Need motivation! Will I ever lose this weight?

F

FitNut

Cathlete
Hi gals :) Do you ever feel like you just work and work and make little progress in meeting your fitness goals? Okay, let me first tell you I was on my period this past week so that may have something to do with it????? But I don't think that is the ONLY reason I am feeling such.

Anyway, I have been working so hard for months. Yes, I have lost weight, have decreased my pant size from a size 12 to a size 8/10 in the past few months. However, for how hard I am working I just don't seem to be getting the results I should. The scale hasn't budged in over a month! I had a baby a year ago and am down to my pre-preggo weight and almost size. However, my belly is just still so flabby and my legs need some serious fat reduction!!!!!

I am doing Body for Life most of the time. It is easy for me to stay motivated on the workouts (most of the time).

I think it is the food that is messing me up! How do you stay motivated to eat good all week and at every single meal? A few months ago I was doing great, sticking to the BFL eating and not cheating. The last few weeks I have just found it so hard not to cheat. It's not like I cheat that much but I think it is enough that it is keeping me from my goals. I usually eat good all day but then hubby gets out the fruity pebbles at 9:00 and I fell for it two times this week ;(

I know that BFL works for me when I just DO IT and stick the workouts and the eating! I am going to try starting over on Sunday and hubby says he is too (which will help a ton).

How can I stay motivated to truly finish 12 weeks, not cheat and truly meet my goals and lose this fat booty once and for all????
 
Hi, Fitnut -

I know and I think a lot of ladies on this forum know what you're going through. It does seem like the results you get sometimes don't match the effort you put forth. I never weigh myself during TTOTM...I know it's going to be a higher number than I want! Keep looking at the results you've had so far...down a size is FANTASTIC!! If your scale hasn't budged, maybe it's time to mix up your routine a bit and confuse your muscles. Your body can get adapted to a routine that's done consistently. Try something different, or increase your weights a bit.

As far as diet, I try and take it just day by day. I ask myself if the short-term satisfaction of having something "un-clean" is really worth not reaching my ultimate goal. Of course, you don't want to deprive yourself completely, but you want to make treats the exception, not the rule! GET THOSE FRUITY PEBBLES OUT OF THE HOUSE!! :p

Just remember that healthy can't always be measure by the mirror or the scale. If you continue to make healthy choices with your diet and exercise consistently, you are making huge leaps to prevent heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and other debilitating diseases that will rob you of life and vitality! The weight will eventually drop off....it takes time. I know my body has definitely changed after having kids....but you can still look great and be healthy.

Don't beat yourself up....just start over and enjoy!! GOOD LUCK! :)

Have a great weekend!

Angie
 
You've dropped from 12 to 8/10, yee ha! That's your first motivation. You ARE doing it! I curse scales! Pah! Your pants are getting smaller, that's all that matters. Women naturally flucuate by 3 or more pounds which has nothing to do with body fat. Fruity Pebbles two times a week is NOT a problem. Don't think of foods as forbidden and I bet you, you can say, no, I don't want it. If you know you can eat anything, it becomes much less tempting. Treating yourself a few times is good for a clean diet. If your thing is Fruity Pebbles, eat them sometimes. I have gotten really picky about my junk by tasting things that look tempting. I find myself thinking I'd rather hold off for the prize, something worthy of my desire. I am a junk food snob. Then I hope someone offers me chocolate cake or ice cream or I get talked into a trip to Dairy Queen. Mmmmm! But most of the time, its the good stuff, whole wheat pasta and bread, lean protein sources, beautiful vegetables and nice fruit because I really want to feed myself in a way that enhances my energy and helps me build myself into the goddess I know I can be.;) Not exactly Aphrodite but fit, slim strong and energetic. And happy too.

You will lose what you need to. It seems I never hit my goals when I am too focused on the results I WISH I'd see. But if I focus on taking the steps I know are necessary, they come; sometimes too pokily but I know I am too impatient sometimes. I consider it the lesson I need to learn. Be realistic! There's no six pack in my future but a slim flat stomach is a go!

