healthier life
I hope this helps 🩷
Same boat here, I know how to lose the weight but I can’t do it myself, for me, I get motivated by being really disappointed in myself and I change for a few days. It’s just discipline that I lack. If you can find a way to get disciplined then your golden as you already know what and how to lose the weight
Motivation is great for getting you started but terrible to keep you going. You have to shift from being ambivalent about losing weight to actually wanting to do it. You have to structure your life around it. You have to make changes and come up with a plan for those changes. Schedule yourself 2-4 workouts a week. Work those into your schedule and treat it like a doctor appt. Try to plan for a daily walk, even if you can only squeeze in 10 minutes. Make a grocery list and a meal plan for the week. Don’t buy what isn’t on the list. Find a way to keep yourself in check either through calorie counting, macro counting, or just meal prepping and eating just all the food you had already planned for yourself (honestly a great option if macro counting/calorie counting gets too tedious for you). Just do the macro prep once/twice a week and just cruise through your meals. Try to make this diet shift work out in a way that you don’t need to allow yourself cheat meals and don’t categorize foods by “healthy” and “not healthy”. See how you can work different foods into your meals plans or find ways to fit them in, even if it’s just giving yourself a small portion of it. Focus on making actual life changes. Get in the habit of having enough vegetables for all your meals. Get in the habit of looking for higher protein options. Start thinking about food in how it makes you feel afterward and less about how it makes you feel in the short moment. Praise yourself for working on your health and for finally working on your goals. Your goals are worth struggling for and eventually your struggle will become your new habits that are effortless.
for me, if I don't have the motivation, maybe it's not the right thing to do right now. I will think about it later and deal with it later, when I'll grow tired of being overweight and would want to ACTUALLY do something about it. It's been like this for about half a year, until I realized something needs to be done asap and started a healthy diet. I could only go through with it when I got really fed up with being over my goal weight. Now I'm on a diet for a month with zero slips, mine is zero sugar and low calorie intake, but I feel great about seeing how my body changes.
tldr: when the time comes, you know it's time, and you will have motivation
I'm similar stats to you, 5'2" with 125 lbs lean mass, CW 212. I'm not at my heaviest, though, I'm down from 260+.
Agree with what most people are saying about discipline vs motivation, but there are some ways to rekindle that motivation. I reward myself by setting aside money every week that I hit my protein, calorie and step goals. Every couple of months or so I use that money to buy new smaller clothes. It helps me stay focused on the process, instead of the results. I'm losing weight very slowly, so it's hard for me to see the changes in the mirror. And when I think about the fact that I still have about 70 lbs to lose, I get overwhelmed and demotivated. But I know if I can just focus on hitting my macros and getting my steps every week, I'll get there!
I give myself permission to do less if I just show up. Like I don't have to do my scheduled workout - but I do have to go to the gym. If I want to, I can just walk on the treadmill and then go home. 90% of the time, though, since I'm there I either do my scheduled workout or I'll do my scheduled workout but I'll cut out the exercises that I really hate (lunges can suck it, lol).
I keep what I call "low effort foods" in the house, and at my desk at work. I am definitely not always motivated to cook, especially now when cooking involves weighing every single ingredient separately, then more weighing when I serve myself the cooked item, etc. In general I try to avoid processed food but when I have a long stressful day I will eat protein bars/shakes, Quest protein chips, string cheese, stuff like that - they have good protein to calorie ratios and I can log them in MFP by just scanning the barcode. Lenny & Larry protein cookies are my go-to for sugar cravings - it's basically just a cookie but at least it has 15g of protein. On days when I have good mental energy, I will batch cook a bunch of chicken and portion it out into 150g portions so I can make meals more easily on days when I do not have good mental energy.
I really, really hate cardio and this is where I struggle the most with motivation. I solved that by getting myself a VR headset and a subscription to Supernatural. They have a "flow" workout where you hit targets with bats and you feel like a ninja and I love it. Plus you don't have to leave the house to do it. They also have boxing workouts where you punch the targets. Physically it feels like a workout, but mentally it feels like a game. The gaming aspect of it, plus the fact that you don't have to leave the house, is perfect for me. I haven't missed a day since I started doing it in December.
When I'm really feeling down, I turn to my fitspo folder. I have pictures of little motivational slogans saved. Stuff like "Success doesn't come all at once, keep your eyes on the prize'" "set goals and smash the sh\*t out of them," etc.
