I really CAN do this!!
 

I am in the second week of this journey and I know (for today anyways) that I really truly absolutely CAN do this. Yesterday was a really bad day for me. I stuck to my plan but not like I should have and I felt awful about it. It put me in a horrible mood with everyone about everything. I retreated to me room and came here. I read through different threads and looked at what other people have accomplished and I can too! Today I resisted temptation and I can do this. I also wanted to thank everyone for the comments and support you have shown me since I have joined! It really keeps me going!

I do have a question though.

How do you get over the bumps along the way? How do you stay motivated to keep measuring and counting and drinking the water and keep exercising?

What works for me is not measuring and counting. To use someone else's felicitous phrase, I remain "calorie aware" rather than tracking calories. As for exercise, for some reason it just clicked with me this time (at age 56, no less). And plain water -- I don't enjoy it, so I never drink it. I meet all my fluid requirements with coffee, tea, a small amount of juice, and soups. (It's a complete myth that you need plain water to be hydrated. If it were true I would be dead by now.) I believe in making things no more complicated than they need to be. I wish I could be totally free and follow an intuitive eating approach, but I'm not quite there yet.

F.

Awesome!!!!

I try to get back on track as soon as possible after I mess up. I put a lot of focus on my mini-goal rewards (whatever you like- nail polish, purse, videogames and lastly a tattoo for the final goal) to help keep myself on track, to motivate myself to keep going, etc.

You can do it!!! You're doing beautifully so far.

Hi JustB I keep track of my water intake by making sure I drink at least 2 lts of water at work. I have a 500 ml bottle at my desk and I make sure I fill it up 4 times a day. If you are counting calories I'd suggest my fitness pal. I've tried it and I like th fact you can scan the UPC and it will give you the nutritional facts. You ask how do We keep motivated? I think the best way is to have a buddy with the same goal as you. I remember a few years ago I lost a lot of weight by sharing my day to day activities and talking about the food intake with my mother in law and hubby's cousin that helped a lot because we would get together and have tea or snack in veggies. Unfortunately I don't have that support tea any more. :(

Yes you can do this! I love water. I started by drinking flavored water (off brand crystal light kind of stuff then moved on to propel). We had to cut back on our budget starting in January, so I decided the propel had go. It was costing me about 40 a month! I thought I would just push through and drink plain water and I did! It took only a little bit of time to become used to plain water and I LOVE ice water! So good and so refreshing. I decided I would take this step by step and not get upset with myself if I wasn't on plan everyday. That mind set has really helped! I have stalled the last couple months due to poor choices. I realized my food weakness that was causing major sugar cravings. It has pretty much been trial and error. I do have a long way to go, but even now I feel better and can do more than I could before! Way more. Best wishes to you in your journey! :)

Thanks everyone. I really like ice water.... it's just a matter of getting in enough!

I do have a my fitness pal. I use the same name justb1027