Write down a potential goal for 12 weeks and a couple of possiblities of how to meet it. Flexibilty is a must. You might lose a little more or a little less and that's just fine! Make weekly goals, challenges and rewards. Pay attention. It will need tweaking and you may say wow, I can do it in 14 weeks or I'd better add 2. But having a well formed plan is woderful. Play with your food. Add new ones. Food is to be enjoyed even when you eat a clean diet! Eat lots of fiber. It fill you up and slims you down! I have a fiber fetish. Sometimes I wish we had a dog. :)

Be relaxed. You have time. Life is to be enjoyed. You will meet your goals much more easily if you don't see it as a do or die situatin but a lifestyle that is wonderful for you! You sound pretty content and not stressed. You can do this!

Let us know. Let us encourage. You go, girl!
Bobbi http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif "Chick's rule!"

Tell me, what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver
 
Hi Pam! I know I am not going to be much help here as I struggle with the same thing. I can exercise til the cows come home. I really think though that you truly need to give yourself credit on going from a size 12 to an 8/10. That is a wonderful accomplishment especially after having a baby just a year ago!!!I struggle with the same areas of my body that you do. I am thinking of starting a food journal today to see if that helps me with my "cheat" moments. (I just got back from a phoone call form my MIL that lasted over a 1/2 hour so I am thinking maybe someone has posted with some better advice.) I just want to say keep up the good work and WE will get there. Great to see you here BTW!!!
Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH (AKA "Den Mother Debbie")http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/wavey.gif[/img] If You Get The Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!!
 
Do I ever feel like I work too hard and go nowhere? Oh yeah. All the time.

Like everyone has said, give yourself credit for going down in size. And don't look at the scale too much. I hardly weigh myself anymore. I only pay attention to the way my clothes fit and the numbers on the measuring tape.

Fitnut, I had a baby almost 5 years ago. My belly and legs are STILL my problem areas. They've improved some in the almost-two years I've been using Cathe's workouts, but I've resigned myself to these facts: a) I don't have Cathe's genes; b) getting my workouts in and eating clean seem harder now that my boy is growing up; and c) this will only get harder as the years go by. But I also know this: the point to all this exercise, from the very beginning, was to gain strength. That was the goal and I've reached it.

I do not eat well all week at every meal. I used to. When my son was much younger and I didn't have to drive him everywhere to his needed "activities", it was much easier to eat well. But now I'm constantly on the run and getting a 40/30/30 ratio in every meal is impossible. I simply make sure my food is as close to its original state as possible. That's the only thing I can do these days.

I've also found out that if I'm craving for... say, some chocolate, and I try to appease it with an apple, I will go through all the fruits in the house and STILL want that chocolate. It's much easier to have the darn chocolate (a reasonable amount) and get over it afterwards. I consume less calories that way.:)

Just keep doing what you need to do. The key here is consistency. You'll get to where you want to go eventually.:)

Pinky
 
Thank you girls. You reminded me of so many of the things I know I need to do! Journal, be patient, get the bad foods out of the house and get refocused. I have really slacked off on my journaling and I think it has hurt my focus. For some reason the journal just really helps for me. I use the BFL Success Journal as it works perfect for the program and makes me accountable to myself "on PAPER!" I know I should also be happy about going down in size. I had bought a bunch of pants at christmas time (all size 10 from the Gap) and they are ALL too big. I had to buy all 8's b/c they were literally falling off of me at work and my girlfriends were laughing.

Ya' know I have been so dang busy at work, working way too many hours, a 40 minute drive to work, hubby travelling all the time and my 2 little angel kids (1 & 4) that I wish I could spend ALL of my time with!!! I have been staying up too late at night working from home on my laptop until wee hours and I think I am not getting enough sleep, then my energy gets depleted, I turn to quick foods and then it is like a vicious circle! I also think I got a little lazy after going down a couple sizes and thought I needed a "break" which I probably did??? But not as long as I took!!!! I just need to get refocused!

I am going to take your advice, right down some short term (weekly) goals and the longer term goals. For this week I think they will be things like get enough sleep, get rid of the fruity pebbles, start journal, and eat clean. I am hoping by next Sunday at this time I am happy after a successful week and back on the happy BFL wagon again!

Hubby promised me this afternoon that he would join in BFL with me starting tomorrow. I am sooooo happy as that always helps so much to have him eating clean too.

