Staying Motivated for the Long Haul

@rosemarya - I'm learning, for me, that a little taste is better than no taste and keeps me from craving because mentally I feel less deprived. For example, while doing Jenny Craig I have finished my daughter's rootbeer (maybe 4 oz), eaten one forkful of her cheesecake, had 10 candy corns etc. with no negative impact on my weight loss. I find that if I don't have a taste then I have negative self-talk (I can't keep this healthy eating up, this stinks that I can't have anything sweet, this is too hard etc.) so a little treat actually keeps me on track. In the past I would have said, "I mind as well enjoy it" and drink an entire can of pop. Of course I can't do this with everything I see that I want so I have learned to decide what is really worth stealing a taste of. Obviously it would be best to have none of these things in the house but she had a birthday and I still need to cook for her.

I understand l had fusion surgery in 2015 and foot surgery in 2016. Sometimes l try to walk but my left foot hurts after the surgery and it's so hard to get up and move. So now l try to take my dog out to walk. My legs are swollen and l believe it's the diuretics because sometimes if you take medicine for along time or your given another it's not effective. I also gained a lot of weight. I was down to a size 14 and brought a lot of new clothes because l was so happy l lost weight. Then l went to size 16. I said ok maybe it's okay to gain a little weight so l went and brought some more new clothes. And now l am wearing a size 18. Well that's terrible so now l have decided to eat vegan foods. I definitely want to get back in shape so don't get depressed you are definitely not the only one. It's hard but and discouraging at first but it can be done. You can definitely succeed and even if it's one pound l learned to reward myself because l know it encourages me that l can do it.

@fessmom We all have those struggles. I lost a lot of weight, my incentive being to lower my BMI before the liver transplant which I hoped to have, and now have had (transplantiversary coming up on 09.23). I kept it up afterwards for a while but I've really been struggling recently. I think just today I may be back on track. It's so difficult though. You have to find some motivation. For me now it's my daughter's wedding and an upcoming vacation.
My dear son is my biggest cheerleader. When he was home during the summer he reminded me that the pleasure of eating something tempting was over very quickly but the results were there and harder to reverse. Of course he himself is very disciplined and an exercise addict. I have a fitness tracker and when I go occasionally go way over the goal I have set I will take a screen shot and message it to him. His boss has the same fitness tracker and my son tells me that I would "crush" his boss. 😉 He gives me incentive too. I do wish I had someone I could really sort of go back and forth with, encouraging each other. Maybe we should start a conversation for that, for people who are struggling to lose weight... or is this just that?
The last time before my recent loss when I managed to lose a lot of weight was when I was working at the Inn and I had all of these tiny young woman working for me. I was determined to get out of plus sizes and I DID. That was such an achievement for me because I had been a "plus" for quite a while.
OK, here I go... my weight had at some point, probably about 15 years ago, been up to 235. I was at 145, have now put on about 8 pounds that I HAVE TO LOSE because I have a whole new wardrobe and I will not buy another wardrobe in the next size up, that would be admitting defeat.
Good luck, private message if you want and we can encourage each other.
Oh, and regarding exercise. I belong to a health club and do pool exercises a lot. When I do not make the class I go later in the day and job/march/ up and down a lane as vigorously as I can, swinging my arms to make it a cardio workout too. It helps my knees and everything. I sometimes go to the gym but I HATE the gym, it makes me feel totally inadequate. I find that going to the class or on my own gives me more energy afterwards. If I do nothing then I end up feeling sluggish, but some days admittedly I do nothing. I love the class I go to, there is a great group of women (and a couple of men) in there. The W and F instructor is fabulous and she will be 70 next month. She never lets you stop all through the class which generally goes 50 - 55 minutes. Then I do a bit on my own to burn up some additional calories.
Now it's late, I will not make the 9:00 class tomorrow morning so I will probably head to the dreaded gym. UGH. I know it's good for me, so I do try to do it a couple of times a week.
JK

@rosemarya - I'm learning, for me, that a little taste is better than no taste and keeps me from craving because mentally I feel less deprived. For example, while doing Jenny Craig I have finished my daughter's rootbeer (maybe 4 oz), eaten one forkful of her cheesecake, had 10 candy corns etc. with no negative impact on my weight loss. I find that if I don't have a taste then I have negative self-talk (I can't keep this healthy eating up, this stinks that I can't have anything sweet, this is too hard etc.) so a little treat actually keeps me on track. In the past I would have said, "I mind as well enjoy it" and drink an entire can of pop. Of course I can't do this with everything I see that I want so I have learned to decide what is really worth stealing a taste of. Obviously it would be best to have none of these things in the house but she had a birthday and I still need to cook for her.

