Great thread...I recently did a blog post on MFP that was pretty much on point. Change "Determination" to "Commitment" and we're right in sync.
Recently, I've said a number of times, "How do you stay motivated for so long?" "I get so TIRED of thinking about food." "I don't know how I'll keep it up."
Idiot.
I'm a mom. My son has been, shall we say - challenging - since he was in his mid-teens. I truly can't count the number of times I've said things like, "You don't work for fun, you work bcause they pay you and then you have money for fun on your days off." "I don't care if you want to go to school/work/etc., you still have to do it." "Do you think Dad and I want to cook/clean/work/etc.? We do it because has to be done."
I KNOW and always have known, that some things you don't want to do, you just have to do. But until today it never occured to me that applies to eating right and logging my food. Browsing the message boards I came across a brilliant post. I hope she doesn't mind me quoting her here.
@Alatariel75 said:
Quote:
Motivation is a fickle, fickle master and can easily be overturned by all sorts of other emotions and occurrences. I'm currently coming of a big bout of, not just lack of motivation, but bloody minded self sabotage.
In short my advice is - stop relying on motivation. Motivation is a positive emotion - meaning when you aren't so positive it wanes, and it isn't always around. Do you go to work because your motivated? clean your house because your motivated? Wash your clothes, shop for food, pay your bills? Nope - you do them because you have to and that's a part of life. Try and think of weight loss as in the same category. You're not doing it because you 'want' to (which is motivation), do it because you HAVE to (which is determination, even resignation).
How did this never occur to me?
I don't get up in the morning and get on that nasty elliptical - or as my husband and I call it - The Infernal Machine - because I like it. I heave a big sigh, say, "I can do this", drag my butt out of bed and, as Nike says, Just Do It. The same way I get in the shower and get ready and go to work. Would I rather just sleep in and then move to the couch, drink coffee for three hours and laze the day away? Of course. But I HAVE to get up and go to work because I won't get paid if I don't. I hate doing dishes, laundry, cleaning - but it has to be done. If I don't pull the weeds in the yard, they'll never go away, so I have to do yard work. I know I won't lose weight if I don't exercise...so I HAVE to.
Watching what I eat and logging it on MFP are just two more of those things I HAVE to do. If I don't, I don't lose weight. In fact, I'll gain weight. So I HAVE to do this. I have to come on here every day and log what I eat. I have to be accountable for what goes in my mouth. I have to pay attention. If I don't...well...we know what happens then, it's happened before, I gain back what I've lost.
Just like work and laundry and shopping and bills...this has to be done. Determination - yes, even resignation, is what's needed here. Am I determined to lose? That's the question. If the answer to that is yes then, I have to - as my husband would say - "Suck it up Buttercup" and do what has to be done. Am I determined to keep it off this time and not regain? Then I have to watch what I eat and log my food for the rest of my life. End of story. I don't need motivation. Just like any other of the thousand little things a person has to do to live, I just have to do it because it has to be done.
