Tips needed for inspiration

[suzieQ]

Hi everyone. I'm really having a hard time keeping up with my weight loss goals right now. I mean the whole thing, following my diet and making sure I get enough exercise. Does anyone have any tips I could put into practice that would help motivate me to keep up with my goals? I'm fresh out of ideas and quite frankly feel like giving up.

[Firefly77]

I find that what helps to motivate me is having a reason to lose weight. Being healthier is just an added bonus but isn't really my goal because that's not enough to get me eating right and exercising...sad to say, but it's true. I typically do well when I have an important event coming up that I'd like to look good for. It's not the best long-term goal, I know, but sometimes starting with short-term goals helps you to build up the long-term ones.

[JennyR]

Get a buddy to diet with. This helps me to exercise especially. when you can enjoy an activity with someone else and talk about your diet goals it becomes less of a chore and you are more motivated to committ to your goals.

[TracyK]

Firefly77 and JennyR make good points, but what I would ask you is are you sure you are following the diet program that is best for you. Maybe part of the reason you are not feeling like you can keep up with it is because it is not realistic for your lifestyle. Maybe you are asking too much of yourself. Or, on the flip side of the coin, maybe you are not challenging yourself enough. Just a thought.

[Charlotte]

Have a goal. I find that if I am working on losing weight for a reason, like if I want to fit into a certain dress size for a special event, etc. that really helps to motivate me.

[WolfMoon]

Set small realistic rewards and each time you meet one of the, give yourself a reward. This will always give you something to look forward to and will help motivate you to accomplish something that you know is achievable. Work on making positive associations with your diet goals and you will find you stay truer to them. Good luck!

[enviroTodd]

If you are struggling to stay motivated then deliberately give yourself a day off. Tell yourself that it is a day off and that you can just relax without any guilt, even though you don't do your workout and you're not necessarily eating that zero sodium high fiber cereal in the morning.

Be ready to get back into it with drive, the next day. Tell yourself that after this day off, you'll get right back into it and do a great job in keeping up with it. Then, keep that promise to yourself and keep doing that every day as long as you are completely inspired and driven. When you need another day off because you've been doing great for a few weeks, give it to yourself and start again. Just make sure that you don't do this too often. Do this when you've earned it. Earning it can be another motivator for you.

[KenTraver]

Hey Suzieq I hope you're feeling a lot better now and you haven't lost your drive to stick to your efforts. We’re here for you. If you feel like your motivation is gone just keep posting here and we’ll give you a boost.

Check out how many people have already replied to give you support and ideas. I think that getting other people to gather around you and support you is one of the best things that a person can do to get themselves back on track. Then you aren’t just relying on your own energy and your own push. You’ve got a bunch of people all holding you up.

So I hope that any time you feel like you might not be able to keep going with your program, you just pop by here and tell us. We’ve all been through it and we’ll give you just what you need to keep yourself going. Pretty nice, huh? And we don’t even ask for money haha.

[suzieQ]

Thanks everyone for all of the support and good advice. I have actually been doing a little better in the past couple of weeks and seem to have gotten my groove back - thank goodness! I actually did take a short break from the plan I had created for myself and thought about what I liked and didn't like about it and did a few adjustments. I'm not back on track and feeling much more positive!