Fed up.

[hollyeo]

I can never stay motivated! Like seriously, never. I'm so good throughout the day, especially the days when I'm going to the gym but then I get home and I'm tired so I just binge. And I really do binge, way too much. I need to stop! I can probably last about 2 weeks on my diet before I start eating bad again and then it's the old "I'll start tomorrow" "I'll start on Monday" I just need tips, to try and stick at it, I've tried everything, writing down what I want from the diets, looking at my inspo, but nothing works! I just want to prove everyone wrong, my friends who think I can't turn down a chocolate bar and my sister who constantly moans at me about my weight. I just want to be able to show that I can do something, and I want to feel good about myself, I want to like myself and the way I look, but I have no clue how to stay motivated, how to stick at it. I have my fitness pal on my phone but I only started on Monday and I've already binged... I need tips? How do you guys keep motivated?!

[Candystripe]

So have you thought about preparing a good healthy meal/ soup that you can tuck into when you get in rather than the binge fodder? If you don't buy the foods that are obviously making you unhappy then you wouldn't be so tempted.

It's so difficult isn't it, but something has to give. You don't have to do without, but just plan a little chocolate (one square ) into your daily calorie allowance and give yourself a set time to eat it, say 9pm, then you can look forward without thinking you have to deny yourself.

Tell your friends that you don't want them to offer you chocolate bars and if they truly care for you then they will help you. Tell your sister to turn her moans into something useful and get her to help you make a meal plan for the week and if you show them that you are serious about this then they should be serious about helping you.

Plan a non-food treat for yourself after losing 7lbs so you have something to look forward to and get everyone to support you in your weight loss. Set yourself small achievable targets which will make you feel good.

Weigh in with us on a Monday, just look for the post that Lowcal makes and we say how much we weigh and how much we've lost and our aspirations for the coming week.

We all support each other here but first and foremost you have to want to do this, we can't do it for you but we can help you on your way.

Shout if you needs us !

Good luck hollyeo and go get your dream.

[emma1973]

Hi, i just wanted to day how incredibly honest and brave your post is. I can understand and sympathize as im exactly the same

[emma1973 in reply to emma1973]

Most of my reply has disappeared.... Apologies, will finish later

[chetchoc]

Very hard I also get the same temptations, preparation is the key as candystripe say's. I also think you make a new change in your life don't be the old you your friends and family expect you to be make that change, Good Luck

[xemilyx001x]

On the day before, I write down everything I am going to eat and exercise for the next day. I then colour code the words 'breakfast, mid-morning, lunch, afternoon and dinner' in one colour and exercise in another. I use an A4 notebook as find I like the space. I also include water intake and cups of tea (as I drink a lot!). If for a mid-morning snack, I have an apple, I would get the apple ready and place next to my keys. I will make sure I have my gym bag packed and put in the car, or at least by the front door. I make sure everything for the next day is organised the night before, and it motivates me more that its all done - and I don't get home and just eat rubbish! When I decided to lose weight, I threw away all of the bad food in my house and only eat healthily, except the odd treat.

Good luck! You can do it! x

[Candystripe in reply to xemilyx001x]

Have you looked into "My fitness Pal"? You can log what you eat, drink and exercise and it tells you the calories of food also. Of course many people prefer to hand log their routine for the day, I did to start with but then found MFP easier and quicker after a while. Good luck.

[deekay64]

The only person you are dieting for is yourself and the only person you are cheating is yourself.

Your friends and sister care about you and want you to improve your health.

I'm afraid there's no magic formula for commitment or willpower quite honestly you just have to want the weight loss more than the chocolate... Then you'll have the willpower.

With me it was always savoury things. Family bags of crisps, piles of toast, cheese and crackers and alcohol. I used to say I was always hungry and had a big appetite, I'm from a farming background and meals were huge but it was all excuses.

I probably started a diet a month for 20 years, I'd not even last the first week sometimes.

Then one day I just felt like I was just fed up feeling low, looking bad in whatever I wore and thought right stop making excuses and do something about it.

I found restricting myself to a number of calories was the way to go - slimming world with unlimited foods fed my 'large appetite' excuse and I lost just 10lb in 20 weeks.

When I feel like cheating now I tell myself 'no'. I just don't do it. I'm allowing myself 2 drinks on a Saturday night but have actually stopped drinking all together. it weakened my resolve and I'd have crisps again.

I haven't cut out treats and I've had blips but If cake someone had bought into work has tempted me then I'll only have soup for tea.

I've lost half what I need to lose this year (I was 70 pounds over weight) but most importantly I've grown strong around food - it no longer controls me. I shall never again be that person who can't say 'no'. And if I do slip, I'm mega determined to make up for it.

I can't say what finally was the turning point but once you start to see the results you get a real buzz.

So list all of the reasons you want to lose weight and do it for yourself

Good luck

[margrete]

Deekay64 has got it right.

With some people it's sweet things and it's now known that there is actually such a thing as 'sugar addiction'. With others, it's the crisps etc. You do see people coming out of the supermarket who can't seem to wait until they get into the mega crisp bags.

Some people find that using a smaller plate is a simple thing which works.

[returner]

Hi hollyeo,

You know, it's like being on a journey. You don't get very far on the weight loss bus, if the bus never leaves the stop at which you got on. You can't move forward AND stay at the same place.

I used to be a right chocolate (and chocolate-covered) bar guzzler. My desk drawer would always have some calorie-laden "goodies" in it. I used to have with a single cup of tea what many people would view as a week's worth of confection, if not a month's worth.

I sometimes have an odd bit of dark chocolate nowadays. Mainly because I like the bitter taste of a good quality dark chocolate. Twix's, Mar's, KitKats, Snickers, chocolate digestives, chocolate fudge brownies, etc., etc., etc., have all been filed away in the filing drawer called "the old days".

What you'll realise when you stop eating things like chocolate or other sweet or fat-laden 'treats' is that you only eat those sorts of things because you eat those sorts of things, i.e. because you are in the habit of eating them, you kind of mentally 'expect' to eat those things. Your body expects to eat those things because, well, that's what it's used to doing. Well, it expects that sort of high-sugar and high-fat stuff until you change it all.

If you break the 'bad' habits, you'll find after a while you don't miss all that junk at all. And that is likely to be only within two or three months or so.

[Healthyeats]

Hey Hollyeo

I've found that using a smaller plate has helped me limit the amount of food I take. Not buying the foods that tempt me has helped. I've found that setting small easily attainable goals help me, such as 12 lbs in 7 weeks, which is jut under 2 lbs per week! returner is right, your body gets used to foods like chocolate, I haven't had chocolate in 11 days as I was in Uganda so now I don't really want it. There is a bar in front of me and I was hungry and wanted a snack ad didn't even consider it! Slowly cut out the unhealthy foods, don't cold turkey it because you are more likely to fail then.

Good luck and happy motivation xx