Nearly a yr in and lost motivation
 

I'm nearly a year in, I started at 222. I've changed my goal from 175 to 155 to 122. I'm currently at 164ish. I lost so well for about 10 month slow but steady. I stalled at 172 for 2 month then did a 3 day thing and dropped to 165. I just don't have motivation now. I suddenly got hard to do. I have a TT planed for 4/20 at which I need to be at or near gw. What gets you going after so long?

Hey there! So I haven't been in my journey nearly as long as you, but I just wanted to let you know that I find your 10 month committment really motivational.

When I have long term difficult commitments sometimes I have to break them up into very small pieces.

Just follow your plan for today... You can do one day :)

Remembering not to give up what I want most, for what I happen to want "right now."

Frustrating to eat only 1400 cals and maintain :(

Try 1200

Hugs

I know exactly how you feel. I'm almost 11 months in and my loss has damn near stalled out. But it's not about motivation, it's about commitment. (At least that's what I tell myself)

Good luck!

Have you tried shaking up your workout routine? It can bust a plateau, give you something interesting to do/learn that doesn't "feel like exercise" and allow you to meet some new people.

When I get tired of losing weight, I try a new activity that still encourages my healthy lifestyle, gets me moving and is Fun.

Suggestions: buy a bike, swim class, dance (salsa) class, join a hiking group, volunteer (something physical like picking up trash on trails or highways), become a roller derby girl etc.

Just a process suggestion: Have you had a big meal or big day, going over your 1300 some calorie allotment by say 30% or so from time to time? I find that doing that weekly or ever other week helps my body stay in "burn mode" longer and it's less of an uphill grind.

In my experience (and I've had a lot of experience, just not lasting success) doing the big meal or the episodic fast keeps your body guessing and gives it a jolt. Your 3 day thing seemed to prove this for you to some extent. You may also be at a natural set point. Did you weigh 170ish for a long period of time in the past? This may be a significant resistance point for you if you did.

Perhaps changing up your exercise routine may also help you. You may be accustomed to the workload by now and not challenging your body enough. I know it's a problem. For a fat person I was always active. I set my baseline on my pedometer at roughly 3-4 miles daily average without "exercising". I'm still at an impasse about how I'm going to add to that or what the activity will be. I likely won't decide until we leave AK for the winter in early October. On the flip side, we drive out (old dog) and because AK and Canada are so vast, it's 6-7 days of not doing much but sitting but I always lose weight on that trip even eating road food. It's a body response to change.

FWIW, I hear you. I'm coming into the "hard part" (a long time point of resistance) doing it the "hard way" (eating to live).

It's ironic that I gained somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 pounds in a year but it's not going to come off nearly that easily or quickly. The trick it seems is to out-wait the weight. In this endeavor slow and steady wins the day it seems.

For me the slow and steady, day by day without the reward of the scale moving down or inches coming off (or coming off as fast as I'd like) is the hardest part because it gets tiresome and boring, But there is a need, at least for me, to look at what I am doing as "my life" not as a "program" to overcome the temptation to chuck it and get careless. The desire for instant gratification has led to ill health and grief for me in the past.

One of my favorite movie lines ever: Endeavor to persevere. (Chief Dan George, Outlaw Josey Wales)

I'd vote for changes in exercise also. Maybe gradually longer and faster on the treadmill sessions? I guess I don't know what is a correct amount of calories for a 5 foot woman, maybe 1400 is right? Is 1200 too low?

I personally have never been a big fan of weight loss through going on the low-end of a calorie range. Probably because that wouldn't work for me. I'd much rather kick in another 200-300 calories of exercising. That way the insides and the outsides are both getting worked on.

As an extreme, I've seen pro football players that are like 230 something and 5'10" or perhaps 5'11" and they look FIT. I mean FIT. BMI wise they are obese. I bet their hearts, fat percentage, and blood work is all solid though.