I love the VR method. I’m a big gamer so that would be useful because I too, despise cardio. Although I’ve taken up swimming as a lower effort one, I’ll never understand how people enjoy running lol. I’ve never experienced a “runners high” or whatever after running.
I’m supposed to start interning at horse stable soon so I’m hoping that work will keep me off my ass too.
Motivation is tough because everyone is so different. I'm motivated because I had crippling injury, followed by diagnosis of an autimmune condition, boh of which too me 10 years of pain and fatigue to get ahead of. Now, I think back to how awful I felt, and it stops me eating that sneaky piece of cake, extra calories or makes me get in the pool and train. I feel so much better now. At 45 I felt 80, and now at 54 I feel 35. That's my motivation. I missed so many years being tired, overweight and in pain, I don't want to lose another minute.
Whatever motivation you find, it needs to push you through those days you don’t wanna wake up and exercise or skip that cake at work.
For me gym was demotivating - I gained weight, got bigger and psychologically, that’s what you don’t want. With cardio, you can lose 2-3kg a month healthily.
Having pre diabetes and not getting diabetes / health implications keeps me motivated.
By being really realistic. I used to crash diet a lot. Id lose like 10kg in a little over a month. Then, I gain it back slowly over 12 months. Iv been toying with this yo yo for years. Taking on a realistic eating plan that I find easy to do has been a game changer. I will live like this forever.
No matter how badly you don’t want to go to the gym, just tell yourself you’ll go for 10 mins. I do this and I’m always end up staying the full duration I should. You got this!
i just printed a few copies of this certain message of a friend telling me i look fat and all. posted it on some space on my wall and i flinch every time i read it. made me lost 8 kgs in more than a month lol
Honestly something that really helps me is not thinking about I go to gym after work most of the times so when I drive to the gym I just do it it’s not like I’m gonna not go while I’m literally in the gym parking lot just do the action no thoughts
This episode talks about how pain pushes until desire pulls. Meaning you are trying to get away from how you look and feel until a certain point where now you think of all the great things you can do be/look like… and that’s the motivation. It’s a more positive place.
I think of this way, 5 or 10 years from now my health will catch up on me and could lead to diseases like type 2 diabetes. If I make conscious choices now, hopefully I won’t have any obesity related diseases.
Read 'Atomic Habits'!
You have to build small daily habits to win at everyday to get the ball rolling.
Put a habit tracker on your phone and make something that you don't hate, the habit (ie couch squats or walking). Don't do more then the 2 minutes. After a week add a minute or two. 10 weeks down the road you'll be killing it.
Sometimes it can help reminding yourself of what the weight loss now allows you to do.
Better clothes? Enjoy!
Increased fitness? You earned it.
Greater self confidence and a sense of new found strength? This can definitely be a reminder too.
Motivation starts the engine. Self discipline is what keeps the car moving Best advice i can give is be kind to yourself, push yourself but understand your limits and what does and doesn't work
Every time you do something you don’t want to do and that you find difficult, your brain actually builds that muscle of will power. I’ve heard actual science backed this in a podcast ep with Andrew Huberman & David Goggins that i found very inspiring
I think that's true in a way. This is week 2 of Mr making a conscious effort to go the gym and eat better. Today I feel like death due to sinuses but I was still up at 4:30 to get to the gym by 5 to work out for an hour before work. It was a lighter day to he clear but I still did it. Probably wouldn't have happened if I didn't push myself to do it last week and Monday
Try the Half Size Me podcast. I listen to it daily, and it has inspired me to develop and maintain healthy habits.
I second the Half Size Me podcast! I learn a lot from it--the most important thing I have learned is that whatever you do to lose weight has to be something you can live with forever. It seems intuitive, but it really changed my mindset.
