1. < Healthy Living

Staying Motivated for the Long Haul

Posted by LindaF @fessmom, Jun 29, 2017

My biggest obstacle to maintaining a healthy weight is a seemingly invisible "switch" that goes on and off in my brain. When it's "on" I am in the zone and can avoid the most decadent temptations and will exercise faithfully. But, about a year to 15 months into my healthy lifestyle, the switch turns to "off" and I lose focus and revert to my bad habits of poor food choices (both in what I eat and how much I eat) and I become more sedentary. I am at that point now and I feel a slow panic building as the number on the scale inches upward. I know what I should do, but I am at a loss as to how to get my mojo back. Suggestions, anyone!?

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JK | @contentandwell | Aug 20, 2017
In reply to @contentandwell "@rosemarya @fessmom I neglected to include some of my best helpers in losing weight. I have..." + (show)
@contentandwell

@rosemarya @fessmom I neglected to include some of my best helpers in losing weight.
I have a fitness tracker. You set what you want your goal to be and it lets you know how you are doing. It really pushes me to get to that goal and beyond.
Next, I use myfitnesspal to track everything I put my mouth. I have not been doing that recently because I know have been not eating correctly but I am getting back on track with that too. It also syncs with my fitness tracker and adds to my allowable caloric input, the amount being dependent on how much exercise I have gotten.
Last, I have a scale that tells me BMI and fluid retention. I know it is not professionally accurate but it does give you a good gauge of things, primarily my fluid retention (you have to have bare feet for that to work). If I gain weight and then see that my fluid retention is high I don't feel as bad. It measures fluid against BMI so when my fluid retention is high, my BMI is low, like in the teens and we all know is not true for me. Still, it does help me. When I start seeing my weight going down it spurs me on to stay with dieting. Sometimes if it goes up I sort of throw in the towel but I getting beyond that mindset now.
This type of scale is not as costly as you might expect. Mine is a Tanita that I got on Amazon and if I recall it was around $45.

I have included a screenshot of one day this week with my fitness tracker. I took this to send to send to my son. I did really well that day, one of my all time bests.
JK

Jump to this post

@colleenyoung Colleen, which fitness tracker do you have? Mine is a Misfit. It will also remind me to get up and move but I have not activated that. It sounds very similar though, it tracks the exercise automatically, but I track my water on myfitnesspal, if my Misfit has that feature I am not aware of it.

Tracking calories on myfitnesspal can be wearisome initially but it becomes quite easy when you get used to it. It is most difficult when trying to figure out the calories for what you have eaten in a restaurant. There is a somewhat local chain around here, The 99, whose dinners are right there on myfitnesspal. I love to go there because they have a number of meals that are good for me, that are not too caloric. My favorite is the little sirloin that clocks in at around 460 calories!

-----Fit For You Mushroom Sirloin
-----A 6.5 oz. top sirloin steak is flame broiled and served over fresh sautéed mushrooms crowned with fresh, grilled asparagus. Served --------with fresh spring mix, feta cheese, a drizzle of balsamic and grilled, seasoned tomatoes.

Not only is it good but it's very reasonable, either $9.99 or $10.99, great for those nights when I do not feel like cooking.

I am almost totally back on track with dieting, I have been pretty good today but due to an upset stomach have not really exercised. I love that myfitnesspal and my misfit sync together.

If anyone out there also uses myfitnesspal and would like to "friend" on it I would love to. I think that helps to keep a person going, if they know someone else is following them.

I am supposed to drink from 80 - 100 ounces a day to keep my kidneys happy so I am used to doing that.

