I tend to need motivation daily in order to succeed. Some people appear to just need to think towards the end and it is a done deal for them. Not me. Between the stresses of a three year old, a house that is just never clean enough (YEAH OCD!!!,) a husband who is supportive in an innocently non supportive way (i.e. "Congrats on losing the weight...you are doing awesome...although I thought you looked perfect the way you were."), I find that I get discouraged quickly. I don't let the scale control my weight loss, but it does have a tendency to bum me out if it doesn't move after a few weeks. I tend to weigh daily, but that is more as a motivational tool than a disappointment. But what really gets me is the pictures, the videos, the quotes, and the stories. I have to look at those daily to realize that my end result will one day become someone else's motivation. And that is a special kind of motivation.

I look at quotes daily and pull out what strikes me on that particular day to be my daily motivation. Today, my quote of the day is: "Most of the important things in the world have been achieved by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." (Dale Carnegie) I have more or less been in a plateau for 2-3 weeks. No real scale or non scale victories. I did finally have movement the other day of 1/2 a pound, I quickly gained it back despite being 100% OP. It is really starting to drag me down. Then I saw this quote. How true. 6 months ago I was at my heaviest ever and I was depressed thinking it would be impossible to lose any of it. Then, here I am now, over 30 pounds lighter.

Today, tomorrow, and the next days after I will stay OP because it seems impossible now, but once I get over this hump, the reward will be even more special.

What about you...what motivates you to come back when you've lost all hope?

Congratulations for providing both a personal experience and an uplifting approach. All of us have to find what keeps us going from one day to the next. For me, visiting this site every day seems to have provided at least some of the impetus that I need. Good luck!

I didn't realize what a fantasy world I had been living in. I would spend countless hours imagining how wonderful my life would be when I magically got thin. I would walk past people on the street and wish that if I just touched them, I could transfer some of my fat to them. Especially if I saw a really thin woman who looked to me like she could use an extra 20 pounds. It never really occurred to me that hard work and commitment were the necessary ingredients to have weight loss (or any kind of) success.

Now when I see inspiring quotes, they don't necessarily inspire me as much as I finally understand what they mean. I get it. Whether or not I feel like doing something or whether or not I want something, I've got to put in the work to make it happen. Until I started this last (and hopefully final) weight loss journey, I never really thought about the Nike slogan. Just do it. I didn't get what a profound statement that was. Just do it. There's no magic you just have to do it. Put one foot in front of the other and make it happen.

I love this quote from Colin Powell...
"A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work"
So true.

Betsy-I hear you. Coming here daily keeps me accountable with not only me but other people. My doctor thinks he keeps me accountable, but only has so much say in my weightloss, afterall, he called me fat for the past 5 years

WOW Chickie-what an AMAZING insight! How right you are! I honestly believe that is where the quotes get me...I understand them now whereas before, they were just words. It makes it inspirational to me because I know that whoever said it, was once right where I am now. Until you mentioned it, I never realized how profound Nike's slogan was, but now that it has been mentioned, you are right! Last night I wasn't feeling it to get up and excercise, but I did "just do it" because I needed to. I get it now! Ha! Funny how you always knew something but never really stopped to think about it until it was mentioned. Kind of like last week, I took my kid to a museum and they mentioned bats are the only flying mammal. I never thought of that before, but once they said it, I was like, "Yeah! You're right! I knew that...why'd I never think about that?!"

Keep it coming! This is great and very uplifting!

When I feel I can't do something, I find that it is motivating to remember when I did manage that thing (exercising, eating better, resisting a craving) and remind myself "you did it before. you've already proved you can do this. <fill in example here> you can do it again."

Zoesmom - Maybe you're right...maybe the inspiration is in the fact that we can finally understand and appreciate what certain words mean. Or at least what they mean to us. It's like being in a dark room and then the light comes on. At any rate, I love coming here and having these discussions with people because I always feel like I'm learning so much!

