How Do You Stay Motivated?

I'd love to know how you (people succeeding at losing weight) stay committed and motivated to keep eating well and exercising?

Here are a bunch of threads that people have posted about motivation - there's a lot of good advice and information in them!!

Help! How do you stay motivated?

100 reasons/motivation to exercise

Motivation for working out

How can I get motivated to work out every day?

I can't stay motivated!

Need motivation!

The main thing for me, is to keep coming back here. Some of that also, is to keep losing weight and having little successes. It becomes easier.

Erika pointed out some great threads too, be sure to check them out.

It also helps to find "healthy foods" that you "like to eat".

And if not, fake it til you make it! And keep coming back...

I'm with PosterChild on this. Keep yourself active on Fatsecret. You will get to know a lot of cool people, and you will learn so much. You will see how others do it, and you will learn from their success and hardship.
Motivation doesn't come overnight. It's something many of us have to learn to find. It took me almost a year to really start exercising. Now I don't want to be without it. I have a set calorie burn goal daily.

For me the motivation comes and goes, I've been trying to identify what makes it wane. This will be a long process, at least a couple of years so I'm hoping to have it figured out in that time. In the mean time I try to minimize the damage when I'm unmotivated. The big thing is not to give up because even with these stuggles I have had I am in a way better place now than I was when I started.

I find motivation with exercise when I find something that I really enjoy, and then when I start seeing results that doesn't hurt either. When I've got a schedule it really helps me to stay motivated to do the workouts because I can see what's coming the next day and stick to it. The eating is harder for me, but I'm learning. My motivator there is how much better I feel when I eat healthier foods. Also, I want my kids to grow up and want to eat healthy too. Logging food and exercise on here helps too because I can see how good or bad I'm doing. It took me a while to figure out what really keeps me going, but after a while it just starts to get easier to get that exercise in, or eat those healthy foods. Everyone has different reasons and/or motivations for being here and keeping it going, and you'll find yours. You can do this!!

I use promises to keep me in line when I am unmotivated. I use a coworker instead of a family member or friend, or hubby because they give me too many “passes”. I promise to log my calories, to exercise 30 mins a day, 6 days a week. If I skip, I can make up the difference the next day. I promise not to buy lunch, or to have more then 1 shake per meal. I can’t but junk food for myself for work days. I get a pass for going out to lunch with a friend (can only have a 6 inch Subway sandwich, no soda, 1 bag of chips, no cookie). I know I will get self sabotage-y. This helps me not totally fall of a wagon. I don’t lie so the honor system works well for me. I WANT to lose weight and get healthier. I really do! But I know that I have a strong “I DON”T WANNA” tendency that is not in my best interest. The self sabotage is my bane. Most of the time…I am good because I want this. My promise is for the days I am moody, TOM, or bad life stuff happens and I want comfort food & my couch only. It is my safety net for my journey. It took me years to find a promise w/o any loop holes. I write it down for a reference when I am weak. I also agree that being involved in FS is also helping me; from seeing that my end result is attainable to being excited about doing a 5K. You have to find your weak point and find a way to make it your strength!

Such great advice everyone, thank you!

I stay motivated by planning small rewards for each benchmark: a massage, pedicure, new cute shoes, and eventually a trip at the 50 lb mark! It makes me look forward not only to my long term goal which seems so far away but also to the little milestones that seem so much more attainable! You can do this!

I break things down into small goals and give myself a reward when I achieve each goal. I give myself frequent pats on the back for any small victory, and accept the fact that I am not, nor ever will be perfect with my eating. The goal for me is to improve my habits overall. If I am having trouble with motivation I list the goals I have met, (5lbs. lost, getting my wedding rings back on, one day without eating junk, etc.). The biggest thing for me has been to forgive myself. I forgive me for getting to the point of desperatly needing to do something, for not being perfect (that is a huge thing for a perfectionist)for hurting myself, and anything else that comes to mind. I am my own harshest critic and will whip myself to death. I have to forgive myself in order to move on. If I have a bad day/week, etc. I have to let it go and move on. If I don't I will have no motivation to continue the journey I have begun. It is a life long journey because even when I lose all the weight I wanted I still have to maintain it. That is when it is most difficult, learning to live it daily.

You can do this, good luck.

Time to bump thread for new members!

I think motivation truly comes from having a deep seated reason WHY you want to do this. If it means something to you, deep in your heart and soul, then you will stick to it. You will make the commitment because of that WHY.

Think of it this way: If your doctor handed you a note that said "You will drop dead in 6 months if you don't lose 50 lbs." most people will find it in themselves to lose 50 lbs.

That's what I'm talking about. For me, I knew what I wanted when I started, and committed myself to getting there. I outlined the positive things it would bring me, solidified that with reason after reason to achieve my Goal. If you can do that, find 50-100 benefits you will gain that are actually meaningful to you that you will get from achieving your goal, then visualizing it every day, you will stay on track.

For me it is finding a reason that is stronger than all the reasons to not do it. That reason can be different things for different people. For me it has always been so that I can lead by example. I couldn't help someone else accomplish something I myself couldn't accomplish, so every time I didn't feel like working out or eating correctly I would think about all the people that I could be placed in a position to help and as if it was magic I was instantly motivated. My reason for doing it was stronger than the reason not to.

I also pay very close attention to how things make me feel. When I eat junk I feel _____, when I eat healthy and clean I feel ____; when I get up and work out I feel _____ or when I let laziness win and don't work out I feel ____. When I decide I don't want to feel a certain way than I empower myself to make the better choice. When you are aware of what a decision is going to yield for you then you will realize that you are either moving closer to or farther away from what you really want.

"When you are aware of what a decision is going to yield for you then you will realize that you are either moving closer to or farther away from what you really want. "

Straight up "Slight Edge" philosophy. Every small step is either in the success or failure curve, and they compound over time. That's fitness exactly. Looking back at the end of every day if you made 2 steps forward that's progress. Keep doing that every day and after a while you look back and realize you've gone a LONG way.

I love that quote, thanks so much for the encouragement

I look at my pictures from when i was fat!

Just kidding, I think after a while it becomes a part of your life.

I started eating healthier 4 weeks ago and at the beginning i was like: "how am i going to keep doing this?" and now i have found that some food that i used to enjoy does not taste that good anymore.

For example today I had 3 thin strips of bacon (which i loved!) and as i ate them i could feel the grease getting stuck in my mouth and i did not like it!

Eating well makes me feel 100% better than eating junk, so feeling much better keeps me motivated in that respect. How I look now, and how good that makes me feel keeps me motivated to keep the weight off. I am addicted to the "feel good" endorphans that exercise produces, so i dont feel quite right if I dont exercise almost every day- even if some days I just walk the dogs for 30 mins. Basically, my greatest motivation is how I look and how good that makes me feel, as well as how good I feel about myself when I do something for exercise every day, compared to how I feel when I dont exercise.

For anyone looking to learn about how to keep on track, how to develop the philosophy to move your life forward, I HIGHLY recommend reading "The Slight Edge," by Jeff Olson. I honestly believe it should be required reading in high schools.

Another great book on fitness and exercise that can help you get motivated is Tom Venuto's "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle."

A lot of my own drive and personal determination has come from those two books, and many others like them.

I loved Tom Venuto's book. It really motivated me when I got to my lowest weight. I am reading it again as I lose this baby weight. My motivation stems from my two little boys (27 months and 8 months) and the shopping spree my husband is treating me to when I reach my goal weight. With pregnancies since June 2009 it is time for new clothes!

i get really motivated to go on my diet whenever i receive compliments from friends and co-workers. I still use Natvia and it works for me.