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So how do we keep ourselves motivated? If we are making lifestyle changes, we can't rely 100% on others to keep us on track. We need to find something within ourselves to keep us on the straight and narrow. (I did do Wii Fit, btw. I didn't just sit around like a fat lump on a log. Yay!)
These are some things I do to keep motivated:
~I keep a picture of me at my thinnest hanging on my bathroom mirror.
~I have my total weightloss goal broken down into shorter, bite size goals, so I feel like I am making progress.
~I have a support group of friends to redirect me when I'm feeling out of sorts (Thanks, Bishes!)
~I have a super cute dress I want to reward myself with when I reach my goal.
~I read inspirational/motivational stories by people that have made this lifestyle change and stuck to it!
~I have filled The Man in on my goals and he helps me to stay on track.
~I have included my
What kinds of things do you do to keep yourself on track? How do you stay motivated, especially when you feel like you have taken steps backwards?
19 comments:
Ah good to have a workout buddy! I've always learn when working out is to don't reward yourself .. cuz then you'll just keep doing it .. if anything motivates you is your energy throughout the day and that slim waist!
I'm embarrassed to say I've actually fallen off the track the last couple weeks. The kids are on summer holidays right now and I just can't seem to find any time..I even tried scheduling it in. I reward myself with pretty things. But as Paul said, the biggest reward is the way you feel and look.
I have been so off-track...but I am trying. I don't have workout partners, I have 2 toddlers that stand on the wii balance board and throw off my center of balance when I'm trying to do yoga. But I'm still in it to succeed...even if I have to velcro them to the walls (and hubby too)!!
http://tinyurl.com/yzvbk7m
Hi, I am just joining in. Was in the middle of moving when this all started. I have read through your posts and it is great. I hope to really shed a few (a lot, who are we kidding) pounds. My MIL is a dietician, which I think makes it worse. She thinks I should eat a hard boiled egg and 3 slices of turkey for breakfast and be satisfied.
I think having a buddy to work out with is great. I used to walk at lunch with one of my co-workers, and am trying to get her back into the grove with me. It is too dangerous to walk around here by myself.
I'm jealous you have a work out buddy. I think that is the hardest thing for me. All my girlfriends live in towns at least 20 miles away & since I telecommute from my home office I'm not around co-workers who I could join in with as well.
The eating I seem to have down. I'm getting so much better at choosing a salad or fixing something very light when everyone else around is eating high calorie.
However, the exercise and staying motivated right now is hard for me. I do have my plan broken down in to small successes like you and I even have my reward purchase picked out. Maybe I'll try the photo on the bathroom mirrow.
The picture thing is a good idea. I'm thinking about making a little photo album for my purse. So if I'm out and get an urge I can flip through and remind myself why I'm doing this. I would love more recipes from you lovelies, I tried one last night and LOVED it! Thanks for the motivation!
I have a couple of things but in the end it is all kept in one thing - a journal. I journal my successes and I journal when I take a step back. Reading through my success seems to motivate me to get my butt in gear again. I write down how good I feel when I exercise, and all the non-scale victory's I get - comments from folks etc. I also have my before picture and my current picture posted in there so that I'm reminded where I was when I was doing nothing to where I am now that I am doing something.
I would love to have a workout partner but I don't so I make it a priority to workout. It is eating right all the time that I struggle with sometimes.
I'm thinking a food journal is key, but what do I know. I've journaled for a year and gained 15 pounds. I'm very yo-yo with my eating. Some days I'm great (under 1800 cal), other days are terrible (pushing 3000). I started using Wii Active and I'm addicted. It was 9pm last night and I did it. I'm using the easy setting for the 1st 30 day challenge and loving it. I haven't lost a single pound, but I'm determined to keep it up, work up to the hard level and keep you guys around for inspiration. The rest will fall into place (or is it fall off my large booty?).
I go to the gym because I need motivation in the form of other people watching me. If no on is watching, I slack on my work-outs. If I fear that someone may be watching, I really push myself.
The scale doesn't yet know this, since I went up 3 lbs this week. PMS-ing, so I am not looking again until it's over.
this is going to sound horible. I look at a picture of my dad. My dad died three years ago and I miss him aweful. He was a diabetic with bad cholesterol. He had high blood pressure and retained water. My dad was a walking pharmacy. He was on more medication than you can even imagine. He died of liver cancer, a side effect they think (I SWEAR) of all the meds he took. My motivation is to look at a picture of my dad and realize that I don't want to die.
What kept me motivated when I first started losing weight was having a long term goal, and a short term goal. With darling rewards for both!
Now that I'm a skinny bitch - it's the fear of being fat again and having to start all over that keeps me motivated!
I'm struggling to find my motivation. I know in the past, it's been the excitement of buying smaller sizes. I have skinny clothes hanging up now, but they aren't doing the trick. I have a furry little motivator who freaks out if I don't walk her. Right now, that's keeping me moving. As the weather improves, it will only make me move more.
MB is supportive and is really stepping it up lately which should be a big help.
I love your ideas, too! Keep them coming.
I take laxatives.
I KID I KID!
I know that tomorrow is another chance to keep myself on track. I love the dress reward idea...I'm thinking I need to implement that one!
For whatever reason, motivation is soooo very hard for me right now...I never do well at the beginning of the year...UGH! Although, I know if I can just get going, it will all be good, because then I start to feel good and that motivates me. Of course, then there is hubby who has to eat better and he drops weight at the drop of the hat and that ticks me off. I was really motivated last year when my class reunion was coming up...never lost but 5 lbs, but did shrink like 13 inches all over.
OK...sorry for the long comment/rant.
The picture idea is great. I'm going to have to do that one oh and of course the reward. Nothing like a new skinny dress!
I have a hot picture of me when I was 19, I still have it out in a frame. Great idea from someone to carry skinny pictures with you!
I take it a meal at a time. Seriously. Like AA people take it a day at a time, I have to take it ONE meal at a time. If I screw up, I screw up, and I go RIGHT back into it. I don't just toss the whole day because I screwed up once.
I eat little portions, off a littler plate. We now eat dinner off the salad plates, we never use the big dinner plates anymore. Totally works!
Plus I am 20 days with out pop! Only water, and coffee (I would die with out coffee!)
Feisty
You have some great ideas!! I am going to try the one about breaking it down into same pieces..
I write notes to myself and post them on my cabinets and fridge. I'm so not kidding. One note says "A Kit-Kat will never make me feel as good as I will when I step on the scale weighing less."
Another says "Don't think about the limitations; think about the possibilities."
It's silly, but it works. I've lost over 75 pounds since April, and I'm going strong...
I don't get too ahead of myself. I try to concentrate on the now, rather than the future. Staying focused on today and not worrying about what I will face tomorrow has helped keep my moving forward for just over a year now.
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