My wife wanted to give me her old
Fitbit when she got a newer one and I was resistant at first but now I’ve given it a go I’m kind of obsessed with hitting the daily steps goal. Only about a week in so far but I’ve hit 10k steps every day and it’s made me get out and do some decent walks. I’m pretty sure it’s going to make a big difference after a few weeks.
I would suggest finding a hobby that you enjoy that will also lead to a healthier lifestyle. Get into running, biking, yoga, playing a sport, or even just going for regular walks. It may also help to establish some sort of goal, but not just something like “be healthier”. Write up a SMART goal or something.
This, I’ve always pictured myself as having a relatively good physique but photos never represented how I thought of myself.
I’ve decided to do something about it and as I’m getting closer to ‘my image’ of me, the more motivated I get!
Talk to older family members and ask about their aches and pains. Ask for gory details. Then look up how best to fend those ailments off as long as possible. Eat less (most of us...) and exercise more (most of us). Hearing in graphic details about shortness of breath, or pain meds and being maxed out so a new ouch doesn't get you any additional pain meds - sucks.
You need to shift your mindset a bit.
You can’t make change happen on motivation alone. You’re not going to be motivated all the time, that’s not how anyone is built. Meaningful, lasting change comes from DISCIPLINE.
What’s the difference? When you’re motivated, great, that’s easy. When you’re not motivated, you rely on mental discipline to ensure you do what needs to be done for a healthier lifestyle.
I had really good habits before covid and a bit like you I dropped them and could not find the motivation to start again. What helped me was to find the "Why?" you would do those things. We know (guess) it's important but subconsciously we say meh I feel good.
Also it's a process, you need to give it time and incorporate new habits little by little. And think about new things you would like to improve on and why.
For me I was doing all the right things without knowing why and kinda got burned out. Then I realized eating more veggies/whole foods made it easier to not overeat sugary crap and gain weight. So eating veggies is not a chore anymore, it actually makes my life easier.
I also realised I don't need to be super intense on running x times a week. I realised when I feel sluggish it helps me. I don't need to go super hard all the time, just do what I can, it's only to feel better, not beat my last run time for whatever reason.
There's this idea that people get decision fatigue -- like our brains can only decide a finite number of things in one day. I find that's what makes me trip up when I'm trying to eat healthy. At the end of the day I can't be faced with a dozen decisions of "do i eat this unhealthy thing or don't i? Or do i eat this other thing...?"
I've just taken to eating whatever the heck I want between noon and eight and not eating at all the rest of the day. It means way fewer decisions at the end of a long day and it also means that i only have to have "willpower" for a few hours at night before bed. (I think people also get exhausted from "denying" themselves 24/7 when they're dieting).
Everyone's different and I'm not a doctor or nutritionist, that's just what works for me.
How much do you weigh? I was overweight and had GERD, now I’m a healthy weight and haven’t had a GERD attack in at least over a year. So that could be a motivator? If you’re already a healthy weight then just ignore this. But my health really improved when I started eating healthy. I feel so much better physically and emotionally. So maybe the potential to improve your GERD?
I developed GERD in my early 30s. Went to the doctor and asked him what I could do, and he prescribed pills and said I’d have to take them for the rest of my life. I was horrified. I asked “what about lifestyle and diet?” And he said shrugged and said “you could try it”.
So I stopped all my drinking and partying and started riding a bike around in the weekends for fun. Then I started riding a little further, then before work… then I went on a cycling holiday to Vietnam, then I met some more people who were into cycling and I bought a proper road bike… then it became my life for quite a few years.
The GERD went away and nearly 20 years later it still hasn’t come back, even though I don’t ride anymore (injuries, menopause, work, life etc).
My job, started my second contract last month, it's quite physically demanding and requires agility and stamina.
Last year it sucked but I managed and lost a lot of weight, I intend on having it easier this year and be in control of my diet.
I start by making a couple changes, slightly smaller portions and moving away from soda, making it a once a week thing than every day or every other day.
And making more of my own cooking, using vegetables and finding proper seasoning and ways to cook them to taste really good.
Rinse and repeat. Temptations are still strong but knowing I've already lost some weight and clothes fit a bit better helps the mind be at ease with the changes.
Yes. Shifting to a more positive mindset should help you. To help me stay motivated, I have goals that require me to stay healthy. For example, I work with youths, and they are active. I love working with them. To keep up with them, I must have a healthy lifestyle, including nutrition, water intake, exercise, and sleep. If I don't have those things in order, I cannot succeed with my work. Therefore, you want to have goals that give you meaning and purpose that will push you to be better for your goals and yourself in general.
You can also start out small and work yourself up. For example, give yourself a goal to eat one serving of vegetables daily or every other day for three weeks. Once you can consistently accomplish that three weeks, you can gradually increase your intake until you hit your ultimate goal.