JK

REPLY
Lisa | @techi | Aug 21, 2017
In reply to @techi "I have been trying to lose weight for along time. Not eating procced foods, sugar and..." + (show)
@techi

I have been trying to lose weight for along time. Not eating procced foods, sugar and salt. Well it seems pretty hard when everything has those things in it. I will drink more juice but not more than a half a glass to take medicine. I try to drink at least 2 32oz. of water and maybe one coke a day. Then as far as fruit l buy a lot but sometimes to get to eat it everyday. I know that doesn't help. And l like to eat green vegetables. I like beans but my husband doesn't and l will eat yogurt and tapioca pudding. I guess that doesn't help either. Then for breakfast l eat cereal, toast and slmetimes bacon or sausage but very really. Just when you a craving and sometimes pancakes. But not always because l hate to wait. And then l will walk my dogs and l have a little boy in the neighood who likes to walk with me. But its been awfully hot here the highest in the 100's and sometimes in the 80's in the evenings. When you don't want to walk because you can't drive and when someone comes home and you just have to get out. So what can a person do? And it seems like everytime l weigh myself up and down. And l think it might me sometimes the medicine and the doctors tell you to lose weight. And l have asked my doctor wish meds is causing me to lose weight. Its like a whrilwind.

Jump to this post

Oh l try to at probably but l definitely believe its my meds. Because before l was told about my liver. I asked my gastroenterologist about my liver and telling him l never had anything wrong with my liver. He said it was my meds so l am thinking about going to class for yoga or l was looking at getting a swim spa. But l have my little walking buddy who's 9yrs old and we talk together because he thinks l am related to him. Also l talked to my doctor and he's giving me premission to drive again. I asked him about how long have l not been driving? He said about 2-3yrs. Its been on and off and now l have to learn again, we just brought a new car.

REPLY
Mentor
Rosemary, Volunteer Mentor | @rosemarya | Aug 21, 2017
In reply to @techi "I have been trying to lose weight for along time. Not eating procced foods, sugar and..." + (show)
@techi

I have been trying to lose weight for along time. Not eating procced foods, sugar and salt. Well it seems pretty hard when everything has those things in it. I will drink more juice but not more than a half a glass to take medicine. I try to drink at least 2 32oz. of water and maybe one coke a day. Then as far as fruit l buy a lot but sometimes to get to eat it everyday. I know that doesn't help. And l like to eat green vegetables. I like beans but my husband doesn't and l will eat yogurt and tapioca pudding. I guess that doesn't help either. Then for breakfast l eat cereal, toast and slmetimes bacon or sausage but very really. Just when you a craving and sometimes pancakes. But not always because l hate to wait. And then l will walk my dogs and l have a little boy in the neighood who likes to walk with me. But its been awfully hot here the highest in the 100's and sometimes in the 80's in the evenings. When you don't want to walk because you can't drive and when someone comes home and you just have to get out. So what can a person do? And it seems like everytime l weigh myself up and down. And l think it might me sometimes the medicine and the doctors tell you to lose weight. And l have asked my doctor wish meds is causing me to lose weight. Its like a whrilwind.

Jump to this post

@techi, Keep on taking care. And be careful with driving.
Rosemary

REPLY
Moderator
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Aug 21, 2017
In reply to @contentandwell "@rosemarya @fessmom I neglected to include some of my best helpers in losing weight. I have..." + (show)
@contentandwell

@rosemarya @fessmom I neglected to include some of my best helpers in losing weight.
I have a fitness tracker. You set what you want your goal to be and it lets you know how you are doing. It really pushes me to get to that goal and beyond.
Next, I use myfitnesspal to track everything I put my mouth. I have not been doing that recently because I know have been not eating correctly but I am getting back on track with that too. It also syncs with my fitness tracker and adds to my allowable caloric input, the amount being dependent on how much exercise I have gotten.
Last, I have a scale that tells me BMI and fluid retention. I know it is not professionally accurate but it does give you a good gauge of things, primarily my fluid retention (you have to have bare feet for that to work). If I gain weight and then see that my fluid retention is high I don't feel as bad. It measures fluid against BMI so when my fluid retention is high, my BMI is low, like in the teens and we all know is not true for me. Still, it does help me. When I start seeing my weight going down it spurs me on to stay with dieting. Sometimes if it goes up I sort of throw in the towel but I getting beyond that mindset now.
This type of scale is not as costly as you might expect. Mine is a Tanita that I got on Amazon and if I recall it was around $45.

