Problems with Staying Motivated
Find a Conversation
Problems with Staying Motivated
| Mon, 03-05-2007 - 6:45pm |
I can't seem to stay motivated and I wondered if anyone has any tips. I am very overweight and only 20 years old. I need to lose the weight before I graduate from college so that I can get health insurance. I have about 2 years until that day is and I need to be motivated now to get the weight off. I need to lose about 75-85 lbs. Can anyone help?


For me, staying motivated is setting small, attainable goals. I don't look at how much I have to loose which in my case was 180 pounds, now after 7 weeks, it's 147 pounds. I initially set a small goal of walking 30 minutes 5xweek, now I'm up to 60 minutes 5xweek. I'm surprised at how much easier the walking has become. Each week I set a goal to lose 3 pounds (since I have so much to lose my doctor said that was reasonable and doable). I work very hard to reach that goal. I measure my food, drink all the water/liquids my eating plan requires, and do my walking. So far, I've lost 3 pounds a week, sometimes a little more. I only focus on one-day-at-a-time. My main goal is to get healthy and I will. All the water makes me nauseous, but that's a small price to pay to get healthy and lose the fat I need to lose. In reality, the only person who can keep jlynn motivated is jlynn. How commited are you to being healthy? How bad do you want to be healthy? Trust me, I've ranted and raved that it isn't fair that I'm fat when my friends aren't. I've cried and cried about being fat. However, the bottom line is I am still in charge of me. No one forced those chocolate chip cookies down my throat. It was my choice. So I've made bad choices in the past. Well, this is now and I making good choices one-day-at-a-time and the results are starting to show on the scale. Don't worry about what's going to happen in 2 years, take care of today (each day) and when you graduate you will be a healthy, young person. You know you have it in you. Just dig deep and bring it to the surface. You can do it, so do it!
Staying motivated really has to come from within you. Why do you want to lose the weight? Think of other reasons than the insurance and write them down. Is there something in your closet that can fit you if you lose 10lbs? Hang it somewhere visible and work towords getting there.
I also noticed the following: it is more efficient for me to set a goal to exercise x times a week rather than setting a goal for losing xlbs a week. This way I feel good at myself each time I exercise and I feel motivated to go forward.
HTH