Motivation For Good Diet

[Thomas125]

Hi everyone,

I was 14 St 10 at my heaviest and got down to 12St. I've slipped back to 13St 5lbs, not helped by changing medication which makes you hungry all the time.

I'm really struggling to find the motivation to get back going with this again, not like me usually.

Can anyone offer any motivational hints that might help get me fired up again.

Thanks,

Thomas

[beardy]

Clear out all the "bad" food from the house and only have "good" food there for you to pick from.

If you get cravings for something inadvisable then make yourself earn it by fetching it from somewhere distant on your bike.

Only one item per trip, no cheating and no bumper bars.

[661-Pete]

Oh dear! This looks like a classic 'down-then-up' body mass scenario. During my brief (very brief) foray into the local branch of 'WeighWatchers', I heard plenty of hard-luck anecdotes from my fellow members, describing exactly the same sequence. Of course, one of the problems with WW (avoid like the plague!) is that is incentivises participants to 'compete' against one another, setting 'targets' and with rewards for the quickest 'losers'. I cut and run very soon!

It doesn't work.

And what's more, attempting to lose weight rapidly can be dangerous for some people.

Apologies if I'm misrepresenting you, but what you haven't said is, (a) how tall you are, that gives us a BMI to work on (although even BMIs can be an unreliable benchmark) (b) how you contrived to lose weight, and (c) how rapidly you went down from 94.3 Kg (14 St 10) to 76.2 Kg (12 St).

To me, even though I am noticeably obese, this would be an immense target to attain. I currently weigh in at around 96Kg (BMI ~ 32) and the best I might hope for would be 85 kg (BMI about 28) which would still see me in the 'overweight' bracket but not 'obese'. My progress towards that target is painfully slow at present, I expect it to take over a year. If I live that long!

So, for starters, rather than ask about motivation, perhaps you could say what sort of schedule you have in mind.

[Thomas125]

My wife has been to weight watchdrs before and cut and ran for the same reasons. I don't fancy it.

I'm 5 foot 8 tall so the BMI calc has me at 11St 12lbs to get out of the overweight category.

I originally lost it over a period of a year by calorie trimming 1500 a day using a very rough count in my head rounded everything to the nearest 50 or so.

Trying something similar again but finding it harder as my new epilepsy pills make me hungry all the time.

Looking to lose one lb a week if I can thats plenty fast enough.

[al_yrpal]

My motivation to loose 48 lbs by…

Using MyFitnessPal which is a personal diet and exercise diary daily.

Weighing myself each and every morning.

Working out a diet that I liked in which I seldom felt hungry and could continue almost unaltered after I had reached my desired weight.

On days when I was going to eat more than the calorie allowance to loose 1lb a week I would go for a ride for an hour or two to offset the extra.

Cut down carbs to no more than the odd slice of bread, or 70g of potato, or 50g of pasta or rice per day after I realised that I didnt need it and eating lots of carbs made me feel more hungry.

But… the main thing is keeping that food diary. I cannot praise MyFitnessPal enough.

If you go to a class what happens when you leave the support of the class?

If you eat a "fad" diet, what happens when you revert to a normal diet?

If you have bad eating habits and they made you fat you need to retrain your eating habits.

Its not rocket science - eat less, exercise more.

And… I took 5 dustbin liners of 'fat' clothes to charity shops. My new clothes tell me if I am slipping.

Al

[BeeKeeper]

I can only suggest trying a different diet, the 5:2 worked well for me as you only need to restrict your eating two days a week although my wife is losing weight on a low-carb diet as she couldn't get on with 5:2 because she felt too hungry on the diet days.

[Vorpal]

Maybe you need to look at it from another angle?

Why is it important to you to lose weight? If that isn't enough motivation, is it really necessary?

Alternatively, is it enough just to ride your bike more?

Everyone is motivated differently. We can say what motivates us, but it may not work for you.

I gained quite a lot of extra weight with my first pregnancy, and it took me a long while to lose it afterward. I did so mainly by reducing the amount of chocolate and ice cream I ate, and riding my bike more.

I lost a bit of weight (without a particular plan for it) when we gave up the second car. Not only was I using the car less, I was more likely to be hauling children around by bike

[661-Pete]

I think I might have a try at the Myfitnesspal site, nothing to lose! (well, to be more exact, everything to lose but in the best possible way!)

Thomas, your height is exactly the same as mine (1.73m - sorry I do everything in metric) so in theory we ought to have the same target. But in all honesty I've long given up on anything below the 80Kg mark. When I registered for WW, they gave me a sort of progress card which was marked "target BMI = 25" or something like that (i.e. 75 Kg). Stuff that!

I lb (0.45 Kg) per week sounds like a reasonable programme to me, but I'm not managing even that! Although I may be close in some weeks. I've been monitoring since about the New Year now (resolution!).

Weighing every day and then plotting on a graph is a good discipline. Try to be consistent about weigh-ins: before breakfast (but after going for a pee and/or no.2) is a good time. And always wear the same clothes (I weigh myself in pyjamas) - or none if you prefer! Be prepared for random fluctuations from day to day: the once-a-week ceremonial weigh-in at the WW gathering (in day clothes of course, I wasn't about to strip down in front of all the lovely ladies ) was hopelessly misleading. Get a good set of scales, the best you can afford.

[Vorpal]

I don't even own a set of scales, and would prefer to avoid the level of preoccupation with my weight that requires me to weigh myself and plot the results.

Even when I was heavier than I would like, I mainly went by how I looked and felt, and which clothes fit.

[beardy]

The scales can detect movement that the trouser belt isnt sensitive enough to notice. Scales let you know that you are headed in the right (or wrong direction) the mirror or clothes only know where you are.

In my case they also help me see how I have fluctuated in the past over events like Christmas or extended tours.

[Vorpal]

I'm not really worried about minor fluctuations. I'm worried about how comfortable I am in my skin.

[al_yrpal]

Pete, good decision. You will find MyFitnessPal has a graph facility. You could link up with the OP and monitor one anothers' progress if you want to. It will also immediately highlight foods to eat in moderation or avoid and reform your eating habits.

Very best of luck

Al

[NUKe]

YOu could try a food diary list what you eat portion sizes work out the calories. it helps to sort out the bad food from the good food, and helps you to choose what helps you.

[Thomas125]

Thanks for great advice everyone.

Ive downloaded the fitness pal app and I'm seriously impressed by it.

Punched everything in and I'm at a net 1300 for today so far.

Can see this being a great help for me.

If anyone wants to link up on the app drop me a message.

[al_yrpal]

YOu could try a food diary list what you eat portion sizes work out the calories. it helps to sort out the bad food from the good food, and helps you to choose what helps you.

Thats exactly what MyFitnessPal does.. He is now using it. You can put in the ingredients of meals you have regularly and call them up with a single click. There is a database of 3 million foods, many of them British. You can put in your cycling walking rowing and see what effect that that has on your nett calories.

Its easy to see when you have eaten little enough and exercised enough to earn a couple of pints.

The App is a great motivator because it shows you exactly what is happening.

Al