start by asking yourself what do you want to do? weigh and measure yourself and take a starting picture. decide one thing that you can do to help yourself feel better. Take a short walk somewhere. Get a little dollar calendar book and write down how long you walked. Maybe eat something fresh, substitute some fruit for a cookie. Drink more water. Walk a little every day. Seeing some success will help you feel a little better about yourself, and you will feel inspired to do some more.
Sure losing weight is hard but it's not as hard as what you have to go through being over 300lbs. You need to make it a priority. I think of it as my part time job. Sometimes you just need to get the ball rolling.
I failed for years... never lost more then 50 at a time and always gained it back, but it's possible to make a 360 turn...
Read the success stories here. So many of us who thought it wasn't possible, and look what can happen!
You've got to dig deep within yourself and find the strength to start one more time. What is ahead in life for you if you don't try again? When I restarted this time all I could think is if I don't change, this is the BEST I'm ever going to feel. And I felt like crap. I'm not getting younger, I was getting fatter, I looked bad, I felt worse, and the road ahead was nothing more but the same and worse. That was enough to scare me into promising myself I would try for one week to eat better. Then I promised I would try one more week. And so on. It's been not quite 7 months and I've lost nearly 100 pounds. 7 months of hard work and it was worth every bite of junk food I gave up. But I was feeling better almost immediately after starting again. Every good choice you make is worth it for your health. You are worth taking care of!
What do you do when you need to lose weight, but can't find the motivation to start; especially after YEARS of failed attempts?
I think that you have to consider whether or not you are ready. Despite what society tells you, many people get something out of being overweight. What you get is different based on the individual, but there are very real assets involved in remaining overweight. For instance, you can enjoy whatever food you want whenever you want. The pleasure we extract from food is potent. Also, just like people can take comfort in other sensory pleasures (alcohol, sex, etc.), we take comfort in food. Giving up that comfort is no small thing, particularly when there is no replacement for it.
Additionally, being overweight allows you to opt out of a lot of social obligations. They range from not having to worry about fashion and appearance (you have a license to "give up" because you're fat and everyone thinks you look bad no matter what you do) to remaining isolated from others because you don't want to be judged. Being overweight gives you plenty of excuses to avoid things your basic personality is inclined to do but you feel obligated to do based on social, familial, etc. expectations.
That is not to say that being overweight is good or good for you. It clearly is not, but that doesn't mean that it isn't serving some people in some very important capacity. Most people who are overweight only get the motivation to lose it when the liabilities overwhelm the assets. We're just too full of self-loathing and beating ourselves up for being weak to really consider the assets.
So, one thing you can do is take a good hard look at yourself and your life and decide how being overweight serves you well rather than focus only on how it is serving you poorly. Think about those assets and whether or not you are ready to give them up to escape the liabilities and whether or not the benefits of being an average weight are really worthwhile to a person with your character and lifestyle.
Once you take a good look at that picture, you may find out why you fail because perhaps you can start by finding replacements for the assets that come from being overweight before you start to try and lose weight. With replacements already in place, or at least an understanding of what you value, you may find your motivation.
I struggled with motivation for a long time. I still have huge issues with being on a diet, counting calories, doing anything that resembles exercise with any regularity. I can get myself into an emotional state that motivates me to say to myself that tomorrow, I will start, once again, another diet. And within a few minutes, I find myself scouring the refrigerator for that elusive thing that will fill me up in that moment and comfort me. It's a really bad habit.
What got me on the road to wellness this time was coming to the end of my rope, both emotionally and physically. I learned I had borderline type 2 diabetes. Then high blood pressure, for which I had to go on medication. I started getting panic attacks about my health, terrified I wasn't going to be alive much longer for my kids. I got really angry that I had wasted my whole life trying to make everyone else happy and was so miserable as a result. And I hadn't accomplished a single thing on my rather estensive bucket list and I was alread 45 years old. It was a miserable time for me.
I had to get help and I had to stop living how I was living up to that point. I got good support, solid information from level headed health professionals, walked away from friends that enabled poor health and found new ones that helped me refocus on myself in all the right ways.
At home, I started changing one thing at a time. I eliminated butter, reduced carbs to under 100 gm/day, got rid of all food that was processed, increased my water intake, stopped drinking alcohol (dropped 7 lbs just with that one), and increased veggies. I still struggle with fat intake, but all my fat choices are really healthy, like raw nuts, avocado and olive oil. I eat a lot more of the right fish, like sardines, and I eat a lot less red meat. I increased my daily soluble fiber to at least 35 gm. I completely cut out sugar, sodas, non-nutritive sweeteners and fast food.
Like I said, I made those changes one at a time. It took a few months, but I lost 40 lbs. Since then, I've been working on reducing my caloric intake and fats, which seem to be the hardest things for me to accomplish. I know if I could do that, the rest would melt away eventually. But I'm staying to my original changes and the weight has stayed off for well over a year.