It is as if I wrote this post! I started my diet/lifestyle change in July 2010 with the goal of losing 109 pounds. I blew through the first 50 pounds before the year was up but then I had nearly a year + where I basically stood still. You can even check my previous posts, I was convinced I was plateau-ing for no good reason and in hindsight maybe it was a plateau, maybe it was me, I'm not sure. I do know the longer it went the more I screwed around with my daily calorie intake (I started at 1400 calories per day), upped my cardio, ate back calories, didn't eat back calories, etc. and the longer the plateau stretched. One thing I can say is I never gave up. I just kept going and figured it was a better option than calling it a day and giving up. Last fall I re-found my motivation as I was gearing up for a 10 year anniversary trip to London/Paris and i lost the first sizable chunk of weight I had in quote some time, dropping 15 pounds in about 3 months. I learned something, even though I thought I'd been really faithful (and got pissed at anyone that suggested otherwise) I think I had a little bit too much every now and again so I really was eating more calories than I suspected. So I'd say stay the course, your body will follow and don't make yourself crazy by upping or lowering your calories, just stick to your plan, journal and be resolute in not giving up.

Can I offer my extremely long advice/opinion? (I have so many opinions that I just can't wait to get them all out...LOL ;-)

I view food/eating issues as separate from the weight issue. You can control your food intake/exercise, but you can't actually control your weight. You can also control your body image and how you treat yourself. All things of value. It's like the saying, "God grant me the serenity to change the things I can, to accept the things I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Be wise.

I'm not saying don't monitor your weight, as it can be a barometer of how well your eating issues are being managed. But, don't put your self-worth into a number (easier said than done, I know), and don't try to control something that is out of your control.

You CAN control when, what, and how you eat and/or exercise, even if you think you are out of control with it.* If you are eating too much, then your weight will likely go up or stay at a number that is higher than what it should be. Who knows, maybe 163 is your new natural weight, but I doubt it...at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter - what matters is how you feel physically, how much you like yourself, and how you feel about what/when/how you're eating: the things you CAN control.

My point is that, to sustain a life change, you need to view it differently than you are. You're focused on something you cannot change. How do you feel about what you're putting into your mouth? Do you feel that you are nourishing yourself physically with the proper amount? Do you feel that you are using food to nourish your soul*? Do you rely on food to avoid emotional or physical pain? Do you know for sure? If you are not sure, then I'm willing to bet that you are relying on food in some way other than to nourish yourself physically. If so, then your focus should be on your relationship to food and healing that. It will take the focus off of your weight and put this setback you're having into a new and better perspective, a change that is naturally lifelong and the antithesis to willpower. It is so healthy and natural, you'll wish you'd done it sooner.

* Let me give you an example...Suppose your boss was pissing you off one day, you had a lousy stressful day at work, and the first thing you think about when you get in your car is heading over to the nearest fast food joint. It's like an obsession or impulse that no matter what you do, you can't stop yourself. You try all kinds of things to convince yourself: you tell yourself you're screwing up your diet, you're going to blow it completely, it just isn't going to taste that good, why are you doing this? But it doesn't work. You make a plan and stick to it, following through with a Whopper extra value meal. So what? It's just one meal, one day, you'll get back on your plan tomorrow. <<< That's the sound of a foodie in denial. This is food abuse and emotional neglect. If you recognize this pattern (**even** if you're abuse of choice right now is carrots rather than fast food), then that's something to work on. How? If you feel yourself stressed out, BE stressed out - feel the extent of your irritation and anger until it passes. Emotions are fluid and they do pass. It's okay to fall apart for a moment, just don't fall apart into a hot fudge sundae. It does you no good.

Exercise is an alternative way to mediate emotional pain. If you exercise "in order to lose weight" - then you are not exercising because you enjoy it. Any time you do anything "because you have to" there's a little rebel inside that wants to cause a revolution. Find something about exercise that you love. For me, it's time to myself to resolve the day's worries. It's also a way to feel my body, a chance to concentrate on the beautiful parts God has created, to reconnect to the physical side that is so easily abused and neglected by today's sedentary, emotionally repressive, stressful lifestyles (repressed emotions hang out in the body - you can feel it if you pay attention). I look forward to every moment I get doing that (and not in an addictive way). Oh, and a small thing I might add is that when you lose a significant amount, that extra poundage is no longer on your body burning calories. If you enjoy adding weight to your routines, try adding up to 60 pounds, the amount you lost. I've lost about 30 pounds, and I sometimes do my elliptical with my 30 pound toddler on my shoulders.