Finsgirl - Ya' know the funny thing is I usually don't even like Fruity Pebbles! But for some reason this last week they were yummy! Sooooo funny what we will eat when we feel deprived and lose focus!! ha ha ha ha

Debbie/Pinky - what is it about our belly and legs that just want to stick around? My mom once told me a good story about a work seminar she was at awhile back. The speaker asked who in the room asked if therir legs were worth a million bucks??? Not many raised their hand. Then he asked how many in the room would give up one of their legs for 1 million bucks? Kind of puts it in perspective doesn't it? I wouldn't trade my legs for a million bucks but I do wish at least a couple pounds would fall off of them ;)

Anyway - thank you girls for the excellent advice! You are the best! I think I just need to visit these boards more often. The other night when I had my bowl of fruity pebbles I logged on here to lurk a bit and even told my hubby that if I had of visited before the fruity pebbles I probably would have never eaten them in the first place that night!!!!
 
Hi FitNut,

Good luck and you have gotten some really great advice, also one of the things they really help me, was to dig out my jeans that I use to wear. I hung those up on next to my closet so I had to look at them every moning, this help keep me motivated as I so wanted to wear those pants again. And this usually set me up to start me off right in the morning with a good breakfast, as I just had motivation right in my fase while I got my other clothes out, that fit at the time.

When I started to feel like I wasn't losing weight, I'd pull out the one pair of jeans I saved from when I weighed my most. And put those on. There is nothing like actually seeing an old pair of pants fall to the floor the minute you let go of them. To really show you, how much you've already have succeeded.

Also I made sure I couldn't easily fall backwards, everytime I went down a size the bigger size when to good will. No clothes to have a bad day, with. Which makes it much harder to allow yourself to slip if you do, your clothes are very very tight and not so comfy. Which then turns into a constant reminder to eat better, so they feel better again. So there was no oops I pigged out on cookies last night I'll just get into my fat jeans. No fat jeans, in the closet, I had to wear my size at the time and feel uncomfortable all day long. Which really helped me not slip as I didn't like feeling uncomfortable, in my clothes.

I was lucky in a way, as once I was able to walk and get around again the pounds started to fall off, as I was on bed rest for a year from braking and compressing my back, but trying to get those muscles tight, was a challenge even after I lost the weight, the medicine they used to save my life destoried every ounce of muscle strength I had, and actually having to build my muscle back up from a newborn baby's was a really challenge. And I remember how annoyed I was as how slow everything was building up, and there were weeks I thought I'd never get strong again. So if I can learn how to walk three times, I'm sure you can lose all the weight you want and eat healthy too. Just remember to take it meal by meal and never beat yourself up over it.

Also do not deny yourself from eating something, that is one of the worst things you can do, as it will make you over eat something else. Give yourself a bite size piece and limit yourself to that. As a clinical researcher, the studys I help with on that subject, almost every single person we tested, once we put their favorite food in front of them let them smell it, look at it, then took it way and gave them healthy food, 87 out of 100 all over ate their 300-400 calorie limit on their next meal/snack. But if we gave them a portion of their favorite, they all either ate their right amount or even cut back a little feeling more full faster.

Also it does take a really long time to burn off the fat. As the only time your actually burning fat is when you are working 65% - 85% of your max heart rate. Most of the time, when we workout, we are lucky to get 40 minutes at that level, so it takes a long time to acutally burn up 3500 calories of fat.

Also I found with some of my clients, seeing a graph of their progress really helped inspire them to keep at it. I just used a piece of graph paper, and graphic their weight, their inches in all the main areas they wanted to lose, and it they loved seeing where that new dot would fall and how much more that line would fall down, until it hit their target. But it really is a very powerful tool, to see the top of a line chart and see the line fall and know you are the one who has made it fall that much and actually have a real visual of how close you are to your goal.

Anyway I hope that helps, and keep your head up,

Kit
 
FitNut-

Wow, you have a lot going on! Don't you have a few older children also? I thought I saw them on the Catheaddicts board. If I had as much going on as you do, I'd be too busy trying to keep up with my life to try to get much fitness in. But then I get overwhelmed easily. I have a job and a husband and that's it and I'm overwhelmed sometimes! I'm not helping am I?