I have included a screenshot of one day this week with my fitness tracker. I took this to send to send to my son. I did really well that day, one of my all time bests.
JK

Jump to this post

@contentandwell, sorry for the delay in responding. This is exactly the encouragement I was looking for. I will give it a try. I'm hoping that once I get a sense of the caloric intake, I can let go of the tracking, like I did with the water. I don't like being a slave to quantifying myself.

I have a Fitbit. It doesn't track the water automatically. I manually enter it. But the plus is that I can track physical activity, water, calories and sleep with the one device. It also allows "friending" which can be a great motivator.
Thanks for being my motivator.

REPLY
JK | @contentandwell | Aug 21, 2017
In reply to @contentandwell "@rosemarya @fessmom I neglected to include some of my best helpers in losing weight. I have..." + (show)
@contentandwell

@rosemarya @fessmom I neglected to include some of my best helpers in losing weight.
I have a fitness tracker. You set what you want your goal to be and it lets you know how you are doing. It really pushes me to get to that goal and beyond.
Next, I use myfitnesspal to track everything I put my mouth. I have not been doing that recently because I know have been not eating correctly but I am getting back on track with that too. It also syncs with my fitness tracker and adds to my allowable caloric input, the amount being dependent on how much exercise I have gotten.
Last, I have a scale that tells me BMI and fluid retention. I know it is not professionally accurate but it does give you a good gauge of things, primarily my fluid retention (you have to have bare feet for that to work). If I gain weight and then see that my fluid retention is high I don't feel as bad. It measures fluid against BMI so when my fluid retention is high, my BMI is low, like in the teens and we all know is not true for me. Still, it does help me. When I start seeing my weight going down it spurs me on to stay with dieting. Sometimes if it goes up I sort of throw in the towel but I getting beyond that mindset now.
This type of scale is not as costly as you might expect. Mine is a Tanita that I got on Amazon and if I recall it was around $45.

I have included a screenshot of one day this week with my fitness tracker. I took this to send to send to my son. I did really well that day, one of my all time bests.
JK

Jump to this post

@colleenyoung Colleen, today was a really bad day, I totally fell off the wagon. Tomorrow is another day so hopefully I will get back on track. I am not happy about today but I think it really must be like being an alcoholic, once I get going I can't stop myself. 🙁 The day started out well but then this afternoon it went really downhill. I did get some good exercise in, so at least that was good.
JK

REPLY
JK | @contentandwell | Aug 21, 2017
In reply to @contentandwell "@rosemarya @fessmom I neglected to include some of my best helpers in losing weight. I have..." + (show)
@contentandwell

@rosemarya @fessmom I neglected to include some of my best helpers in losing weight.
I have a fitness tracker. You set what you want your goal to be and it lets you know how you are doing. It really pushes me to get to that goal and beyond.
Next, I use myfitnesspal to track everything I put my mouth. I have not been doing that recently because I know have been not eating correctly but I am getting back on track with that too. It also syncs with my fitness tracker and adds to my allowable caloric input, the amount being dependent on how much exercise I have gotten.
Last, I have a scale that tells me BMI and fluid retention. I know it is not professionally accurate but it does give you a good gauge of things, primarily my fluid retention (you have to have bare feet for that to work). If I gain weight and then see that my fluid retention is high I don't feel as bad. It measures fluid against BMI so when my fluid retention is high, my BMI is low, like in the teens and we all know is not true for me. Still, it does help me. When I start seeing my weight going down it spurs me on to stay with dieting. Sometimes if it goes up I sort of throw in the towel but I getting beyond that mindset now.
This type of scale is not as costly as you might expect. Mine is a Tanita that I got on Amazon and if I recall it was around $45.

I have included a screenshot of one day this week with my fitness tracker. I took this to send to send to my son. I did really well that day, one of my all time bests.
JK

Jump to this post

@colleenyoung Colleen, I had no idea you could put calories right into the fitbit! Do you do it through the device or through the computer? If through the computer then it would be similar to using myfitnespal which syncs with misfit, perhaps some others also.

