Weight Loss Motivation

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Sanni1

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Hi, I'm new here. I have once succesfully lost weight in a healthy way but unfortunately my life got a little crazy over the past 3 years and I started to eat in order to control my emotions and stress. I know this isn't a good thing, but sometimes I just couldn't help it. I have always struggled with being overweight, then reached my goal weight 3 years ago and now I'm back to overweight. I would say that I overall eat pretty healthy, all I need to work on is stop eating out of behavior and instead just eat when I am hungry. I also need to work on getting back onto a regular exercise schedule, but I have had quite a few foot injuries in the past that always got in my way with that. So I have tried to start again several times, I just need someone to motivate me all the way through to continue to stick to my plan so I hope that some of you can help me. I just need a few inspirations, cheer ups, pep talks, and would appreciate anyone who is going to help me with this journey.
 
Hi, Sanni & welcome to the forum. There are plenty of people here who are in a similar position, especially with emotional eating. Your diet is the most important factor in losing weight & you say yours is mostly healthy, so that's good. Exercise just makes me feel better about everything really, but even walking is good, especially outside. There are many quotes etc in a thread here in the forum. You will find it at https://weight-loss.fitness.com/threads/motivational-sayings-and-or-affirmations.33533/
Cheers, Cate
 
You have a great attitude Sanni and that is a great place to start. And you say you already eat healthy which is awesome! I get the emotional eating - I've been bad with the junk food and candy snacking lately. I've found in the past a one thing that helps is are keeping a running tally of what goes in my mouth, and that means everything. One skittle, glass of water, cup of tea with how much sugar I put. This will make you very conscious of what you are eating and will hopefully get you to grab a glass of water or an apple or carrot instead of a bag of chips or candy bar.

The exercise has always been my hard part. Even when I had a gym membership I didn't go as much as I should have so I quit - waste of money for me to join gyms. If I had the money I'd pay a trainer to come to my house and get me moving. The foot injuries for you definitely would not make that any easier. Do you like swimming? I'm not a swimmer, but it is much easier on the joints and might be a good start for you. If not, just start slow whatever you decide and get into a routine.

As for inspiration and motivation, you've come to the right place! Cate put a good link in her post. Writing in your diary is a great way to keep yourself accountable, and others can read and reply to your posts. Writing down your goals makes it more real, at least for me. Check out other people's diaries and some of the other threads, or feel free to start your own! There is usually at least one Club Challenge going on - often a monthly one. Mostly it's people putting in their weekly progress and trying to meet a monthly goal of their choice. In this case it's lose 5 lbs in August.

Good luck!
 
Thank you for your replies. I would say that I mainly eat healthy like I said before, but I do need to work on portion control and not eating for stress etc. Sometimes, I do seem to have a sweet tooth and sometimes it doesn't seem to bother me at all, but I try not to have too many sweets at my home to reduce the temptation.

One of the other things I could work on nutrition wise is eating more veggies. I don't mind eating veggies, but I guess it is often easier to find something that sounds more appealing than eating a vegetable when being hungry. Hydration is another issue I have always seemed to struggle with. I have a hard time drinking as much as I should so I am trying to have a glass of water before every meal. This usually works well for breakfast, but then I kinda forget about it for the rest of the day.

I did get myself a fitness journal to track my food intake and keep track of my exercise. I have been doing a lot of strength training at home lately and one thing I want to start doing is write down the exercises I would like to do each time because I often take that as an easy excuse not to exercise because I don't know what to do or I get bored of old exercises.

I also don't mind going swimming but I currently do not feel comfortable enough in my body to go swimming. However, it is something I really enjoy. I am not a fancy swimmer or anything, just doing the regular stuff, but I do love the water. Once college starts again, I will actually get to use our swimming pool for free. Sometimes it is just a matter for me to make it when they are still open as I have a busy class and work schedule. So I may just have to force myself to go once and get over that uncomfortable feeling because once I fall in love with the water again, I won't care about the rest.

One thing I also absolutely love is running. When I was talking about foot problems earlier, I didn't mean my joints which I probably should have clarified. I have just been struggling with ingrown toenails, now I had a blister under a blister on the bottom of my foot which was super painful. I mainly walked on the tip of my foot to avoid the pain which caused my calf to cramp and get super tired. But I am starting to heal and I just need to be patient with myself and the things I can do.

I have actually signed up for a half marathon in September so I will definitely need to start training for that. I wish I would have started earlier, but I always had stuff get into my way. I already ran a half marathon last fall so I know that I can do it. I think it starts to become more of a mental battle to not give up so I am hoping to use this opportunity to prove myself that I am strong and I can do this. The only issue is that training for a half marathon makes me train less but therefore longer each time and I kind of want to get away from that. I find 5ks rather boring because they seem short too me, but it might be nicer to get some more regular exercise in, like 30 minutes 5 times a week rather than just twice a week for two hours.

As for the motivation, I currently have a few quotes hanging up in my room to motivate me. I do have a goal weight in mind that I would like a reach, however I do not want to set up a time frame because I am not sure if it will be reasonable to do that and I don't want to stress myself about it. Obviously, I would rather lose it sooner than later, but I would be okay with small successes and small lifestyle changes so that the weight loss will be long term and not temporary. I am currently trying to come up with a reward for each pound lost, however I am starting to run out of ideas. I already have enough workout clothes and I don't necessarily want my rewards to be food related. I have also already joined the lose 5# in August challenge so we will see how that goes.
 
Oh it's been rough the past days. I have started the week out with working out regularly and then I wanted to give myself a break and things just started going down from there. It seems like I start oversnacking at night as soon as I am not working out and I am also a little disappointed at myself that I cannot run as long as I used to. So I have lost about 2 pounds from working out but I gained them right back from oversnacking the days afterwards. It is so hard and it makes me mad at myself. I am kind of excited though as I have been planning on trying a new recipes this weekend and compare some food items at the grocery store to find some better alternatives but my weight still bothers me especially when I ruin my "good" days by overeating
 
I too like veggies, but when looking for snacks I still go for the unhealthy options. Horrible habits that are tough to break. The fitness journal sounds like a great idea! I've always found writing down what I eat helps me not eat so badly. I think I need to start that again myself.

As for the running, it will get better. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be, but if you push too hard you could hinder your recovery time.

Sorry you've had a rough week. Try not to be too hard on yourself. Sometimes things don't go how you want and you aren't able to control the cravings and bad habits as much. Look yourself in the mirror, forgive yourself, and keep going. The new recipes sound like a wonderful idea! Hope you find some good ones!
 
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