@fessmom We all have those struggles. I lost a lot of weight, my incentive being to lower my BMI before the liver transplant which I hoped to have, and now have had (transplantiversary coming up on 09.23). I kept it up afterwards for a while but I've really been struggling recently. I think just today I may be back on track. It's so difficult though. You have to find some motivation. For me now it's my daughter's wedding and an upcoming vacation.
My dear son is my biggest cheerleader. When he was home during the summer he reminded me that the pleasure of eating something tempting was over very quickly but the results were there and harder to reverse. Of course he himself is very disciplined and an exercise addict. I have a fitness tracker and when I go occasionally go way over the goal I have set I will take a screen shot and message it to him. His boss has the same fitness tracker and my son tells me that I would "crush" his boss. 😉 He gives me incentive too. I do wish I had someone I could really sort of go back and forth with, encouraging each other. Maybe we should start a conversation for that, for people who are struggling to lose weight... or is this just that?
The last time before my recent loss when I managed to lose a lot of weight was when I was working at the Inn and I had all of these tiny young woman working for me. I was determined to get out of plus sizes and I DID. That was such an achievement for me because I had been a "plus" for quite a while.
OK, here I go... my weight had at some point, probably about 15 years ago, been up to 235. I was at 145, have now put on about 8 pounds that I HAVE TO LOSE because I have a whole new wardrobe and I will not buy another wardrobe in the next size up, that would be admitting defeat.
Good luck, private message if you want and we can encourage each other.
Oh, and regarding exercise. I belong to a health club and do pool exercises a lot. When I do not make the class I go later in the day and job/march/ up and down a lane as vigorously as I can, swinging my arms to make it a cardio workout too. It helps my knees and everything. I sometimes go to the gym but I HATE the gym, it makes me feel totally inadequate. I find that going to the class or on my own gives me more energy afterwards. If I do nothing then I end up feeling sluggish, but some days admittedly I do nothing. I love the class I go to, there is a great group of women (and a couple of men) in there. The W and F instructor is fabulous and she will be 70 next month. She never lets you stop all through the class which generally goes 50 - 55 minutes. Then I do a bit on my own to burn up some additional calories.
Now it's late, I will not make the 9:00 class tomorrow morning so I will probably head to the dreaded gym. UGH. I know it's good for me, so I do try to do it a couple of times a week.
JK

@rosemarya - I'm learning, for me, that a little taste is better than no taste and keeps me from craving because mentally I feel less deprived. For example, while doing Jenny Craig I have finished my daughter's rootbeer (maybe 4 oz), eaten one forkful of her cheesecake, had 10 candy corns etc. with no negative impact on my weight loss. I find that if I don't have a taste then I have negative self-talk (I can't keep this healthy eating up, this stinks that I can't have anything sweet, this is too hard etc.) so a little treat actually keeps me on track. In the past I would have said, "I mind as well enjoy it" and drink an entire can of pop. Of course I can't do this with everything I see that I want so I have learned to decide what is really worth stealing a taste of. Obviously it would be best to have none of these things in the house but she had a birthday and I still need to cook for her.

Hello everyone! My name is Gizem, and I have hashimoto's disease and insulin resistance. It makes me gain weight easily, but loose it in a very hard way. I can't really do much of a workout on a regular basis because of my university studies. so ı try to eat as healthy as possible. still, it is really hard for me to keep it that way and feel like it is impossibe to eat healthy with all the intense school life, and feel like giving up on all the healthy diet! Anyone like me, facing obstacles to eat healthy or had that times of giving up, how did you keep going, what is your motivation? How you ever failed to go on? And, maybe, start all over?