Quote:
Originally Posted by Shmead
You say you have to stick with "it", but what is "it", exactly? I used to say that, and my plan would be something like "make good choices", which really meant "deny yourself anything you like as long as you can". I couldn't stick with that, either.
What is your plan? What makes you quit? Is it hunger? Is it that fattening foods are so tempting? Is it that you don't have healthy foods available and going to get them seems like too much trouble? Or is it something else?
True, so true! I hadn't ever thought about it that way. "Making good choices" has always meant denying myself anything good. It wasn't until I found calorie counting where treats were allowed that I found success.
Motivation for me comes in many forms. Sometimes it's visual. Once I kept a 10 pound bowling ball in my kitchen as a reminder of just how much 10 pounds is. Sometimes it comes in the form of trying on a pair of too small jeans. I took pictures of myself at size 20 trying to get into a pair of size 10 jeans.
Then I took a picture every month as those jeans inched further up my legs. Now I can wear them! That was motivational.
Day to day motivation for me comes from the pure joy I find in every day life. So many things! I find joy at every turn! Just now, I rubbed my hands together for warmth and was struck by how prominent my knuckles are and the fact that I am always cold now. I am wearing a bulky sweater to keep me warm and my bulky sweater is comfort clothing now whereas before it was just bulk and I wouldn't wear them. I find little things like that highly motivational. I can name 50 NSV's that I encounter each and every day. Many of them are repeat NSV's, but as long as I find joy in them, they count.