I just started my journey to better heath, lower weight and more endurance. I have about 100lbs to go to reach my goal. I know it is going to take awhile. I am hopeful by April of next year (a big trip planned) I will be down to my goal weight of 160lbs. I am in this for the long haul.

My question is how do you stay motivated? What do you do to keep going? I am curious because I know myself. I start things but often do not finish them. I need to figure out how to keep going. I need to keep going. I really really want this. I have sort of tried in the past with exercise but that did not last.

What do you do?

I've been at this for a month. Now, eating well and regular excersize has become habit. But, there are days occasionally where I have a really hard time, and I almost break down. What I do is imagine myself at my goal weight, imagine me doing fun things and looking amazing. If that doesn't do the trick, I have a couple people who I can talk to, who encourage me and remind me how far I've come! If that doesn't work, I just have to dig really REALLY deep and just keep pushing on. The feeling of success I feel after not binging like I normally would, or working out on a day I just don't want to, those feelings of success FAR outweigh the feeling of cheating, or indulging or giving up. There will be days when you mess up. Big time. And IT'S OK!!! This is the only body you have, so treat it well. Remember food is FUEL. don't beat yourself up when things get tough and you break! Your strength is proven when you pick your self up, and continue onward. YOU CAN DO IT!! Your biggest fan is yourself. Don't make your "fat mindset" the enemy. Embrace it, it is a part of you. But it doesn't define who you are or your potential in this life!!!

Good luck xoxo

Like Katie, I also imagine myself at my goal weight. I also set myself lots of mini goals. Remember, it's easier to lose 10 pounds 10 times than it is to lose 100 pounds. Right now my next mini goal is to weigh 255, which means I'll have lost 25 pounds. My next one after that is to weigh 252, which will mean I'll have lost 10% of my starting weight. Just set yourself some goals and work on them one at a time.

I always try to break things down so I am focusing only one one choice at a time - the choice in front of me. Thinking about "the rest of my life" or "until April" can be really daunting. It can lead to "woe is me" type thinking that makes it harder to resist a temptation. But when I face the temptation with an attitude of "eh, not today" it becomes much easier for me to make a good choice.

* maybe tomorrow I'll be lazy; today I will go exercise.
* maybe I'll take some of the Friday cookies at work next week; today I'll pass.
* there will be other opportunities to order pizza, this time I'll just eat the healthy planned meal I have waiting in my refrigerator.

You get the idea. Focusing on one choice at a time this way reduces the long accumulation of what you need to do down to this one moment, and it's just not that hard to say "no, thanks" just this one time. So make the best choice when you have a choice in front of you. Just this one time.

And then do it again, and again.

What has helped me is that instead of being on a diet I am making a lifestyle change. Yes, I know, quite cliche. But on SB I can still have desserts and now that the strictest phase is over, I'm eating what I like as long as it's within Phase II. And for the first time I'm not saying, I can't wait until Ive reached my goal weight so I can pig out on Doninos pizza. It's when I reach my goal weight I'm going to have 1 slice of pizza with lean pepperoni and low fat mozzarella on a whole wheat crust. And I know I could have that now, but I'm using it as my reward.

Thank you for your replies. Congratulations everyone on your weight loss. Hopefully I will be there sooner rather than later. I will mull over everyone's suggestions and choose some that are good for me. Thank you again.

I found a lot of motivation by buying pants one size too small. They were on clearance at Old Navy and now they are in my closet. I'm dying to wear them out!

I have so many pants in my closet that are too small. I really want to wear them again. I should pick one and keep trying it on each week. I look forward to wearing my cute cloths again. I keep my shirt untucked to hid my belly. I look forward not having that.

This is a great thread! I like the fact that you ladies set mini goals. Underwater & Lishar I also have clothes in my closet that no longer fits. And on those days when I am down I feel like just throwing them away. But deep down inside of me I keep thinking one day I'll fit into them again.. I will be setting myself mini goals and hopefully this will make it easier for me.

One of the things that helps me is to check in regularly here on 3FC. I also join in on some of the challenges.

One trick, that I learned about here on 3FC, is to challenge myself to meet my calorie, water, and exercise goals each day by giving myself a sticker for each goal met each day. I have a calendar where I place the stickers, so I have a fantastic visual for when I meet my goals each day!

Good luck and keep us posted!!

I'm very visual, and I have pieces of paper all over my house where I have done the math to see how much weight I've lost in total, how much per month since I started, how many pounds a week, etc. (And, I hate math!) I just like to see the numbers, and somehow it "clicks" in my head when I do the math and realize that I really have subtracted pounds of fat from my body. I love it when I find an envelope scribbled with a higher weight than I am currently. It makes my frustration at my current weight seem trivial when I can see where I've come from. Try it!

I rewarded myself for every ten pounds lost. It was always something small and inexpensive but it gave me something to look forward to.

Also I would occasionally go into Target and try and lift up a dog food package that was equivalent to what I had lost.

These are silly but they helped with the motivation. Hang in there; you can do this!

Someone around here used to say that motivation comes and goes, but commitment is what's important. If you commit to making this change for yourself, you can stick with it even when you're not feeling motivated. It's good advice. I can't say I've been following it, but I am ready to re-commit to myself now.

The best motivator for me has been success. I'm now 6 months into this weight loss gig and I've learned that if I do x, y and z, I do lose weight. The benefits to my health have been much more than I anticipated. That makes it easier for me to keep going. The thing that I struggle with the most is exercise but I'm doing better in that arena too.

I agree with some of the posts here- the way to stay motivated is to turn it into something you don't need to motivated to do! This includes minimizing the work involved, trying new low-cal recipes so you can enjoy food and feed cravings, and find an exercise you can enjoy doing.

I'm also planning for a bit trip, and that helps a lot too! It gives you something to focus on other than the fact that you're not eating junkfood right now (and who misses it, really?)