I guess what I'm trying to say is give yourself credit for all that you do in your life, be content to be healthy without worrying about being at some perfect weight. Sometimes I find the more I try, the worse I do with the weight thing. If you're a size 8/10 you're probably just fine the way you are.

I truly admire women like you, who do it all and live life to the fullest. Enjoy it!! But maybe don't take on anything new for awhile, and try to carve out a little more time for yourself where you can. When things are less hectic, it's a little easier to be in control, and to enjoy the process of becoming more fit rather than seeing it as all chore and discipline.

I hope that helps?

-Nancy
 
>Debbie/Pinky - what is it about our belly and legs that just
>want to stick around? My mom once told me a good story about
>a work seminar she was at awhile back. The speaker asked who
>in the room asked if therir legs were worth a million bucks???
> Not many raised their hand. Then he asked how many in the
>room would give up one of their legs for 1 million bucks?
>Kind of puts it in perspective doesn't it? I wouldn't trade
>my legs for a million bucks but I do wish at least a couple
>pounds would fall off of them ;)

Oh Fitnut... I think when God was handing out thigh and butt fat, we were asleep under the apple tree. Everyone else was lucky enough to stay hidden in their respective homes.:)

I sincerely believe, just by pinching certain areas of my body, that I have about 10 lbs. of fat around my hips, in my butt, and in my inner and outer thighs alone. And no amount of leg work makes them budge. I'd have to diet myself to a highly catabolic state to get this butt and these legs smaller. But that'd be stupid.

I wouldn't trade my legs for anything. I'm just glad I'm healthy, and despite my bad knees, I can still hold my own when I'm chasing my wild boy around. Talking of kids, it's really, really hard to keep the focus on yourself -- even if it's just ONE, MEASLY thing about yourself -- when you have kids.

Actually, the idea of keeping a journal is good. I had beautiful results when I kept one. I just couldn't dedicate a whole lot to it because I found the act of having to jot down every little thing that went in my mouth annoying. Maybe I should also start keeping one again.:)

Pinky
 
Fit Nut,
You have made progress with your weight loss. Give it time and keep at it. Getting where you want to be takes a lot of time for many and sometimes we are impatient. Diet is a huge part of the equation. That is wonderful if your dh will do Body for Life with you. I think we all struggle with diet. Maybe have a goal date set to do some pictures. Then you can work towards the before and after pictures. I have a binder that has places to drop in pictures. I have dropped in someone I would like to look like and it reminds me when I start my workout and day. I am still trying for certain goals and I know diet is not helping me. I eat clean most of the time, but then yesterday we ate out twice. I had red snapper and salad the first time. Second, 10 pm I am with Nephew & his wife, and my DH, eating an egg substitute veggie omelette, but they bring out pancakes. I forgot about the pancakes and I had butter pecan syrup as well. OK that was my cheat day;-) Keep at it you can attain your goals, and are already on your way.
Diane Sue
 
Thanks Diane Sue. We are going to Florida in exactly 13 wks for a 10 day vacation. I think I am going to set a date to take goal picture right before the trip. I am going to keep visualizing myself on the beach in a bikini (and I haven't worn a bikini since before I was preggo w/baby #1 so this may be a serious stretch goal!) come July 1!!!!!

So far I did good today! I did not cheat even once, hit my workout hard and feel great! I am only up as I fell asleep at 8:30 on the couch and just woke up, put the laundry in the dryer and decided to stop in at Cathe.com for a few.

Off to bed! Thanks ladies for the great advice!!!

p.s. I also started my journal again today and I think that helps a lot!!!

Pinky - came back to add that I usually do my journal at the end of the day. I find that when I do BFL straight forward it is really easy to journal. I just keep notes at work of what I eat and then transfer them quickly to my success journal at night. Now doing it BEFORE I pass out on the couch is another problem on it's own ;)
 
Fit,


I was wondering what workouts you are doing every week? How many days per week are you working out? How many calories are you taking in each day? I noticed that you are doing BFL, what does your food intake look like for the day?

:) :) ;-) :D :p :9 :+ :7
 
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