Staying motivated?

Hi everyone,

I know my issue is quite common, but still I can't seem to find a solution to it.
I realize I have a weight problem (I'm 5 ft 6 and weight around 165 pounds) and my efforts to look healthy again seem to lead to no results.

Every time I start dieting things go smoothly the first month, but after that I reach a plateau, at about 146 pounds, and I stop losing weight. It doesn't even matter if I start working out more or reduce the amount of daily calories. Soon, frustration and anxiety settle in and my motivation to keep dieting fades away. I find myself indulging in a piece of chocolate cake, then feeling guilty about it, then I start thinking that I'll never lose weight anyway so I might as well enjoy any sweet treat I like.


While dieting I get up on the scale after every meal, I weight myself in the morning, after exercising, before I go to bed, I'm literally obsessing over it and I realize it's not good for me. I'm thinking that maybe scaling myself so often is bad for my self esteem.
Does anyone have a solution to my problem? Do you think it's a medical problem, or do I just lack motivation? Also, has anyone heard of a quantum scale? It's supposed to be a scale that doesn't show you your weight, just records it and tells you your progress from the first day. Anyone used it? I'm thinking it would help me break this unhealthy habit of weighting myself 20 times/day because it's not only bad for my motivation but it also irritates people around me.

Thanks everyone!

Hi realAnna,

Welcome to our forum, I hope you will enjoy the people you meet here and benefit from the sharing that occurs.

You are correct that you are weighing yourself too often. If you weigh after every meal, etc., all you are doing is frustrating yourself.

I am not a dietician, but I've been advised that it is best to weigh yourself once a day, always at the same time. Most people think the best time to do this is first thing in the morning.

Here's an article from a licensed psychotherapistwho specializes in long term weight loss, which addresses your concerns better than I could.

Well, I can make a guess here. First of all, losing 20 pounds is a significant achievement! At your height, 146 pounds ought to be almost perfect. Why has that weight been a failure to you?

Second, and most important, you are focusing way, way too much on dieting and losing weight instead of learning to eat well and exercise regularly. Diets never work except as a temporary fix. Learning to eat well and exercise regularly are permanent.

Throw away the stupid scale. Frankly, no one cares what you actually weigh. How do you feel? What are you eating? What kinds of exercise do you do regularly? How do your clothes fit? Are you busy?

If you have, as a goal, the idea that you will become a size 2 you won't get there without starving yourself. That will make dieting look like a pleasure. I know someone who has done this: devoted her live to eating as little as possible. Oh, she's very thin, but she doesn't look healthy -- and she isn't healthy -- and she's pretty boring.

Make treating yourself well a positive experience and the rest will follow. And good luck.

Congrats. for losing that weight.

What have you changed in your diet..long-term? Foods that you have dropped off and no longer have interest? And food that you eat now but never did before?

At some point, to change some habits to incorporate more physical exercise/mobility.

I will turn 53..and yes, as everyone else knows, have been cycling almost last 20 yrs. regularily. I don't have car and don't need it..cycling is how I get groceries, do errands, go to work or I take transit/walk.

So half of the time I don't think of it as a chore or as "exercise". It's part of our lifestyle.

Let us know how things go for you over time.

Thank you all for your replies! It means a lot to me that you took your time to write.

Ellemm - I think you're right, I am focusing way too much on dieting rather that just have a healthy lifestyle, but I still look chubby, and I have a lot of fat around my waist and exercising does not help I definitely don't want to end up being one of those girls obsessed about the way they look, so I'm working on boosting my self-esteem.

Anne - Thank you for sharing the article, seems really interesting!

orchid - well, I'm drinking a bit more milk now, but it's skim milk and I only drink it in the morning. I try to exercise as often as I can, but sometimes I just don't feel motivated enough.

I'll keep you updated on how this is going, and thank you all again for your thoughtful words.

The holidays do me in. I maintain a good weight. Then the Holidays arrrive, be it: Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, and there I am eating frosted cookies and chocolate candy. I love turkey dressing and mashed potatoes 'n gravy. Most of the time I stay with 3 meals a day, nothing in between, and cut back on the goodies. I exercise, when well. But losing weight is difficult for me. I've been wanting to drop 10 pounds for 4 decades. Haven't done it yet.

Thanks guys for sharing your knowledge..........

Hi Anna,
Set realistic goals to measure your progress, add fun in your workouts and never stop experimenting. Keep your workout journal to measure your progress and stay close to people who encourage you. Remember why you have started working out and pick up where you left off.

lol, that is me too, jabber. I love to eat and I am a good cook. Cooking good homemade food has been part of my life for so long. I really don't eat a lot of junk food(except at this time of the year... a lot of quality control testing going on while making the cookies and candy )but I do enjoy eating mashed potatoes and gravy and homemade bread. I always have homemade bread/rolls of some kind in my freezer. I can't tell you the last time I ate store bread.

I am thinking of trying yoga. Any yoga gals here that can recommend a good DVD for beginners. I am more interested in keeping flexible, in my now senior years, than I am on losing the 10 pounds, but if those 10 extra pounds happens to fall off in the process, yay! lol

Keep me posted an any videos you know of. I also love to cook. And I need to exercise and lose some weight. Hard to do in winter.

Just try a beginner's yoga.

But seriously take at least 1 course for 2 months. To learn how to do it safely and proper positioning.

It's great for stretching and prevent you from getting backaches because..you're body is tight.

The whole point to learn a few simple manoeuvres and do it often anywhere, etc.

We'll be going snowshoeing over the holidays. I'm just hoping for fluffy snow, lots of it.

Tai Chi is also good, because it gives me energy and increases my balance. I'm needing to get back into both as soon as I have a little more energy to do the routines.

Years ago, when i was so severely debilitated by chronic fatigue and pain, I tried yoga, but it was excruciating, and triggered such severe pain in my hips that I ended up on crutches for several weeks. So then I switched to Tai Chi and loved it. It was perfect for me, and although I've forgotten most of the moves now, I still do the stretching exercises every morning. I found it gentle, yet perfect given all the arthritis that flares up with most other exercises.

All good information to know!

I have thought about Tai Chi too. One of the civic centers in my area has had tai chi classes...once. I have been checking to see if it will offer again, but no luck so far.

I think I would like both yoga and Tai Chi. This older body can't do high pact or low pact aerobic anymore. I generally walk, but when the weather gets cold with snow/ice/winds, I don't walk. I've gotten wimpy.

Tai Chi and Yoga can be done with instructional DVDs, but I think it's better to go to at least one series of classes for each. Are there Yoga schools in your area? They will sometimes have low cost classes; there's one here that offers a series for $4/class of either yoga or Tai Chi.

We have Gold’s Gym that has yoga classes a few days a week. I have thought about giving that a try but Gold's Gym demographic age group is mostly much younger people, which is ok but....I don't know. I'll have to do some more checking. But yeah, I think going to an actual class first for yoga or tai chi would be beneficial that way I could be sure I was doing the exercise movements properly.

I use to go to Curves years ago. I liked it a lot, but it got boring after a couple of years.