Those of us who are trying really need to encourage and motivate each other. Colleen, you look pretty thin in your picture but i do realize that even people who are not heavy sometimes feel the need to lose a few excess pounds.
JK

REPLY
Moderator
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Aug 22, 2017
In reply to @contentandwell "@rosemarya @fessmom I neglected to include some of my best helpers in losing weight. I have..." + (show)
@contentandwell

@rosemarya @fessmom I neglected to include some of my best helpers in losing weight.
I have a fitness tracker. You set what you want your goal to be and it lets you know how you are doing. It really pushes me to get to that goal and beyond.
Next, I use myfitnesspal to track everything I put my mouth. I have not been doing that recently because I know have been not eating correctly but I am getting back on track with that too. It also syncs with my fitness tracker and adds to my allowable caloric input, the amount being dependent on how much exercise I have gotten.
Last, I have a scale that tells me BMI and fluid retention. I know it is not professionally accurate but it does give you a good gauge of things, primarily my fluid retention (you have to have bare feet for that to work). If I gain weight and then see that my fluid retention is high I don't feel as bad. It measures fluid against BMI so when my fluid retention is high, my BMI is low, like in the teens and we all know is not true for me. Still, it does help me. When I start seeing my weight going down it spurs me on to stay with dieting. Sometimes if it goes up I sort of throw in the towel but I getting beyond that mindset now.
This type of scale is not as costly as you might expect. Mine is a Tanita that I got on Amazon and if I recall it was around $45.

I have included a screenshot of one day this week with my fitness tracker. I took this to send to send to my son. I did really well that day, one of my all time bests.
JK

Jump to this post

@contentandwell The calorie counter is on the smart phone app, which is synced to my device. Now you've got me curious as to how it works. Apparently I can add a meal plan and log the food I eat. Sounds tedious, but I'll investigate. Can't preach what I don't practice, right?

My BMI isn't bad. I wouldn't mind losing a little extra padding, but primarily I want to understand the relationship between calories in and calories out. My device tracks how many calories I burn (usually just shy of 2K). I have no idea how many I consume. Stay tuned. (I can't believe I'm confessing all this. 😉

REPLY
JK | @contentandwell | Aug 22, 2017
In reply to @contentandwell "@rosemarya @fessmom I neglected to include some of my best helpers in losing weight. I have..." + (show)
@contentandwell

@rosemarya @fessmom I neglected to include some of my best helpers in losing weight.
I have a fitness tracker. You set what you want your goal to be and it lets you know how you are doing. It really pushes me to get to that goal and beyond.
Next, I use myfitnesspal to track everything I put my mouth. I have not been doing that recently because I know have been not eating correctly but I am getting back on track with that too. It also syncs with my fitness tracker and adds to my allowable caloric input, the amount being dependent on how much exercise I have gotten.
Last, I have a scale that tells me BMI and fluid retention. I know it is not professionally accurate but it does give you a good gauge of things, primarily my fluid retention (you have to have bare feet for that to work). If I gain weight and then see that my fluid retention is high I don't feel as bad. It measures fluid against BMI so when my fluid retention is high, my BMI is low, like in the teens and we all know is not true for me. Still, it does help me. When I start seeing my weight going down it spurs me on to stay with dieting. Sometimes if it goes up I sort of throw in the towel but I getting beyond that mindset now.
This type of scale is not as costly as you might expect. Mine is a Tanita that I got on Amazon and if I recall it was around $45.

I have included a screenshot of one day this week with my fitness tracker. I took this to send to send to my son. I did really well that day, one of my all time bests.
JK

Jump to this post

@colleenyoung My calories vary a lot, I burned 1819 today according to the app on my Iphone but one day last week I burned 2488! I think that might be the best so far. Regarding food, according to my food log I consumed 1428 calories today. My exercise added on more calories for me, bringing the number of calories I could eat today to 1533. When I am really trying hard to diet I go to bed earlier because I am so hungry. Before my transplant I was doing that and then I would wake up at around 5:00 famished. I would try to wait until around 6:00 before I went downstairs to eat. I am off to bed in a few minutes. I sure hope I am down a pound tomorrow, that always helps to keep me motivated. I do have a lot of motivations right now -- our vacation in October, my daughter's wedding -- actually I should say weddings, there are three events, overkill I agree, one in September at a Hindu temple close to where her fiance's parents live, the actual very small wedding and luncheon (@15 ppl, immediate families) here in our home in November, and the celebration in NYC in December with about 200 people. I am just glad we are contributing, not footing the whole bill.

