When you think you can't do it, and you want to give up, what motivates you to keep going? Is it a person? An album? A movie? Or even this board? I know that I often get discouraged and need a little help. Sometimes just pampering myself for a night gets me motivated to keep going. Your goals are set, but how do you see them? Do you post it on the wall? What do you all do to stay focused?

I decided early on that I would not depend on motivation to reach my goal. When I don't feel like eating right or exercising I just do it anyway - just because it is the right thing to do.

I apply the same logic to every other area of my life so why should my weight loss efforts be any different? I mean, I have days that I want to pull the cover over my head and go back to sleep but I get up, get the kids fed and dressed and take them to school - because it is the right thing to do not because I'm motivated to do it.

Of course, there are days when I feel particularly motivated. I usually don't know where it comes from but I always use it to my advantage - I just don't COUNT on it.

As for how I see my goals, I tend to think of them abstractly. They are forever changing so it is hard for me to make a point A to point B to point C type of plan. I've always known that I wanted to be healthy, feel good, and be happy with how I look. I didn't always know at what weight that would be or what it would look like. I just plugged along assuming I would know when I got there. I do quite a bit of visualization but my vision is never so much about a certain number or size. Instead, I see myself doing all of the things that I want to do and feeling the way that I want to feel.

The great thing is that the more weight I lose the more real life experiences I have to draw on to keep me going. I've reached a point that so many awesome changes have taken place that I know what I stand to lose if I give up or slip back into old habits. It isn't motivation so to speak, but knowing what is at stake and using that information to make the best choices most of the time.

I think of the smaller sized clothes starting to populate my closet! And I think of the Half Dome hike coming up the first week in August with my sister & niece (I need to be below 200 by then). I generally wake up a little before my alarm goes off in the morning and I try to visualize my day--from what I'm going to eat to how I'll deal with being hungry to my workout...along with those smaller clothes and that big hike

Smaller size clothes, especially ones that I've had packed away for over 10 years.

Having male friends ask my husband how much weight I've lost.

Knowing that my family is proud of my accoomplishments.

Being able to be proud of myself. That's a biggie right now, because I've hit a plateau. But now that the holidays are over and most of the junk food has been purged, I can look forward.

Coming here and reading about other's successes is a huge help to me too.

Health. Shopping. Looking nice in clothes. Never wanting to go back where I was. Knowing from the beginning I was going to have to work hard at this for a lifetime.

I am new to this site and what motivated me to begin to be a better me, is my 15 year old daughter. She is insulin dependent and I see her gaining weight and I want to be a good example for her.

My motivation has changed over time.

When I started out, I was motivated by anger -- anger at myself for letting myself eat my way to (basically) misery, and anger that I wanted to be fit SO badly but had barely ever lifted a finger in my life to do anything about it. I'd be a very wealthy woman if I had a penny for every minute I spent (wasted) of my life wishing I was thin, moaning about how unfair it was that I was fat, and basically believing I was dog poo because of my weight.

Once I was "into" it -- losing weight, exercising, and eating well -- I realized I could DO THIS for life if I just stayed focused. So the motivation then was to continue on. That turned into the realization that I DESERVE to be healthy, and I began to see the whole journey as a true gift to myself.

Now -- as superficial as this may sound -- my primary motivation to keep going is how fabulous I feel in size 8 jeans . It may sound goofy, but just wearing CLOTHING is a constant reminder of how far I have come and inspires me every single day to STAY fit because I never, ever again want to feel so miserable, tired, unattractive, and PO'd at myself as I did when I was 189 lbs.

What better motivation can there be than the thrill of sliding my hands into my pockets whenever I want to feel my hip bones which I'd totally forgotten I even HAD??

At first my motivation was health, my mum and dad both have type 2 diabetes and neither of them were ever obese unlike my sweet self.

But I don't think that alone would have been enough to keep me going. As I lost each pound, life got easier, that became it's own motivation. I could go to the gym and not look as if the paramedics should be on hand! I could start to shop in "normal shops", and people started commenting on my change.

I think external motivation is fine, but at the end of it all, if you are not intrinsically motivated, if the desire to lose weight doesn't become part of your psyche, then it is highly unlikely you will succeed.

I know this sounds weird but I think of how everyone will see me when I come back home, or I think of the summer (clothes, swimming...ect...). I also try and telll myself "If I do this now and stick with it next month I will be really happy I did this"

jenn

There are two incredibly special men in my life who motivate me. I want to be around for them, and become MORE beautiful by losing weight and being healthier. (They fuss if I imply I'm not beautiful to begin with.) ^_^

Er... Kate... can you stop reading my mind please?!

Seriously though I remember when I used to think... "I'll run a marathon, I'll bloody show them!" when I came last at cross-country and now, well that is more of a realistic dream. I still want to go back to school with a marathon medal, but now I'm thinking, "Well actually I could probably run the 2007 marathon."

And I still do have this burning anger that I could be SO much better at EVERYTHING I want to do!

Anyways... motivation, yes. I like to read about fitness and find that motivates me, I got a women's running book and a weightlifting book for Christmas. They make me want to exercise more. I read in the running book that you should use "positive affermations" (Oh yes!) and stick "I am a runner" on post-its everywhere! She also said "I am an athlete" is even better. And since I kickbox AND run AND weightlift - "I am an athlete" is going to be graffitied inside my kickboxing bag, running shoes, on my weights... And do you know what, my mantra when I meditate is "I am an athlete" and it WORKS! I'm starting to FEEL like an athlete!

Oh god have I rambled enough? Other quickies

1) mini goals / targets / rewards such as a charm for my bracelet when I'm "normal" weight

2) pictures - fat pictures, pictures of ladies with nice abs, a card I bought yesterday that says - I will have perfect thighs in my lifetime

3) Clothes - ****-O clothes! I bought loads of running clothes, some in a size smaller than usual and just clearing out my wardrobe - I threw out LOADS of old stuff and found "skinny" stuff that fit!

Ok end of tome :

Hmmmm....


I am a dancer
I am a dancer
I am a dancer

I'll have to keep that up and see if it works!!! Thanks, 2frustrated.

Some great ideas here!

If you have any of your OLD clothes around, put them on. Or rather, put them over you -- how loose are they??

.

This is SO true. I think that all the reasons we've listed--health, clothes, feeling & looking better--are things that we can think about whether we're doing something or not. The million dollar formula that nobody has been able to bottle is that magic moment when we go from THINKING about all those things (I should.....) to actually DOING something about it! And once started, how to keep that whole game in perpetual motion (because starting to make the changes is one thing, keeping them going is another). And it IS perpetual, but we can't go "on" a diet and lose weight and get healthy, and then go "off" it...this is for LIFE. Like so many here on the boards, I've lost tremendous amounts of weight before...and had it all come back. What will make this time different? I *hope* it's the knowledge (intrinsic motivation) this time that I can't keep abusing my body and have it then be willing to carry me to a ripe old age--and a healthy, active senior status at that.

OK...I'll get off my soapbox