[Mthunder86]

Good Evening All,
About 6 years ago I was on WW and lost 40lbs became a life time member. Then I gained it all back. I am so upset with myself. I have tried a couple of times to go back to WW and only to stop going. This past week rejoined on the new program but I don't know why it is so hard this time around but I can't find motivation. I really want to lose this weight once and for all but I keep making excuses, like starting it on the 1st of the month or after the party or after Christmas and now I am saying January 2nd. Any advice to get on this program and stick to it. I am willing to exercise and eat right cause I know when I do I feel great and I want to fit in smaller sizes of clothes. Looking forward in hearing from you. My weakness is sweets I love sweets.

[M0vingon]

I relate. Boy do I relate!

I can't say I have "the answer". There probably isn't one right answer anyway. I am currently dealing with the feeling that i need to "go on a diet", but in reality my meals are fine. It's the sweets- the recreational eating that's making it tough for me to lose!

I'm trying to recommit every day. Every day i start out by affirming to myself that I will focus on breaking old habits and eat well. Some days I do well, others I don't, but i guess it's a life long journey for me. The thought of "doing" a diet is overwhelming to me- frankly, it makes me feel frustrated and angry. Focusing on good stuff one day at a time seems to fit better right now.

I don't know if any of that helps you at all, but at the very least you can be certain that someone else totally gets what you're dealing with. I wish you luck and success.

[krampus]

Everyone loves sweets but sweets make you fat. Until you can wrestle control over sweets consumption, e.g. have a single small dessert per day without craving more, you have to pick one. Eating desserts is like doing coke. You have some, it's great, and within minutes, seconds sometimes, you just want more. How many recreational coke users do you know who don't go on binges or end up doing more than they intended to do?

As for motivation, that's a very personal matter. Why do you want to lose the weight? What made you successful the first time you did WW years ago? These are all things none of us can answer and that we are struggling with too.

[ebb&flow]

I can't tell you what will work for you as far as the motivation. For me what worked was looking at old pictures and my weights at the time (I've been losing weight for a long time off and on). I look at my weights I have over the years and clothes/pictures where I think I look great or what I don't want to weigh ever again. Some pictures I think "Hey! that's only 15 pounds from now or 20 pounds from now. If I stick to my plan, that is a couple months from now." I look back over the last couple of years I have been attempting to lose the weight from my pregnancies. There were whole months of struggle and binging and then I end up losing 4 pounds in 6 months. I think about where I could be if I stuck to my plan rather than giving up and spending weeks of binging because of one slip up. If I had just stuck with it I could have lost the weight several times over. I could even have lost weight at .5 pounds a week and been there by now. Someone has on their siggie "A year from now you will wish you had started today." That is so so true for me. Instead of losing and gaining the same 5 pounds 5 times over, I could be 25 pounds down with the same amount of effort.

As for the sweets and such: I have had so many "one lasts" and "I've worked so hard" helpings of certain foods, that the calories from those alone could have added up to significant weight loss.

[seagirl]

Motivation comes and goes. You can't rely on it. You need to make a commitment and stick to it. I've committed to stick with WW until at least my birthday in April. I'm not allowed to quit before then. That takes the pressure of me to wait for motivation, since I just remind myself "we are committed to this. Keep going."

It's the same thing with my morning walk, or the evening dishes - am I motivated to do those things every day? No, but I'm committed to doing them because they make my life better.

And motivation can play with you - If I'm relying on pictures of myself, I could say "well, I really don't look that bad" I can stop going to WW. But, because I'm committed, I just keep going, no matter what my tricky little mind tries to tell me.

[Koshka]

I wish I knew what makes a difference. Many years ago (20 now!) I lost 43 pounds and became a lifetime member. Various reasons I regained it, lost part of it but my low was about 155 about 10 years ago. In the past 15 years I've gone back to WW time and time again, did well, then something would cause to miss a meeting and I would go off program, know I would have a gain and then I wouldn't go for a year or two.

Right now, I do have intense motivation. I just finally decided that losing weight is more important to me than the momentary pleasure of eating X. For the past month or so, I've been very intense and focused, rarely even eating weekly points. I don't know what turned me around on this. I just really thought about it and decided to look at the long term and not short term.

Some thing that have helped me keep it up:

1. I really don't eat unless I am hungry. I used to do a lot of automatic eating. It's evening at the computer so I must snack. Now, I don't get a snack unless I am actually physically hungry.

2. Before I put a bite of food into my mouth I think about whether it fits into my ultimate goal. If it doesn't I don't have it. That doesn't mean I can't have "fun" food just that I have to fit it into my goal.

3. I've decided that I've wasted too much time trying to have it all -- eat a lot of fun food and lose weight. The result was losing half a pound a week. It was just not working well for me and was causing me to lose motivation. I made a goal to lose 1.5 pounds or so a week and striving for that and seeing results helps me keep up motivation.

4. I avoid eating out very much. That is difficult for me so I do eat out once a week but usually not more than once. Foods that are difficult for me I tend to just not buy if I can't control my portions on them.

5. I've been reading a lot of first person weight loss accounts. I don't learn anything from them but they keep my motivation up.

6. Posting here. The time that I did the best in getting back close to goal weight I was a forum sysop on Compuserve's weight management forum. Posting there every day helped me keep motivation up. Same thing about coming here. It keeps me focused on making weight loss my priority.

It is really hard to know what will motivate another person but these things helped me.

[mandalinn82]

Like seagirl, I've learned not to rely on motivation. Mostly because it's there sometimes, but it isn't reliable.

What IS reliable is a solid, resolute commitment to take action. It's the commitment that makes you exercise when you don't feel like it, that makes you make a healthier choice even when you don't necessarily want to, that pushes you through when things are harder.

Motivation can be a great boost, when it's there...but sometimes, it just ISN'T, you know? The great part is, though, that making the commitments ends up giving you results, which can be motivating, and then you get that boost to make things a bit easier.

[Mthunder86]

Thank you all for your opinions. All very good points. I will get on track and lose this weight and what better way than to start now. Not wait until after the holidays extra. Thanks again.

[ptsmith59]

It's so helpful and informative to read everyone's suggestions. I am committed to losing weight. Thanks for your tips.