All this said, even if your weight doesn't go anywhere, you know you are doing the absolute BEST that you can do to take care of yourself. And that's ALL you have control of.

Hope my long-winded opinion helps. :-)

You've got some great advice here.

All I can say is that I hit one year on August first, and way before that I was stalled out. I took about 6 weeks (mostly because I was traveling on and off and renovating) where I just didn't stress about it, and I found my motivation again this past few days (turning 28 soon was a big factor too).

Step back, take a breath and reevaluate a bit. You've done amazing so far.

I can't really add much to the already solid advice given by other posters but I wanted to pop in and say that we have very similar beginning stats. In prior weight loss attempts I too stalled in the 160-170s and eventually lost motivation. This time my mantra has been "don't give up". I already know what giving up brings me and I didn't want that outcome. I pushed on and believe it or not the last 50 pounds went very fast after I made it through that stubborn stall. It was worth finding the sense of determination. Good luck to you and congratulations on the amazing success you've rewarded yourself with so far.

@Dogdaysofdiets - look how close you are to goal, really amazing! Congratulations.

Wise words Mazzy!

I agree with Radiojane....take some time off. That doesn't mean you should throw your diet out the window. Just eat at maintenance for a while....you're going to have to do that anyway (no matter how sick of that you get). I think it's also a good idea to take a break from working out too. Just let your body feel what it's like to not be at a deficit all the time. Just maintain. Then, eventually you will get a new excitement about reaching your goal.

I used at least four different plans while I was losing weight (I'm easily amused). Starting a new plan always jump-started weight loss. I don't think that it was so much that any plan was better than another, but that I was so focused on the new way of doing things that I was naturally more attentive and careful. So, you might check out the various threads of diet plans at 3FC and see if you want to experiment with something a little different than what you're doing now.

Wow that was some really amazing input all. I like the idea of the vest. I picked up a 20lb weight the other day and was thinking I can't believe I used to have 3x this ON me.
As far as my food issues I guess this is something I can look into further. I'm not really what I would consider an emotional eater. More of a picky eater. Usually if its health I don't like it.
I'm trying to keep in mind how far I've come and not how far I have to go.
I do really appreciate y'all's advise thank y'all.

There is really no such thing as motivation. Weight loss is about choices and commitment to an exercise and food plan. And maintenance is about choices and commitment. You chose to do what will get you to your goal and then do it or you choose not to and instead make choices that take you in the opposite direction.

What helps keep me motivated this time around is looking at my ticker from 4 years ago when I quit after 6 months. When I think about where I could be if only I hadn't given up, I just shake my head. I'm not going to let that happen to me this time. This time, I'm going all the way. If you quit now, somewhere down the road, you'll be looking at your ticker from now and thinking "Why did I ever stop?" Don't let that happen to you.

There has been some really great advice in this post :) That's what I love about these forums. I am going to sound like a broken record but I agree with the other suggestions of trying different exercises to see if that gives your body the bit of a shake up

I know how you feel. I'm about 20 months into my latest weight loss effort, and I've been stuck for about the past 8 months... I remember being in the 220's in March, and now I'm just under 210. (haven't changed my ticker yet, because I go up and down) I've had really slow loss... so slow, the numbers are almost imperceptible to me. However, I've taken photos in the same clothing periodically, and there you can definitely see the difference.

When we have less to lose, it's just natural that we're going to lose it more slowly. But, the physical changes are going to be even more dramatic with each little loss. Take a good look at yourself and find some old photos.

Keep the faith! I tell myself that I'm practicing for maintenance -- I'd really like to be losing, but it's kind of unintentional maintenance mode. All my life, I've either been gaining or losing...never staying the same, so I consider this time in my life good experience!