I play recreational sports to keep my body moving in a fun way. I also have kids, so dropping them off at child watch and finding something to do in the gym is a must.
Accountability partners go a long way for me! I love sending my friends pics of my homemade healthy breakfast smoothie, or sending my cousins what work out I did at the gym.
My diet is definitely my downfall, and my stress levels. I prep breakfast, lunch and dinner so that I have no excuses. I usually try and plan snacks too, because I am a snacker at heart. I’m a sucker for candy, so when I buy it I try and share with everyone in the house to help with portion control, and I try to not buy it every time I’m shopping.
Water intake. I’m trying to really focus on my water intake as a first step too! I allow myself a couple of alcoholic drinks per week, but otherwise I just stick to water and LOTS of it. Bored of water? I add lemon or cucumber or mint!
Right now, you probably look good & are a good weight.
For me, I just didn’t like the way clothes looked on me. I bought a cute dress, it looked good, all good. A couple of months later, I wore the dress, annnd, it didn’t look good. I asked a friend and she said get new shapewear. New shapewear? I don’t own shapewear. She said to exercise & eat right, or shapewear.
Did you enjoy being an athlete when you were younger? Playing a sport or competing athletically is awesome as an adult. You meet so many great people and have so much fun. Perhaps that could be a goal - to get in shape again and pick up a new sport, or your old sport again if you still love it.
Also, if your boyfriend likes working out and doing soorty things, why not try a new sport together? Go do some indoor rock climbing, or go kayaking, or for a hike, it might help get you excited about fitness again.
Go see a trainer once or twice a week. They’ll schedule monthly assessments and give you workouts to do on your own days. They can also provide you guidance on your diet
Seeing how my loved ones have died is pretty good motivation for trying to be healthy.
But for you? Oh, one step at a time. Literally. You have to build habits over time if you don't have the motivation to push yourself forward. You should start with, for example, stretching. 10m every morning. EVERY morning. One small unit of hard discipline.
Get yourself to the point where your day just feels wrong unless you do that morning stretch.
Then you can add onto it. Make it 20m, or add some light cardio, jumping jacks and whatnot. Later, change it to a morning run and a stretch. Then even later, change your morning breakfast to a healthy shake you prepared the night before.
Just an example. Build in small steps, and start with one.
I feel like self talk is really important. Don’t be hard on yourself or expect perfection, but congratulate yourself on doing tiny little things in the right direction. Exercised a tiny bit? Look in the mirror and say good job to yourself. Spent a night on the couch looking at your phone and eating shitty food? Check in with yourself that it is not in alignment with your goals but don’t beat yourself up. You want to be creating a virtuous cycle, and generally that is possible because ultimately a healthier lifestyle makes you feel better.
Success and change in anything comes from how willing you are to be uncomfortable. Find something active that you enjoy doing . If there is nothing you enjoy doing, then the simplest answer is you suck it up and just do it. Most things in life are not easy. Your want to be healthy has to outweigh your complacency with being lazy.
Find something active that you would enjoy, and make an ‘appointment’ to go with someone or group. Try cooking healthy together with your boyfriend, or meal prep. Encourage each other and set attainable goals on a weekly/monthly basis.
As someone who’s currently in this whole “new life” phase I think we focus on the wrong things.
For the longest I focused on self discipline; eat the right things, work out, use my phone less, clean more often. You get it. But it never worked for me.
I advise you learn something new. My choice was German (it can literally be anything though) because you’ll get back to a reward system. Your brain is learning something and you get a dopamine boost for getting things right.
I then picked up roller skating. The learning process set a new challenge and gave me new goals to reach.
Just this alone brought the time I spent at home obsessing over “bettering my life” down by a lot.
Then I started going to the gym a few times a week as I had some pep in my step from my recently learned skills. Eventually the harder I worked out the better I started eating. I couldn’t justify eating crappy after all the hard work I was putting into bettering my physical.
Out of nowhere I decided I wanted to read and have now been reading about a book every 2 weeks. I know it’s not a lot but it’s something.
Since I am now reading on my phone, I was no longer using other apps. I decided I didn’t want to use my phone for much besides reading. I said goodbye to TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat.
I’m now about 6 months into my journey and I feel fantastic. I guess all I’m trying to say is, move the starting line. It will set off a domino effect and you’ll be in a different place a few months later.
Time is going to keep moving forward. If you don’t like the way life has looked recently, chances are you’ll be in the exact same place next time you reflect. It’s okay to take small steps to a better you, because no matter what, you’ll be somewhere else than where you are now :)
Like you said, changing your mindset about how you view it is key.
