Lost Motivation...trying to get it back

Thank you, Amanda.

Good luck to you, too!

ronnie

I am at this point also, at 17 months out. Old habits are starting to creep back. But I am aware of it, and reading other people struggling, and the support we get here honestly gives me hope and strength.

Winter really made it tough on me. I hate exercising for the sake of exercising. Summertime has yardwork and swimming and just being active. The long cold Winters just plain suck!

Thanks to everyone *****sponded. This is the best place for support. Amanda and GRAMMAr, you are not alone!

-Bob

Thank you Bob.

It's definitely nice to not feel alone (although I wish none of us were struggling with this).

You have already taken the hardest step by saying enough is enough, reaching out and now you want to get back on track. Here are some steps that helped me and I hope they will help you too! You may have several starts and stops but don't give up, don't beat yourself up. IT WILL CLICK!!! Our tool works if we work the tool and get back to the basics.

Planning/Preparing

Remember when we were preparing for surgery? How many meetings, classes and such did we attend? We were told the more prepared we were the better our chances were for success. And they were right. Go through the house, car and work place and get rid of trigger foods. Stock up on foods that will keep you on track. I removed every bad carb/sugar temptation and replaced it with lots of protein, veggies, grains and fruits.

Journaling

Get back to journaling. This will help you identify when you feel like eating, stress factors and any triggers in your life. Once you identify these factors, this will help you put tools in place to keep you from eating. It became clear I was not taking time for me anymore. I worked my day job and then spent the rest of my time caring for my husband. It was easy to reach for fast, prepackaged food. Since I purged my home I have to eat clean as there are no other options LOL

Use a tool to track you're eating and exercise like Getting Started with Health Tracker. Once I started to track ever bite and drink it became clear why I had gained.

Goals/Rewards

Make a list of goals for yourself. Make them realistic and small. Some of mine were move more, purge all junk from my home, eat more protein. If you didn't make a Weight Loss Surgery bucket list when you first had surgery do it now. GREAT reminder of all the things you can enjoy in life after losing weight.

Food

In general, a long term post-weight loss surgery eating plan includes foods that are high in protein, and low in fat?, calories, and sugar. Important, vitamins and minerals are provided as supplements. (if you had a different surgery adjust this to your food plan).

Water

Water is our Best Friend. I have to say I never went back to pop or any bad drinks, however I was drinking tea like crazy. What is wrong with drinking tea? I was either using sugar or 3 equals and 3 sweet n lows per 32 ounce glass. I found once I started carrying one of the metal bottles of water to keep it cold I drank water all day.

MOVE!

I can't say enough about how key this was for me. The reason I kept my weight off for almost 10 years was no matter what, I kept moving. If I could not go to the gym I would walk. Grab a cart and walk all the isles at your local box store. I loved Zumba, bootcamp workouts, lifting weights. When I stopped, the weight started coming back. So for me I am starting slow to avoid injury by walking and using some of the workouts on my Demand TV. Find something you love to do and it won't feel like a pain in the *** to do daily.

Support

If it's an option "run" don't walk to a support group. Come here on OH daily for support and participate in one of the food threads. It helps you be accountable and also great ideas for food prep.

Keep me posted on how you are doing.

Thank you Kathy, for taking the time to write such a detailed response.

I really appreciate the support and advice given. I will definitely be taking the advice given and apply it to my life the best I can at this moment.

Just putting one foot in front of the other right now, and trying not to be too hard on myself (that's a tough one).

I know I need to give myself a break, because it puts me in this cycle of feeling down with myself and already defeated, and then I continue on with bad habits for another day, and then another. I'm really trying to fight that. That's why at this moment I'm doing day by day. Have I been perfect eating wise in the last 7 days....no, but I've been on track calorie wise most days.

Trying to take my mini victories when I get them, and trying to let my off days be what they are...an off day, and move onto the next day without feeling bad about the day before.

That's one of the many things I need to work on, but I think its a really important one I need to work on.

Again, thanks for your insightful post.

Amanda

Hi Manda,

One other thing that helped me... I am a visual person and they say it takes 30 days to break a cycle. I had small post-its. If I had a good day eating I would put a 1 on the post-it and put it on the wall in front of me where I saw it daily. Then I put a 2, 3, 4....and there were times I had to pull them down because I blew it. However, it worked for me. When I saw that 30 on the post-it, my cravings for carbs was gone, I felt so much better and more importantly, mentally I was not down and feeling bad about me any longer. Try it, it may help you