Staying motivated
 

I'm sure this has been asked a thousand times before..but.. When the scale is up, what works for you to stay motivated and keep making progress? Usually, when I gain weight, I just want to eat more. Not helpful! :o

well, the best way is ask your family or friends accompany you in dieting... You can keep motivated each other...

I like having a goal that doesn't depend on the scale, like finishing an exercise program, or taking measurements and seeing them shrink. Then even if the scale isn't cooperating, you still have a way to feel successful about making progress.

I have a goal of running a half marathon next march.Yes, I want to see the pounds go away, but I found focusing on numbers and being discouraged is what has caused me to fail in the past. This way I am focusing on something other than the number and the scale, and I feel doing so is what is going to make me succeed. Like rocketbunny said, you have other ways to measure your progress and if you stick with it, the number on the scale will catch up.

I will buy makeup, jeans, or my favorite, new reading mags or books.

Have more than one indicator than just the scale. Like others said - make appts with yourself to take measurements (I have mine in my outlook calendar every 6 weeks), go for a weekly or monthly exercise goal(I made a Color coded chart for the month of May for a nice visual of my progress), or how about doing something like creating an entire weeks' worth of food plan, printing it out and sticking it on the fridge, ticking each successful day off? There are so many things you can do to feel good about what you are doing for yourself, it's not *only* the scale numbers that you have to be proud of!

Motivation comes and goes. It is "commitment" that will carry you through when your motivation wanes.

Be like the little engine that could and know that the day WILL come when you will slip on your diet and make a commitment to get back right on track immediately NOT after the weekend of starting Monday.

But nothing wrong with motivating yourself at the same time though. What I do is I have mini goals and when I reach them I go and treat myself to something I have wanted for a while but I have been too cheap to buy it.

When I lost the first 20 pounds I bought myself some new expensive brand name (I usually get WalMart! LOL) walking shoes.

When I hit 40 pounds I treated myself to a trip to the mountains.

When I reach my goal I am going to buy myself either a new hybrid car or a motorcycle I haven't decided yet but I have plenty of time.

How's that for motivation! LOL! Motivation for material gain ... thats what works for me! :D