Little cheats that keep you motivated
 

I don't want to encourage cheating, that's how we got here in the first place, wasn't it? But I have to trick myself sometimes to keep me going. Dieting and exercising are not my biggest enemies, I don't know about you, but despair and impatience are my banes.

To keep me motivated I have my bag of tricks, which I try to use wisely. These are some:

The lowest weight trick: If the scale shows less than .99 that's my weight. No trends, nothing, as soon as I hit it it becomes my weight. I weighted 175.6 today and I carry myself as if it is set in stone. Sure tomorrow after I run today and do some weight training I may "gain" two lbs, but I don't care I saw 175.~ and that's that.

The "it's just going to be a quick, easy workout" trick: My problem is not keeping myself going, it's to get going. I have a gym where I live, I only have to go down 4 floors, and yet sometimes those 4 floors down seem to me harder than running 40 mins. So I tell myself, "it's going to be an easy one today. Just climb on the byke, on the easiest mode and do 20 mins. You won't even sweat". And down I go like a happy cow, but once I am on the treadmill, the byke or elliptical it won't be an easy one, I kill myself and push to my limit. After all, what's the point after I came down 4 floors. :)


In what other ways do you have to deceive yourself into doing what you have to do?

I also lie to myself and say oh you only have to do a half hour... but then I get to the half hour and I'm like you can go further and eventually I make it the full hour if not more... I also find it hard to make myself go there but once I am there I dont like to waste my time...

I'm with you on the workout cheat one. I think it's actually a great strategy because it gets me started. Somedays, once i've started, I keep going and somedays it really is a shorter workout... but at least it's a workout so I think it's a good "cheat".

As a single person, I would generally stay away from fresh produce that would spoil before I can eat it all. Now I buy tons of fresh stuff that I'm too frugal to let go bad. So I end up eating lots of fruit and veg on daily basis just to keep myself from wasting the money I spent on it.

It should be called the "trust me, this won't hurt a bit" trick. :)

Mine's the tease: "look, just pack the swim bag and drive to the pool. You could always sit in the parking lot with a good book." At the pool: "oh, just go in. Put on the suit and get wet so you'll smell like chlorine and they'll think you worked out." In the pool: "You're wet, you might as well do a lap or two." After a few yards: "cripes, you might as well get all those muscles loosened up. It'll only take 10 minutes." After warmup (if needed, cuz by now I'm usually in the mood) - "Fer gawd's sake, don't be a wuss. Get at least a mile in - you can FLOAT that far!" followed by another mile ... and laughing about how gullible I am. :)

Right there with you guys on all of the self-tricking stuff including the claiming of the lower weight regardless if there's a short fluctuation upwards in the days after. And I buy all the produce I could possibly want without worrying about price, figuring that I can always get more budget conscious when I'm in maintenance mode. My other trick lately is buying clothes that are on the snug side to keep myself going. It's working so far ;)

I think I will try the "sit in the parking lot with a good book" trick myself, lol!

I remember someone saying that when they didn't feel like going for a run in the morning, all they did was promise to put on their suit and running shoes. And once they were on, then they might as well go for a run...

LOL! I did that today. I was so not wanting to go on my walk, but I put on my workout clothes and then I was ready to go! Since I am already dressed, why not go for it lol. I got back from my walk a bit ago lol.

I love this thread!!! I do the - just go for 20 minutes trick as well. It's the best one. I'm going to start using the claim the lowest weight one as well. I beat myself up when I see .6 or more, and take the higher weight, but now I think I should just be nice to myself and take the lower one!

I didn't do this at first, but about half way through I started doing it this way, and it just made me happier :).

I do that too. It keeps my meals centered/planned around fresh vegetables.

Me too! I just decided it didn't have to go to waste, I could just be a person who eats tons of produce ;).

I do the workout trick one, too. "Oh, just put on your running pants. You can walk and listen to NPR once you get out there." Then, "Oh, I'm all dressed, might as well run a little. I can stop when I get to that tree." And finally, this is what I told myself the other night after I had gone about a mile: "For crying out loud, if you don't want to run then just STOP and walk but stop making these stupid deals!". I realized that I really DID want to run so I kept going but who was I arguing with? It's a little bizarre! Who are these dueling voices in our head?!!!

Here.