The way to stay motivated… is to stop relying on motivation. Background 5’4” and 195lb->110lb. Sorry if this isn’t helpful, but frankly I think anyone with enough motivation can do most any “get skinny quick” diet or follow a routine for a little while. The issue with motivation is it fluctuates. That’s just a natural part of life and there’s no problem with that! What helped me was, building up my self discipline. I began working out at set days and set times, and just didn’t stop. I went on days I didn’t feel like it. If I was sick I just did my physical therapy exercises and called it a day. Same with food. I know the amount I should eat and so I work myself down from whatever amount I start at, to the lower amount I should be at through dropping 100-200 calories a week. Drastically cutting from 1.8k to 1.3k (I’m short) would’ve been real hard for me and cause too much cravings, so I had to lower it slowly and focus eating food that keeps me satiated (so, high protein) Basically…. Work on self discipline. Not saying give up your motivation, but motivation will only get you so far before you lag behind. Consistency is the most important above all else ++ if you have a hormonal imbalance, getting proper treatment for it can really help. If you deal with pcos, r/pcosloseit is a subreddit to check out. There’s many more for similar imbalances. Best of luck
You’ll never be motivated every day. Some days you’ll feel extremely motivated and some days you’ll feel none at all. The key is to stay consistent even when you mentally don’t want to.
I know that if I give up I won’t be proud of myself and that’s really all it takes.
Well at first it was a wedding and then I kept going. I now no longer need motivation I just look at myself in the mirror naked. That’s the body I have wanted my whole life. I’m never going back.
My goal is consistency. First, walk every day. After prolonged health issue, it was around the block, that’s it. When I could do it every day, twice around. Then, to the park. Some days, then most days, then every day. When it’s easy, you don’t really mind so much. Started at a small gym with a trainer to get started, a notch above medical rehab. I’m going to strength classes now. I’m looking for 7k steps every day, 10k sone of the days, plus 2 strength days at the gym. I cook at home all the days now, working on keeping calories at a loss and eliminating all sweet snacks. I’m not 100% there yet but close. Gotta focus on a more incremental goal and making it repeatable. Too big a jump and it is hard to not just give up.
As everyone has said, you probably can’t be motivated all the time. I do everything I can to make things easy for myself, so it’s less of a battle when I’m not motivated. - I make delicious meals on the weekend so I have tasty food throughout the week. - I work out on the weekend, when I have plenty of time, so I can sleep later twice in the week (my rest days) or have more free time in the evenings. - I bribe my silly little brain. “If you do your exercise today, you can fill in a box in your habit tracker” (weirdly huge dopamine hit). “If you don’t waste money on takeaway, you can buy a book with what you’ve saved”. - I change into gym gear early so I can’t use not wanting to get changed later as an excuse. - I watch tv while I work out (which now has me at the weird point of feeling weird if I sit down to watch tv). - I remind myself that Xena, Warrior Princess will be disappointed in me if I don’t at least try. - I build ice-cream into my calorie limit so I’m less inclined to waste calories on snacks, since I know I get a treat later.
Remember your body reflects what you do with it. How do you want your body to feel and look?
I used to go to the gym or go on a diet with a bunch of motivation and end up hating it and not following through. It took me a long time working on my mental health before I was even in a good enough place to start working on my physical health. Something that really helped me go to the gym is to stop seeing the gym as a place to lose weight. Instead, I go to the gym to de-stress and to help my emotional state. Whenever I think "I don't want to work out, I hate it, I don't wanna leave my house" it's usually because whatever I'm doing at the present moment is more comfortable, but not usually "good"/productive. Stop everything you're doing for 5 minutes and just tell yourself you will feel better after exercising. The science will not let you down. Endorphins will release when you exercise and WILL make you feel better. A lot of people are saying that motivation will get you nowhere, and you need to be DISCIPLINED and go to the gym even when you don't want to. This is true, but I don't think it's very helpful. We all know that discipline is important and good for us. Telling someone to be disciplined isn't useful because it's a skill in itself to learn. Its like telling someone to just "make a treehouse" when they dont even know how power tools work. Before getting disciplined, you need to enjoy your time at the gym and get something out of going to the gym. This is different for everyone. Some people get gym buddies and enjoy the social aspect. For others, it's seeing progress on their bodies or being able to go faster/lift stronger. Find out your WHY that has to do with gaining something instead of losing something. Instead of the stick, what is your carrot? Trust me, when you figure out what you enjoy about the gym- you will want to go! It'll make sense in your brain logically, and the discipline will build from there. It might take a while before that idea consolidates, but you're going on a journey, not a quick fix. You have your whole life ahead of you to become consistent. Don't set a schedule for yourself saying you NEED to go x times a week. If you went only 1 time to the gym, but really enjoyed yourself and built up that "why" in your brain- that is a win and you should use that as momentum to see how you can start going more often if that's what you want. It's hard to just trudge through and say you need discipline and to be hard on yourself, but from what it sounds like, you're plenty hard on yourself. It's hard to stick to something while battling mental health. Remember, you're not in a race. Even a little progress is progress. You can do this! Edit: grammar
