The Hardest Part Of Dieting Is Sticking With It. Make Sure You Have Good Motivations.....and Don't Forget Them. It's The Most Important Thing To Have. Motivation And The Will To Stick With It. Most Plans Will Work, You Just Have To Stay Motivated!

Agree !

What is motivation? That's a serious question. If by "motivation" you mean that deep emotional enthusiasm for the task, then I am going to disagree. Motivation is like infatuation: it's great, but it never last for the long haul. Eventually, there are days where you are not motivated--days when you are depressed, tired, BUSY, stressed out, whatever.

It's like taking care of a baby. If you relied on motivation to get it done, there'd be a lot of hungry, wet babies out there. It takes something deeper, a feeling of obligation, of commitment, of "this is what I do now".

For me, the key to reaching that spot was through planning and routine and ritual. There are things I always do: I always weigh myself every morning and record the number. I always record my food and calories. I always plan ahead to know what I am eating the rest of the day (and often the rest of the week).

For me its more about commitment - not motivation. I am always motivated when the number on the scale starts going down, or when someone tells me I look great. But those moments when I can't be bothered, when the scale is stuck, when I still feel fat - I still force myself to go the gym, I still plan my food, I still count calories. That's not motivated, that's a deep desire to get healthy - a commitment to my health and longevity.

Disagree. Motivation comes and goes, commitment is what it takes.

I'm not motivated at all today, but I'm committed so I'm following my plan.

I think relying on motivation is what causes people to cheat (on their plan, their spouse, etc) if they would remember their commitment they would stay on track.

I agree, commitment is what produces results!!

I Agree About Commitment. The Only Problem With Commitment Is That What Happens Once You Break Your Commitment. I Don't Know Anyone Who Has Dieted And Excercised And Had Success On The First Try.

This Is Because Commitment Usually Fails On The First Try.....you Have To Continue Being Motivated To Make Commitment Easier. Yes. Commitment Is The Big Answer, But Commitment Is Made Exponentially Easier To Stick With If You Understand Your true Motivations And Use That Force To Make Your Commitment Easier.

Yes, Commitment Is Necessary, But It Is Motivation That Allows For That Commitment To Start And Esentially Allows Your To Finish Your Commitment.

Motivation....when Used Correctly And Understood Is Literally Unstoppable!!

hmmmm. I see you're new here, just want to say welcome.

The commitment being what we need over motivation is a song sung a lot here, so you're kind of stepping into a snake pit with that one, just thought I'd let you know.

Motivation though honestly, is fleeting, it might be what gets you started, but it's rarely what sees you through to the end.



My real dad died of complications from diabetes in his 40's. That was a motivation for me. I still think of it when I feel like things are getting difficult, but studies have shown that motivation and fear and worries about health and all that, are not enough of a 'punishment' to see us through to goal. (Just read an article about that actually.)

It's just a matter of waking up, and doing what you know needs to be done, even on days when there is no motivation to speak of.

I'm glad you're so hung ho though, I assume you are a new years resolutioner. Welcome.

A vote for commitment here. This means sticking with doing the right thing day in day out, even when I don't really want to.
My motivation is to look good and to feel better about myself - but some days I'd rather overeat. My commitment makes sure I don't.
My other motivation is to be healthy, to live a very long time and not to be a fat corpse that grosses the undertakers out - but sometimes I'd rather have a Mars Bar. My commitment makes sure I don't.

However, Dave, if what you mean is that weightloss success begins in the brain, then I agree! We may just be talking semantics. I frequently lose motivation but rarely have lost commitment since May.

I think commitment and motivation are linked. Your true motivations are what intrinsic motivation is all about (doing something for the sake of it and not for external rewards). Incentive theory is related to making the behaviour a habit by getting a reward (tangible or intangible) after performing a certain behaviour (eating healthy or exercising). Commitment is following the same habit time after time and seeing results.

Trying to boil weight loss down to any one factor is ridiculous. Of course, we'd all love for it to be that simple, because then everyone is guaranteed of success, and anyone failing only has themselves to blame. If you're failing, you're just not following the simple path.

"This time around," I've had far, far less motivation and have put in far less work and effort than I ever have in 40 years of dieting. I've found a way to "fail off" more than 85 pounds.

I say "fail off" because I would have never defined what I AM doing now as success. My expectations, my motivation, my commitment, and my work effort were far, far greater in the past than I'm doing now. So how can I be more successful?

A big key was seriously considering and attempting low-carb eating, but it is by far not the only one. For me, there are at least a dozen factors that contribute to this time being different, and they're more complex than motivation, commitment, or effort.

I wish it had been that simple, because twenty years ago I had ****loads more motivation, comitment, and willingness/ability to work harder than I do now.

It can be a compilation of dozens of small, almost insignificant discoveries that pave the way for success.

If I had to boil my success to one factor (and I'd be insane to do so, because it can't be), it would be the willingness to unlearn most of what I was taught about weight loss, and that includes that motivation or commitment is some magic secret core.

There is no single biggest factor, because everyone's weight loss is different. Some people have incredible motivation and effort, but have poor understanding of nutrition/calorie levels. Some people have a strong knowledge base, but lack motivation or commitment. For some people, biochemistry may be there biggest factor (in many different ways).

You can't boil it down to one thing that applies equally to everyone. It just doesn't work that way. And it's one of the hugest fallacies of weight loss.

For most of my life, I mistakenly believed all the crap about commitment/motivation/effort - and when I failed I blamed myself and decided I needed more effort/commitment/motivation.

But it was like I was in a car with the emergency brake on, deciding that I just needed to give it more gas and wondering why I wasn't getting anywhere. I was spinning my wheels, because I was channeling more energy into issues that weren't the problem.

I wasn't even looking for my main problems, because I assumed it was effort/motivation/commitment. I neglected important factors because I was looking for only one.

Don't look for only one. Learn what as many of your factors are as possible, and begin experimenting to see which are most important to you. How many factors you need to address, and which are most important, require the most effort - are going to be unique to you. Don't let anyone tell you "all you need to do is...." because they're most likely wrong for you, even if they were right for themselves.

If I had to give only one piece of advice, it would be "be willing to experiment," and that means with everything - even sacred cows like comittment and motivation.

Moderator Note:
Please don't type in CAPS. On the Net, it is considered rude and shouting. Our system converts posts all in caps to words with only the first letter in caps.

I like the word persistence best. I had motivation to get started, I needed commitment to keep going, but I really leaned on persistence in order to continue on to be successful.

I also agree that it is a question of semantics. Words have slightly different meanings for different people.

I think committment is more important too. I am very committed to how I eat. This is just how it is. I have tried and failed before, yes. Those times, I know I wasn't committed, however I might have been motivated - motivated enough to lose some weight but not committed enough to stick with it FOREVER.

My motivation is Gull stones if I eat anything fatty I will have a gall bladder attack