As I said before, myfitnesspal, which is probably similar to the app you use, gets much easier as you get used to it. Tonight I logged in what I intended to have for dinner before I ate and when I saw how much sodium it would have I changed it, I opted for just a salad with some scallops. The scallops were from a small Maine company but when I put the name of the company in with the name of the scallop preparation it had it in the database. That database must be huge. The thing I like is that when you have been logging you do get more of a sense of how many calories, how much sodium, carbs, etc things have. I need to watch sodium and carbs. I try to be very careful of salad dressings because many are quite high in sodium, as are almost all canned foods. I enjoy soup but not canned anymore.

My real initial motivation was to get my BMI under 30 just in case i wanted to dual list at a center that required that. It was a real "just in case" because the ones I was edging toward did not. I was so happy with my success that I printed out some of my daily logs from myfitnesspal and brought them to my doctor telling him that I suspected he had other overweight patients who also might find it helpful. His response was he did but none were as motivated as I was, and he just sort of disregarded it. A doctor friend of ours, who himself is a bit overweight but not obese, thinks doctors have a responsibility to speak to their overweight patients about the problems that extra weight can cause. I agree. Not one doctor ever said anything to me though, even when my weight was well over 200. I brought it up to my current doctor once and his comment was that I could cut down on my servings. When my weight got down to @165 and I asked him how much more he thought I should lose he said not more than 5 pounds! He never commented when I saw him and it was 145.

Good luck in your efforts. They say "confession is good for the soul". I too never told anyone how much I weighed when my weight was so high, even my husband did not know. Along with losing weight I am losing height, not good.

G'nite. JK

REPLY
Moderator
Justin McClanahan, Moderator | @JustinMcClanahan | Aug 22, 2017
In reply to @contentandwell "@rosemarya @fessmom I neglected to include some of my best helpers in losing weight. I have..." + (show)
@contentandwell

@rosemarya @fessmom I neglected to include some of my best helpers in losing weight.
I have a fitness tracker. You set what you want your goal to be and it lets you know how you are doing. It really pushes me to get to that goal and beyond.
Next, I use myfitnesspal to track everything I put my mouth. I have not been doing that recently because I know have been not eating correctly but I am getting back on track with that too. It also syncs with my fitness tracker and adds to my allowable caloric input, the amount being dependent on how much exercise I have gotten.
Last, I have a scale that tells me BMI and fluid retention. I know it is not professionally accurate but it does give you a good gauge of things, primarily my fluid retention (you have to have bare feet for that to work). If I gain weight and then see that my fluid retention is high I don't feel as bad. It measures fluid against BMI so when my fluid retention is high, my BMI is low, like in the teens and we all know is not true for me. Still, it does help me. When I start seeing my weight going down it spurs me on to stay with dieting. Sometimes if it goes up I sort of throw in the towel but I getting beyond that mindset now.
This type of scale is not as costly as you might expect. Mine is a Tanita that I got on Amazon and if I recall it was around $45.

I have included a screenshot of one day this week with my fitness tracker. I took this to send to send to my son. I did really well that day, one of my all time bests.
JK

Jump to this post

@colleenyoung, I am sure you know as you seem very active and in tune with healthy living, but don't forget to include your basal metabolic rate in regards to calories you are burning!

REPLY
JK | @contentandwell | Aug 23, 2017

@JustinMcClanahan I was not really aware of BMR so I just calculated mine. It was 1184. So I presume that if I did nothing I would have to eat fewer calories than that to lose weight? When I was dieting hard I set my calorie goal at 1200, now I have it at 1300, but I do exercise so that allows me to have more calories which get calculated on myfitnesspal in conjunction with my fitness tracker. Now I know why I gain a pound any day that I don't get to my health club and do some hard work. Thanks for the comment, it clarifies some things for me.
Arrrrgggghhhh. Off to the club.
Jane

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