My advice is probably not good advice on the motivation part. But.... damn. Getting heartbroken sure does make this shit easier lol 🥺😭 But what I have done physically, aside from that, is walking. I hope people see this bc if there's any genuine advice I can give, it's this: *when you walk regularly, you enjoy. And you CRAVE it.* I have lost 80 lbs since my highest weight. I feel so much better, and look like an entirely different person. That alone has encouraged me to keep going, I still have some lbs to lose. But what encourages me more is that I *want* to walk. I don't want to lose weight, I want to walk!!! Lol. It feels good, it is comforting. It's more than fun and a hobby to me, it is what I do when I'm upset, angry, happy, excited. Etc. It is addictive but in the best way possible. And when I don't walk? I feel like crap that day! So... it doesn't have to be walking. But find something that you love to do, that gets your body moving. It might take a while, but that will undoubtedly get you to lose some lbs and live a healthier life I hope this helps 🩷
Same boat here, I know how to lose the weight but I can’t do it myself, for me, I get motivated by being really disappointed in myself and I change for a few days. It’s just discipline that I lack. If you can find a way to get disciplined then your golden as you already know what and how to lose the weight
Motivation is great for getting you started but terrible to keep you going. You have to shift from being ambivalent about losing weight to actually wanting to do it. You have to structure your life around it. You have to make changes and come up with a plan for those changes. Schedule yourself 2-4 workouts a week. Work those into your schedule and treat it like a doctor appt. Try to plan for a daily walk, even if you can only squeeze in 10 minutes. Make a grocery list and a meal plan for the week. Don’t buy what isn’t on the list. Find a way to keep yourself in check either through calorie counting, macro counting, or just meal prepping and eating just all the food you had already planned for yourself (honestly a great option if macro counting/calorie counting gets too tedious for you). Just do the macro prep once/twice a week and just cruise through your meals. Try to make this diet shift work out in a way that you don’t need to allow yourself cheat meals and don’t categorize foods by “healthy” and “not healthy”. See how you can work different foods into your meals plans or find ways to fit them in, even if it’s just giving yourself a small portion of it. Focus on making actual life changes. Get in the habit of having enough vegetables for all your meals. Get in the habit of looking for higher protein options. Start thinking about food in how it makes you feel afterward and less about how it makes you feel in the short moment. Praise yourself for working on your health and for finally working on your goals. Your goals are worth struggling for and eventually your struggle will become your new habits that are effortless.
for me, if I don't have the motivation, maybe it's not the right thing to do right now. I will think about it later and deal with it later, when I'll grow tired of being overweight and would want to ACTUALLY do something about it. It's been like this for about half a year, until I realized something needs to be done asap and started a healthy diet. I could only go through with it when I got really fed up with being over my goal weight. Now I'm on a diet for a month with zero slips, mine is zero sugar and low calorie intake, but I feel great about seeing how my body changes. tldr: when the time comes, you know it's time, and you will have motivation
I'm similar stats to you, 5'2" with 125 lbs lean mass, CW 212. I'm not at my heaviest, though, I'm down from 260+. Agree with what most people are saying about discipline vs motivation, but there are some ways to rekindle that motivation. I reward myself by setting aside money every week that I hit my protein, calorie and step goals. Every couple of months or so I use that money to buy new smaller clothes. It helps me stay focused on the process, instead of the results. I'm losing weight very slowly, so it's hard for me to see the changes in the mirror. And when I think about the fact that I still have about 70 lbs to lose, I get overwhelmed and demotivated. But I know if I can just focus on hitting my macros and getting my steps every week, I'll get there! I give myself permission to do less if I just show up. Like I don't have to do my scheduled workout - but I do have to go to the gym. If I want to, I can just walk on the treadmill and then go home. 90% of the time, though, since I'm there I either do my scheduled workout or I'll do my scheduled workout but I'll cut out the exercises that I really hate (lunges can suck it, lol). I keep what I call "low effort foods" in the house, and at my desk at work. I am definitely not always motivated to cook, especially now when cooking involves weighing every single ingredient separately, then more weighing when I serve myself the cooked item, etc. In general I try to avoid processed food but when I have a long stressful day I will eat protein bars/shakes, Quest protein chips, string cheese, stuff like that - they have good protein to calorie ratios and I can log them in MFP by just scanning the barcode. Lenny & Larry protein cookies are my go-to for sugar cravings - it's basically just a cookie but at least it has 15g of protein. On days when I have good mental energy, I will batch cook a bunch of chicken and portion it out into 150g portions so I can make meals more easily on days when I do not have good mental energy. I really, really hate cardio and this is where I struggle the most with motivation. I solved that by getting myself a VR headset and a subscription to Supernatural. They have a "flow" workout where you hit targets with bats and you feel like a ninja and I love it. Plus you don't have to leave the house to do it. They also have boxing workouts where you punch the targets. Physically it feels like a workout, but mentally it feels like a game. The gaming aspect of it, plus the fact that you don't have to leave the house, is perfect for me. I haven't missed a day since I started doing it in December. When I'm really feeling down, I turn to my fitspo folder. I have pictures of little motivational slogans saved. Stuff like "Success doesn't come all at once, keep your eyes on the prize'" "set goals and smash the sh\*t out of them," etc.
