I have been feeling zero motivation to get off my a#$ and actually do something about my weight. But since I know I cannot continue the path I am on, I have been trying to set myself up for success instead of waiting until I feel "motivated"

• I joined Water aerobics with my mom
• I joined the "start-fit" progran at the YMCA which requires me to work out 3 times a week

So exercise is taken care of. But my diet is still terrible. Every day I "mean" to start, but I don't. Well 2 of the girls at work got on the calorie counting band-wagon and now we have a challenge going on at work. I really think the accountability of having to post what I ate at work will really help me stay on track! I even had to turn today around because we started it right away!!

So I am taking the motivation by doing approach? How do you motivate yourself??

It is SO hard for me to get started. Once i see the weight coming off and the clothes getting loose, i do really well. But it is the getting started that is the hard part. So just jump right in and try weighing in once a week. Hopefully you will see results quickly that will inspire you to stick to it and improve any pitfalls. You can do it with baby steps.

Yes....I can relate to this. I get going many times and eat accordingly but then sometimes I fall off. My life gets lonely sometimes and for company we go out to dinner (of Course). I also have this friend who is very sweet and kind but she is poison to me for dieting. She just sucks me in to her depression when I am with her and frankly it has gotten old. I have been trying to do stuff without her but when she finds out she pouts and trys to make me feel guilty or she just gets mean. That said.....

My motivation will come from getting/creating a positive atmosphere around me. If it means being alone a little more than that is what has to happen. If I connect with the positive people in my life and the ones who are really behind "me" as person who wants to be healthy then things go a lot better.

I also know there is something down inside that resists weight loss. I wish I could find this "dark side" so to speak and rid myself of it. I can't seem to find or see why I do this. I can start like a wild woman in the morning measuring and going for it but as soon as I get some where food is .....I go for the bad choices.

I guess in reality I need to just quit with going out to eat for a while. It however is my social connection with my friends. Ugghh.

I saw pics of myself from our Kidney Walk online. Guh. Big fat belly. Gotta work on that.

Try making a honest list as to why you want to lose weight. Then make a list of all the barriers/excuses you put in your way. Lastly, look at the strategies that work and do not work...again, being to totally honest. With all of that info, you have all the keys you need to make a successful plan. Set a daily goal and start somehere. It takes just one choice to provide positive momentum. One choice turns into one day....then you start to gain confidence in yourself. That becomes your motivation.

To be honest, I really just focus on the diet aspect. They say 80% of weight loss is from your diet alone.. so my goal each day is to eat "highly beneficial" foods (from Eat Right For your blood type book) with every single meal. And when I get really consistant with exercise it's not for weight loss, it's usually for a bigger goal.. like running in a 10k, going for a huge hike.. where my goal is to DO something rather than see numbers on a scale.

My weight comes off extremely slowly, so those numbers are SO discouraging. Clothing sizes are helpful.. I dropped from a very tight 20 to a 16.

Baby steps.. it'll happen, so I keep plugging away.

-Aimee

oops guess links are a no. anyway its mary magdalene, baby the stars shine bright and putumayo.

I try to not rely on motivation too much. Motivation, for me, is fleeting and I cannot control it.

Discipline, baby. That is what it is about for me.

Do you brush your teeth or go to work or pick up the puppy-doo only when you are motivated? Or do you do it regularly, when it has to be done, because you HAVE to?

You might want to move exercise and eating right from a "want to" category to a "have to" category. That has really been the key for my new lifestyle.

My motivation came when I finally decided that I was the most important thing in my life. Yes, I have a husband, son and granddaughter that are very important to me but in the past, I was always putting everyone else before me. I finally figured out that I was sabbotaging myself by always putting myself last, so now I have become more selfish (I guess you'd call it that) about doing what I need to for ME!!!

Until I did that, I could never stay motivated. There are days that my motivation is less than other days, but I have never stayed at it this long and I AM GOING TO MAKE IT THIS TIME. I can feel it it my bones. I am a very happy person that I am getting this done.

You need to learn to love yourself above all others. If you don't love yourself, who else will!!!

DNR

For me, it's about having made a commitment to myself that I will make myself into the person I want to be. A lot of what led to making that commitment was being fed up with all the little daily obstacles being fat put in my life--never having pretty clothes, having to worry about whether the seatbelt in my friend's car would go around me, having sore feet, and having people treat me differently than they would a thin person.

Some days I'm motivated, some days I'm not. But I am always committed, and that is what keeps me sticking to my weight loss plan. And that commitment has brought rewards. I'm nowhere near my goal size yet, but already I feel better physically than I have in years and people have started to treat me differently. And I know that if I stay committed it will only get better.

I watched the biggest loser last night. I have to tell ya' that is 100% PURE motivation for me. I felt like running 5 miles after I saw all their hard work and to lose that much weight in 1 week-- unreal! I cracked out my Walk away the pounds... I'm all over it tonight when I get home. I'm inching my way down the scale, just 10 lbs away from where I started last time... Once I get to that point its all DOWN SCALE from there baby! I'm so excited to be focused and determined. I can't WAIT to get to goal!

Geneen Roth's books are my biggest motivator. She is anti-diet and reached her natural weight (after being both very overweight and anorexic) by eating what she wanted (no restrictions), when she wanted (anytime) and stopping when she was full.

Sounds straightforward but of course it's very, very hard to get back in touch with my body's hunger and fullness signals after I've overridden them for so long, not to mention dealing with all the "emotional" eating. Still, I think it's worth it and it's working for me. I know if she was able to get to her natural weight (love that term!), I definitely can, too!

Getting started is literally the hardest part, and something that is hard to help someone else with. For me I decided I needed to look at it as a JOB something I had to do no excuse factor there if you're schduled to work out daily.

For me deciding to record my food (ALL of it) has really helped because it really sucks where you have to look at everything you ate. Keeping anything I had issues with out of the house helped too...

With exercise the first few weeks are the worst but if you can push through them make yourself do them it does get easier.

I'm with Fiddler about commitment. My motivation often isn't that great, but I made a commitment to myself to get to a certain weight and body fat percentage. It's taken a LOT longer than I wanted, but I've come to terms with that. Like Idealmuse, I've made it my job to spend time in the gym each day, and to eat right.

Gretchen, I also watched the Biggest Loser, and during my run this morning I kept telling myself "I am the Biggest Loser!" I love that show! Also watched Celebrity Fit Club last night, and can't figure out how Tina Yothers fits into a size 8 weighing 161 lbs. I still can't wear a size 10 in public, and I'm 5 " taller and only 6 lbs. heavier. Maybe it's the youth thing or just a better body shape. Bummed me out a bit, though.

Sheila53 - Your progress is amazing! Can I be like you when I grow up? How long did all that take? I'm about where you started at now. I'm aiming for 1 1/2 years or so...