I could use more one-on-one support, but I can't really afford a trainer right now and my life is full as a newly single parent and caregiver to my elderly parents. There are weeks when I feel forced to give up my goals, and to even give up on caring for myself. I feel overwhelmed with life. But I understand now that these are just moments in my life, and there are moments when I do care for myself very well.
I no longer look at my efforts in black and white, all or nothing terms. Steps I take in the right direction are good steps, small victories I earn everyday. There are also choices I make, whether they are without my conscious brain stepping in to manage the choice or because I'm just exhausted and can't seem to make a good decision in the moment. These are not moments of failure to me. They're just choices that don't lead me down the road to my goal. I do not beat myself up over those anymore, because that just leads to failure of spirit. I blow it off and get back on the track.
Pick one thing you can change and do it until you're in love with the results. Then pick another thing. Make those things small, then build momentum. Don't do it to see a change on the scale. That thing doesn't have the right to tell you who you are. The change you consciously make tells you who you are, someone who wants to live and live well!
I've been here 3 times before, and those 3 times I wanted to lose weight to look good, fit in my skinny jeans, have people think that I was pretty, etc. etc.
As you can see, those are all external reasons...superficial, artificial reasons.
I've finally figured out that I will not be able to lose weight if I am doing it purely for the result of being skinny, or making it to some "magical number" on the scale. In my previous failed attempts I lived and died by the number on the scale; a 0.2 lb. gain at any point throughout the day meant no more eating that day...well that happened everyday and eventually I just stopped eating.
I did lose a lot of weight by not eating (40 lbs.) but once I got down to that size I decided I didn't have to be so restrictive and I could afford to eat the stuff I used to. Big mistake, I gained back 60 lbs.! This is because I didn't change the WAY I ate...I was using food as an emotional tool in both cases (starving/stuffing my face).
Now I've realized that I want to lose weight so I can be healthy! Sure, the benefit of fitting into a smaller size will surely happen to go alongside that, but that is not my primary motivation! I want to be able to live a long and happy life...I want to be in control of my life, and part of that is learning to eat healthy and exercise.
So after that long-winded explanation, I just want to let you know that YOU have to decide that YOU want to get healthy and live a happy and HEALTHY life...YOU must decide that you are tired of food ruling your life!
I think the key to success for many is finding an approach which works for that particular person. There are a wide range of approaches that have worked for different people, and maybe you just haven't hit on the right combination yet. And the only way to find the key that works for you is to keep trying!
Some folks (including me) have more success with "baby steps" -- making small changes in lifestyle at the start to achieve some successes to build on (my initial steps were just drinking enough fluids and taking supplements!). Other folks do better with a complete overhaul to force a break from past unhealthy habits.
Many folks are successful with calorie counting. Many like CCing because it allows them to eat any foods they want as long as they come in on "budget". But others (including me) find it a lot easier to stick to a calorie restriction if they are careful to avoid any trigger foods or many processed or bready/starchy foods. Yet others do better ignoring calories entirely and focusing on macro nutrients (low carb, etc). Others have found success by reading about and eating the most nutritious foods (e.g. superfoods).
It's also very helpful to find some sort of activity that you actually enjoy, or at least tolerate well. I like walking and so do many others and it's very convenient. Swimming is also very popular.
So, in general, think about the attempts you have made in the past, and find some way to shake it up and try again. Each time you try, you should learn more about what kinds of changes are easier and which are harder and things you need to avoid in order to move forward. And realize -- most of us have have encountered many setbacks in our journeys. I don't consider it a failure if I slip up -- at one point I had a set back of ten pounds. But it's like investing -- sometimes there's a bear market, but in the long run you build up a nice nest egg for retirement. Similarly, journeys to better health are usually not a straight arrow path.
start by asking yourself what do you want to do? weigh and measure yourself and take a starting picture. decide one thing that you can do to help yourself feel better. Take a short walk somewhere. Get a little dollar calendar book and write down how long you walked. Maybe eat something fresh, substitute some fruit for a cookie. Drink more water. Walk a little every day. Seeing some success will help you feel a little better about yourself, and you will feel inspired to do some more.
I got on the scale this morning and I now weigh 333.0lbs. This is so depressing. I have got to do something. Also, I have hypothyroidism, which I am currently not doing anything about treating. This is why the small changes never seem to work. I am going to make a Doctor's appointment on Monday to get a precription for the hypothyroidism. That will be step one to getting control of my weight.
Baby steps didn't work for me either. I did it all at once, in one fell swoop. I started Atkins 8/13/2008 and I've only slipped a handful of times since then. You don't need motivation to do this--really. You just need commitment. Commit to whatever plan or strategy you decide to follow, then do it, day in, day out, every day. And it will work!! You can totally do this. You can.
Well I am one step closer to getting back on the wagon. I went grocery shopping and tried making healthier snack choices. I bought fruits and veggies to snack on instead of cookies, cupcakes, and chips.
Also, I think I put the final nail in my scale's coffin now that I outweigh it. It's been giving me all kinds of crazy readings. It looks like I lost half a pound, but then I got a 000 weight and then the screen said LO, so who knows. I will give it a few weeks to get itself together before I get on it again.
No Motivation