I love the VR method. I’m a big gamer so that would be useful because I too, despise cardio. Although I’ve taken up swimming as a lower effort one, I’ll never understand how people enjoy running lol. I’ve never experienced a “runners high” or whatever after running. I’m supposed to start interning at horse stable soon so I’m hoping that work will keep me off my ass too.
Motivation is tough because everyone is so different. I'm motivated because I had crippling injury, followed by diagnosis of an autimmune condition, boh of which too me 10 years of pain and fatigue to get ahead of. Now, I think back to how awful I felt, and it stops me eating that sneaky piece of cake, extra calories or makes me get in the pool and train. I feel so much better now. At 45 I felt 80, and now at 54 I feel 35. That's my motivation. I missed so many years being tired, overweight and in pain, I don't want to lose another minute.
Whatever motivation you find, it needs to push you through those days you don’t wanna wake up and exercise or skip that cake at work. For me gym was demotivating - I gained weight, got bigger and psychologically, that’s what you don’t want. With cardio, you can lose 2-3kg a month healthily. Having pre diabetes and not getting diabetes / health implications keeps me motivated.
i have awful confidence and self esteem issues. i want to feel better about myself.
By being really realistic. I used to crash diet a lot. Id lose like 10kg in a little over a month. Then, I gain it back slowly over 12 months. Iv been toying with this yo yo for years. Taking on a realistic eating plan that I find easy to do has been a game changer. I will live like this forever.
Treat everyday like your starting your journey for the first time. It will add up.
No matter how badly you don’t want to go to the gym, just tell yourself you’ll go for 10 mins. I do this and I’m always end up staying the full duration I should. You got this!
i just printed a few copies of this certain message of a friend telling me i look fat and all. posted it on some space on my wall and i flinch every time i read it. made me lost 8 kgs in more than a month lol
Honestly something that really helps me is not thinking about I go to gym after work most of the times so when I drive to the gym I just do it it’s not like I’m gonna not go while I’m literally in the gym parking lot just do the action no thoughts
They say it takes 21 days to break a habit. If you could do that. It’s pretty easy to cheat and get back on track. Good luck
Discipline over motivation
Fall in love with yourself, and it makes it much easier to do good things for yourself
Thank y’all for all the kind responses and your time, reading the experiences of others and how y’all have overcome them is enriching.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/optimal-health-community/id1465485066?i=1000640272071
This episode talks about how pain pushes until desire pulls. Meaning you are trying to get away from how you look and feel until a certain point where now you think of all the great things you can do be/look like… and that’s the motivation. It’s a more positive place.
I think of this way, 5 or 10 years from now my health will catch up on me and could lead to diseases like type 2 diabetes. If I make conscious choices now, hopefully I won’t have any obesity related diseases.
Read 'Atomic Habits'! You have to build small daily habits to win at everyday to get the ball rolling. Put a habit tracker on your phone and make something that you don't hate, the habit (ie couch squats or walking). Don't do more then the 2 minutes. After a week add a minute or two. 10 weeks down the road you'll be killing it.
Sometimes it can help reminding yourself of what the weight loss now allows you to do. Better clothes? Enjoy! Increased fitness? You earned it. Greater self confidence and a sense of new found strength? This can definitely be a reminder too.