Staying Motivated for the Long Haul

@michelewithonel Michele, I have been able to successfully lose weight using MyFitnessPal.com. You have to be diligent and record EVERYTHING you eat, but that keeps you honest. No walking through the kitchen and grabbing a cookie because if you don’t record it, you are cheating yourself. Along with that I was using an activity tracker. I say was because since my knee replacement I have not been active enough to bother with it. These two aids really kept me on track like nothing else ever had. It helps too of course if you have a really legitimate reason for losing weight. I was facing major surgery (liver transplant) and knew that I would fare better at a lower weight and in better shape. My transplant center did not use BMI under 30 as a requirement but some do and if I needed to dual list I did not want that to be an obstacle — my BMI was around 32 I think, now it’s 25 - 26. There are a lot of healthy options too. For breakfast I either have oatmeal w fruit and some nuts, plain Greek yogurt, with some granola mixed in, and some berries, or an egg and toast. Lunch, there are lower carb bread options. I love a sandwich on a mini bagel, or a salad with some meat on it, like chicken. Dinner is generally meat and veggies, occasionally some starch with that.
I wish you luck in this endeavor, I know it is not easy but once you start to see a few pounds drop off it helps to keep you motivated. Success breeds success.
JK

I am still in the zone. Motivation to do much of anything is lacking on nearly all levels. Stuff happens. That commercial that states, "it takes energy to make energy". This must only work if one has energy to begin with. I have done everything healthy with diet and nothing is helping for now. There are times I do not want to try and succumb. Blame it on the weather.

@parus, I 'hear' zone views! My husband has me going to the gym pretty regularly, but there are days when I just don't want to do it. Here is something I recently found about fitting in small bits of activity in your day. I don't know about you, but I always count it as a success if I intentionally make a point of doing one of these things on 'one of those days'! And that makes me feel better:-)
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/champions/newsfeed-detail/?link_id=12196
Do any of these sound like a possibility to you?
Rosemary

@contentandwell I'm so glad that you are recovering from that. That can be serious. I'm sure you were affected by the lowered immunity. Take care and stay well.

Teresa

@parus I am having similar struggles right now myself. I am sure ir would help if we were not having these miserably low temperatures, I think if I could get out to my club to do some pool exercises it would help. I planned to do that today but they closed at noon so I didn’t make it. Recovering from Legionairre’s doesn’t help either, it leaves a person very fatigued for a couple of months. Today I have been light headed all day for some reason too, I would not drive feeling like this.
I think if I can make some small steps in the right direction it will lead to bigger steps so I am trying hard to force myself.
JK

@contentand I have/had many plans. In a funk for now. I don't do the gym thing due to severe social anxiety and an intolerance to a lot of noise. May sound like excuses to some and it is what it is. -5 here this morning. Appreciative of a warm habitat, food,etc. It helps when I go the the store as I can exit when I want to and don't go to a place where I feel trapped. Trying to get back into Tai Chi (at home) and my body doesn't want to listen to my brain. I start doing stretches and get nowhere. Enough negativity. I have been self-motivated and if I cannot achieve things it is okay. Hibernation mode and rather a grizzle (misspelling intentional) bear with a sore paw. Could be worse. Not self-pity. Discouragement hovering. Not enough energy to to force things.

@parus I guess I am very fortunate, my club is not that crowded during the day overall. Sometimes when I am in the pool doing my own thing I am the only person in there! I do enjoy the classes and despite also not being outgoing in person I have found that there are many really nice people in the classes, ages varying from about 50 to 80 with a few men also. I really have to force myself to go much of the time but afterwards I am so glad I did and I find it uplifting. There is definitely something to this endorphins stuff, plus I just feel a good feeling that I made myself do it.

Even the upper gym does not get that crowded, the lower gym is where the real diehards are. When my son is home I bring him along and he goes to the lower gym, I go to the upper or to the pool. The gym and pool are not noisy except for the sound of the ventilation system in the pool. I wear hearing aids and am able to stream music directly into my hearing aids which makes the pool marching go by more quickly. I never put my head under.

I would love to try Tai Chi. There are many classes at my club but not that. I have tried Pilates Reformer and a little yoga.
If you have a health club like that nearby you might consider getting out and doing what most of them allow, a free introductory visit.
My memory is terrible so I do not remember where you are, but it sounds like you might be somewhere in the northeast also with those temperatures. I am trying to will myself out to the club today so I can vary my post knee replacement exercise - my ortho is very much in favor of pool exercises and recumbent bike, both of which are my primary exercises.

I hope you manage to get out of the slump you are in, you sound like a strong person so I know you will.
JK

@contentandwell Thank you for sharing! I like Don Fiore on youtube. He has an 8 minute Tai Chi and also enjoy the Quigong video. I will rise up from my slump. Cool how you can stream music through your hearing aids. Pool marching is so good for getting the cardio up. I tried the Y for a Tai Chi class and the other folks were there to socialize. I left. Need to do something lest I hit the bottom of the vortex...ain't fun, nor pretty.
I did manage to dig my car out and went to the store. The employees there are so nice. They still bag groceries too! I am known other places for leaving things on the round-a-bouts.
I live in NE IN. Thankful to have a warm home, food, creativity and Mayo Connect to take a break. Need to get my focus back for the things I can do!
Your words are encouraging. Thank you and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

@parus Thanks for sharing the Don Fiore Youtube videos. I love Tai Chi and those quick Youtube videos are perfect. Short and efficient, but also effective. I think I will share them with my Parkinson's discussion group as well. I love Tai Chi - the gentle flowing movements are just great.

If you live in NE Indiana you must be close to the Michigan border. I live in SE Michigan. I'm glad that you dug out your car - it is really starting out to be a difficult winter.

Teresa

@parus It sounds like you are having these horrible temperatures there too, they themselves are depressing since it makes us stay in so much.

I am right now feeling very good, I pushed myself to go to the pool despite the 5° temperatures outside and my husband telling me I must be crazy. The pool was surprisingly comfortable, sometimes the structure does not battle the outside temperatures well. I did 20 minutes marching -- I do two laps marching, then two laps in sort of a faux breast stroke with my legs kicking up behind me but never with both legs off the bottom, and then two laps going backwards. It was worth it, I came out of there feeling somewhat buoyed - tired too of course, but a good tired. Before my knee replacement in October I was doing at least an hour in the pool. On the days I went to class for 45 minutes I would then do another 30 - 45 minutes afterwards of my own thing. I felt like I could have done more but am now feeling the tiredness in my legs so I am glad I stopped when I did. When I go to class everyone else goes into the hot tub after but I do not. I'm sort of afraid of hot tubs now anyway, having such compromised immunity.

I definitely want to check out that youtube you mention. You also mention creativity. What area are you creative in? I envy creative people, I do not have a creative cell in my body. I love to cook but even with that I pretty much start with a recipe and perhaps make minor alterations. These days I cook much less.

JK