I'm with you, I really need motivation. I thought I was doing great but now I feel like crap. I was told after the first week the cravings would end, i am begining to think that is all wrong. I see temptations EVERYWHERE!!!! ugh, I am on day 22 and see progress but it doesn't seem to be as much as my coach says it will be. I know it will take some time but it's just been a tough week. In no way do I want to give up, but I am a little frustrated in feeling burned out. 3 weeks, 20 pounds....so far to go

WOW!!!! I have been dieting since July and have only lost 33!!!! WAY TO GO!!! It may seem like ONLY 20 pounds...but consider this...the average person gains 10-15 pounds a year and can lose 1-2 pounds a week. The average person, if he/she is commited can lose 52-104 pounds a year...and YOU milady, have knocked it out of the ball park by hitting almost FIFTY PERCENT of what the average person can lose...GO YOU!!!!!

There are several things that motivate me and some are positive, some are negative. The positive ones include all of you folks who inspire me every single day by sharing your strengths and weaknesses in all of these posts (the weaknesses keep it real for me and remind me I'm not alone), the mini-goal achievements (no matter how big or small, a goal is a goal), my closet motivates me (finally!) by letting me fit into smaller clothes (yay, celebrate the 18s!), and I'll be honest a moving scale motivates me to keep going (even though I do know it's not all about the scale).

The negative that motivates me most in my head is probably a little more personal for me than others but it's one of my doctors I met when I was diagnosed with cancer over the summer. He pretty much had no confidence in me to lose any weight plus the cancer drug I'd be taking actually causes weight gain, so I think he thought I was a ticking-time bomb (which I do think I might have been). But that look of disappointment on his face implying there wasn't much he could do with me in my current (then) condition somehow embarrassed me enough to try and figure things out. His colleague at another hospital is now my oncologist and she had all the confidence in me (and let me tell you, I exceeded her expectations and more losing over 100lbs since last July). I just want to find a way to hint to her to tell him I'm not a total loser like he thought. I don't even know why he matters to me but he does. And I never told my husband this, I was too sad. But in a weird kind of way, that doctor inspired me to lose weight and never even knew it.

The quotes that stick with me I found on Pinterest:

"And once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in."

and

"The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

Thank you for starting this thread, it makes me want to have Girl Power with all of you and keep on going.

Yes yes yes yes!!!! This is how I feel now. I... just... GET IT! Finally, I no longer spend my time before drifting off to sleep, wishing and dreaming that I would wake up with 100 lbs magically gone. Like you said, you just have to do it. Also the thing that Mozzy said it's just that. You can feed yourself all of the "motivation" in the world, pictures of healthy food and inspirational quotes and all that jazz (Don't get me wrong, I love that stuff), but in the end you still have to commit yourself to "just do it"

What a revelation this has been. I don't feel like I am struggling (granted I am less than 2 months into the journey) But I have this little voice in my mind now that does a little happy song every time I do something that I know will help me reach my goal. I find it amusing, I will have an apple and my mind will sing "i'm losing weeiiighhht, I'm really doing thiiiiis" sometimes it will just say "F&uck yeah!!!" then a mental

I have learned valuable lessons from my Beloved dogs they live in the present and that's how I handle weightloss and dieting.
Everyday I have an agenda and a goal for the day...achieving this is motivating and keeps me focused.
Life is hectic enough...over thinking everything causes you to become over -whelmed and when your over whelmed your brain is not able to make Good Sound Decisions.
By taking it 1 day at time your chances on succeeding increase.
Connect all these days together and you have a positive trend going.
Tapping into your inner strength and realizing you can do this if you truly desire it and do the work ......is motivating!
Once you let go of all the what if's and Admit that you can Change if you put the effort in ....the Truth is very motivating and freeing!
Roo2

Wow...these are some awesome responses! It is truly amazing how so many of us started of thinking it would just happen only to realize that it takes some serious commitment. I mean, I know we all knew that...it is just convincing our bodies of the same thing.

What a great way to think, never thought of it like that. Thank you, Roo.

I agree with Elvis that I find these boards to be incredibly motivating. I want to bring the best version of myself to 3FC, in the hopes that someday it helps motivate others.

In addition, I find the Whole/Real Food movement to be AMAZINGLY motivating. The more I learn about industrialized food, the less I want to eat it. Food Inc. can be absolutely life changing. I'm also reading a book called "Real Food: What to Eat and Why" by Nina Planck. It's only $2.51 on Kindle! http://www.amazon.com/Real-Food-What.../dp/1596913428
And it's also very eye opening.

Also, my chiropractor has a McDonald's happy meal in her lobby that has been there for like 5 years and it doesn't really look any different. It SCARES me!

ChickieBoom--every word you said was right on!!