What do you do to stay motivated?

[Chimichanga]

I've been on WW since January, and I've hit a wall. I know what I need to be doing to lose the weight, but I have no motivation.

I have a reward system in place for when I hit milestones, DH is doing a "modified" WW with me (we only buy WW food so he loses weight just by eating the right stuff). DH measures out portions for me so when I get home from work everything is ready for me to eat (he stays at home so he does the cooking).

I haven't been keeping my tracker or working out, but I have re-started this again. I am just worried that I won't stay with it.

How do you stay motivated??

[ShamrockBride]

I'm with you!
Part of my problem is we don't have rewards set up, and my friends are less than supportive. It doesn't help that none of my clothes fit, and because of that I look heavier I think then I did before I started, which bums me out which makes me want to eat.And we have no money at all to spare.

I think I'm going to put on my bathing suit tonight and take a picture (dh had me do this the first night we decided to go on ww) Maybe seeing the difference will encourage me, hopefully it won't make me go blind. Either way maybe it will motivate me to follow during the weekends a bit better.

I also pulled out my red dress and I'm not sure I'll ever be that size... it says 12... but I think it lies!

Oh and does anyone else lose weight everywhere but their stomach. I'm not sure anything would fit even if I did have money to spend on something to wear.

[Chimichanga]

Leslie - I'm right there with you about not having a lot of extra money to spend on things. But, I think the bathing suit would be a good thing. Or, use your friends who are sizes near what you think you are - and ask them if you can "raid" their closet. Suggest a clothing swap or something. :)

[ShamrockBride]

Unfortunatly most of my friends are MUCH smaller than me, though I do have a few that are losing weight and giving me their too big clothes, which was fine for a while, but I'm getting to the weight where their too big for them is now too big for me too. The girls I hang out with here are not into swapping or sharing (except on special occasions I wore a way cute dress this weekend to a wedding that did boost my self esteem) its the everyday that is dragging me down.

Just curious what do you do for rewards?

[Chimichanga]

Well, I had the following set up:

-10 pounds: mani/pedi at a store at a strip mall (not a chichi salon)
-20 pounds: new running shoes
-30 pounds: start TTC (this will be put on hold, so maybe I'll substitute it with $30 in new clothes)
-40 pounds: new workout clothes
-50 pounds: massage

I didn't go beyond this for now, I wanted small steps and didn't want to look too far down the road (i have a lot to lose) and get depressed/overwhelmed

My leader also said she used to (and still does) buy herself flowers for every 5 pounds lost. She goes to Aldi where flowers are less than $2 a bunch. She said it was so nice to see fresh, cheery flowers in her kitchen that it reminded her not to cheat.

I started doing that, but it's been awhile since I hit that mark. That way I still have little treats in between the big milestones. And really; $2 every couple of weeks isn't horrible and I can afford that (save up for it since we're doing Dave Ramsey :D )

[ShamrockBride]

Aldi flowers sound like a good reward.... and I'm almost to 25...... hmm... I like that idea a lot!
$30 in new clothes sounds like a good reward though TTC has different rewards associated :). We're putting off TTC for a while ourselves... probably start right around the time I hit my overall goal (if I stay on track)
I can't even look at how far I have to go I pretty much have to lose 3X what I already have:eek: it's very daunting.... more if I go by the ww suggested weight 117-134. In high school I starved myself for months to be 130, and even with that and running all the time I was still 143...

I figure I have to do something to celebrate 30, it's coming up but with the weddings and stuff it might not happen for a bit..... but since it's in sight I might just be really really good and make it come real soon, especially if I have a fun reward. I think the mani/ pedi sounds good. The massage and new clothes do too, but I'll probably hold off for a while longer on that as I'm still between sizes, and still broke. Maybe I can shame my mom into buying my stuff. She has always been on me about my weight.

BTW my body has just given me reason to lose more weight, my cup size has gone down, and my waistline is still stubbornly staying round... smaller boobs make the waist look that much bigger let me tell you! I wish I could point and say "ok lose weight here"


now that i have written a novel, i'm done, and i have just talked myself right out of that pizza i've been craving!

[Chimichanga]

Whatever works, right? :)

Maybe your reward can be a piece of wedding cake. I mean, they are slivers anyways, and it's not like you can't budget it out with your points, but your reward can be to eat as much cake as you like at X wedding IF you hit your goal.

Or, they can be "free" rewards. Does your DH like to dance? Mine hates it, but if I were going to more weddings, I'd make him dance a certain number of songs with me at weddings. Or, he'd have to do XX chores for a period of time when I hit a goal.

[ShamrockBride]

no dancing at this wedding :( but there will be cake (covered in coconut) and if I make it my reward I wont feel bad having a piece. I'm should be down the 30 by then. We'll see though, next week is the bachelorette party and its a bonfire.... we're doing fancy s'mores with reeses and stuff and I know I wont be able to keep my paws off of those. (we're bringing our own turkey dogs and buns though) maybe the smore will be my 25 reward?

[Anna Low]

I am terribly unmotivated right now. When I was in the process of trying to get to goal, it was easy. Then, I hit goal and am now lifetime WW. Now, I'm starting to inch up ever so slightly - right now I'm up about 6 lbs. Most of my clothes still fit, but some things (like my fancy christmas jeans) are too tight to wear comfortably. What is bad is that I actually know that I'm eating what I shouldn't and/or the wrong portion, but I just don't do anything about it but whine later and be discouraged. I'm kind of in a rut.

[Chimichanga]

I thought I'd come back and sort of "answer" my own question.

I'm back on the motivation train! I journaled last night about how I was feeling, why I wanted to lose weight and what steps I needed to do to get there. I also re-read some previous entries and that helped me get motivated. I was SOOOOO EXCITED when I hit 20 pounds gone ... on April 3rd. Here it is June 20th and I'm still at 20 pounds. I went down a bit but gained back. That's hard to swallow.

I got my trakker out and planned out today and have already hit 3 fruits (with afternoon snacks), milk and 3 waters and it's only 12:45! :)

[ShamrockBride]

Yay back on track! Me? I'm way way off. I wish I could join for real and go to meetings. DH and I are just falling apart.
I gained last week, and I know I'm cheating this weekend, and I have no self control to tell myself no.
By the way you hit 20 down on my birthday :)
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Maybe I just need a little break from my life this weekend to get everything back on track (it isnt just ww, it's everything right now i have no modivation) Monday the world will be a brighter place.... right?

[lawphil]

I do a lot of visualizing. Like 4th of July is coming up and I think about what I want to wear on the 4th and how I am going to feel in what I am wearing. When I am running I think about the outfit and what accessories (shoes, necklace, etc.) I am going to wear. It sounds so shallow but when I am on the treadmill I get excited thinking about this fun outfit and party and the though of actually feeling good getting dressed for a party rather than trying everything I own on and having a hissy fit that nothing fits.

I don't know, maybe the things don't look as good as I think they do but I certainly feel 110% better in them.

I also use these holidays for weight goals. And I try to be realistic with goals and just reaching all of these small goals keeps me motivated.

I am down 20 lbs. and have 10 more to go to get to the healthy range. But the real trick will be maintaining the weight loss...I have lost before but never, never maintained it!

[jajacobsen]

Ditto pretty much what lawphil said. I visualize what outfit for what event - event if it's just dinner with friends next week. It really works!