[Mango30]

I'm so tired of not having any motivation to lose this weight. Last year I lost 40 lbs relatively quickly this year, I've gained it all back. I have no motivation to eat healthy. I have a food scale for calorie counting and I know the routine. But, I'd rather eat pizza and chinese. I have a gym membership and know what I need to do to lose weight but I havn't been to the gym in over a month. Even buying new shoes and loading my iPod up with new songs and audio books has not motivated me. I don't know whats wrong with me. I just saw a picture of myself that my mom posted on her blog and I look horrible...but even that didn't keep me from picking up the phone and ordering chinese for lunch. I suck. HELP!

[Mollz]

Originally Posted by Mango30

I'm so tired of not having any motivation to lose this weight. Last year I lost 40 lbs relatively quickly this year, I've gained it all back. I have no motivation to eat healthy. I have a food scale for calorie counting and I know the routine. But, I'd rather eat pizza and chinese. I have a gym membership and know what I need to do to lose weight but I havn't been to the gym in over a month. Even buying new shoes and loading my iPod up with new songs and audio books has not motivated me. I don't know whats wrong with me. I just saw a picture of myself that my mom posted on her blog and I look horrible...but even that didn't keep me from picking up the phone and ordering chinese for lunch. I suck. HELP!

Don't take this the wrong way (sometimes facetiousness doesn't translate over the interwebs), but drop that attitude like it's hot! You don't suck, you've merely fallen back into an old routine.

Have you stopped to ask yourself WHY you lost your motivation? Is something stressing you out? Problems at home, school, work, etc? Why did you return to eating pizza and Chinese? Is it easier than cooking healthy meals- dial a number and wait for the knock on the door? What do you think would get you to return to a more motivated state?

I know, lots of questions, but they're ones you should be able to answer. When you fall back into the comfort zone of old eating habits, there's a euphoria that stays with you because you don't have to think about eating; you just eat and eat whatever happens to be handy. Weighing and measuring is a pain in the backside; drinking 10 glasses of water a day is a pain in the backside; eating 1 treat per week instead of 10 is a pain in the backside. But what do you get out of all that effort? Forty pounds gone, maybe a few compliments, nicer clothes, a feeling that you are an individual rather than an asexual blob on the couch (or a bump on a log, as my mom says). Maybe you've had the feeling of accomplishing something, that you've done something worthwhile, that you've bettered yourself in some way.

Go back to how good you felt when you lost those 40 pounds, when you finally saw that scale go down, down, down. How did that make you feel?

Now, is it worth eating Chinese for dinner tonight? Maybe, maybe not. I can't tell you to stop eating crap (and really, all that goopy sauce... ), you have to want to stop eating it, which goes back to my original question:

WHY have you lost your motivation?

[SamanthaJubilee]

Mango - I totally relate to you. It is so hard for me to get motivated. Especially with this BRRRRRRR cold weather (which isn't normal for TX).
You have to get your head straight before you can successfully drop the lb's!

What I did (and has worked before and is working now). I start off with one or the other. I will either start eating healthy and going to the gym will follow shortly after or I will start going to the gym...then start eating better just happens.

I think you could use a "gym buddy". Someone who will meet with you at the gym and help make you accountable. Cause now you would have someone who depends on you to be there to help motivate them too.
Just don't make that person your daughter. My poor child...she tries to get me to go, but by the time I get home...cook dinner...clean up and check homework it is 8. My girls have to get showered up and in bed by 8:30 for lights out. Then there is the snuggle time (usually between shower & lights out). So I always have an "excuse"...just gotta get out of that way of thinking!

[DanSinDeva]

Make your own pizza and chiense food! Get back in gear, and remind yourself that you can have all the good stuff you just need to find ways to make it so that it fits in to your calorie budget! I love both, and Love making homemade pizza. Places here have Whole Wheat pizza dough, but we cheat and use the thin crust boboli'(SP?). Soba or Udon noodles are outstanding for Chinese, the nutrition labels are a little scary, because the sodium can be out of control, but once you cook it,drain and rinse all that sodium reduces to little or none...I googled it.

I joined WW and found some pretty good recipes for some chinese inspired recipes! Once you make them, you'll be able to play with it as much as you like add more veggies, different proteins, what not!

With the gym, ya just have to get there and get over the chore aspect! I definitely have a love hate relationship with the place, but love the feeling afterwards. :-) Just do it! :-)

[Mango30]

Thanks for the pep talks and suggestions. I am still not motivated though. I went to the gym last night and the same crowd was there that was there when I lost 40 lbs. The first thing "treadmill guy" said when I walked in the door "holy sh!t, what the **** happened to you?" Not nice. Not motivating. Another reason I need to move to a city with more than one gym option. And then, of course, the only stationary bike was next to his treadmill so I set the tension and then go to enter my weight and age to calculate calories and he says "holy sh!t" again and I realize he's literally leaning over the treadmill hand grips to see what I'm entering. I got up and left. WTF. There goes my guts to ever go to the gym again.