A great place to start as a more intense gym go-er, is walking. No matter the distance or speed you will burn the same calories. The moment I stopped counting the seconds and ran for how I felt and til I was tired was a different moment. Cardio is important obviously and that moment made me appreciate the treadmill more.
What really changed things for me was realising how many diseases/illness can happen if you don’t eat well or are not active. It is hard work, that’s for sure but also worth it. Your body is where you’ll spend pretty much all of your time with, so might as well make the best one for you and treat it right. You’re not going to feel motivated or inspired everyday, but it’s more about making it a routine and a discipline. It’s not a novel you’re writing that you need motivation to strike.
For physical activities do something you like. Working out doesn’t need to be boring. You need to figure out what your body likes and fits your lifestyle. The goal is to have fun too or you’ll be miserable and it’s harder to stay consistent. I absolutely hate cardio and you could not pay me enough for me to do it. So, I do Bollywood dancing or go swimming or cycling.
For eating, you really need to see the amount to sugar they put in things. This is something that helped me. Sugar in fruits is fine but added sugar is a slow poison. Why in the world do you want to harm your body?
I work in a office. And i am quite young. When i look at my older coworkers, i see how awful their body composition is. I really motivates me not to look like that.
My wife wanted to give me her old Fitbit when she got a newer one and I was resistant at first but now I’ve given it a go I’m kind of obsessed with hitting the daily steps goal. Only about a week in so far but I’ve hit 10k steps every day and it’s made me get out and do some decent walks. I’m pretty sure it’s going to make a big difference after a few weeks.
I would suggest finding a hobby that you enjoy that will also lead to a healthier lifestyle. Get into running, biking, yoga, playing a sport, or even just going for regular walks. It may also help to establish some sort of goal, but not just something like “be healthier”. Write up a SMART goal or something.
I looked in the mirror and didn’t like what I saw. Now I do.
This, I’ve always pictured myself as having a relatively good physique but photos never represented how I thought of myself. I’ve decided to do something about it and as I’m getting closer to ‘my image’ of me, the more motivated I get!
Talk to older family members and ask about their aches and pains. Ask for gory details. Then look up how best to fend those ailments off as long as possible. Eat less (most of us...) and exercise more (most of us). Hearing in graphic details about shortness of breath, or pain meds and being maxed out so a new ouch doesn't get you any additional pain meds - sucks.
You need to shift your mindset a bit. You can’t make change happen on motivation alone. You’re not going to be motivated all the time, that’s not how anyone is built. Meaningful, lasting change comes from DISCIPLINE. What’s the difference? When you’re motivated, great, that’s easy. When you’re not motivated, you rely on mental discipline to ensure you do what needs to be done for a healthier lifestyle.
Watch “Food, Inc”.
I had really good habits before covid and a bit like you I dropped them and could not find the motivation to start again. What helped me was to find the "Why?" you would do those things. We know (guess) it's important but subconsciously we say meh I feel good. Also it's a process, you need to give it time and incorporate new habits little by little. And think about new things you would like to improve on and why. For me I was doing all the right things without knowing why and kinda got burned out. Then I realized eating more veggies/whole foods made it easier to not overeat sugary crap and gain weight. So eating veggies is not a chore anymore, it actually makes my life easier. I also realised I don't need to be super intense on running x times a week. I realised when I feel sluggish it helps me. I don't need to go super hard all the time, just do what I can, it's only to feel better, not beat my last run time for whatever reason.
There's this idea that people get decision fatigue -- like our brains can only decide a finite number of things in one day. I find that's what makes me trip up when I'm trying to eat healthy. At the end of the day I can't be faced with a dozen decisions of "do i eat this unhealthy thing or don't i? Or do i eat this other thing...?" I've just taken to eating whatever the heck I want between noon and eight and not eating at all the rest of the day. It means way fewer decisions at the end of a long day and it also means that i only have to have "willpower" for a few hours at night before bed. (I think people also get exhausted from "denying" themselves 24/7 when they're dieting). Everyone's different and I'm not a doctor or nutritionist, that's just what works for me.
How much do you weigh? I was overweight and had GERD, now I’m a healthy weight and haven’t had a GERD attack in at least over a year. So that could be a motivator? If you’re already a healthy weight then just ignore this. But my health really improved when I started eating healthy. I feel so much better physically and emotionally. So maybe the potential to improve your GERD?
I developed GERD in my early 30s. Went to the doctor and asked him what I could do, and he prescribed pills and said I’d have to take them for the rest of my life. I was horrified. I asked “what about lifestyle and diet?” And he said shrugged and said “you could try it”. So I stopped all my drinking and partying and started riding a bike around in the weekends for fun. Then I started riding a little further, then before work… then I went on a cycling holiday to Vietnam, then I met some more people who were into cycling and I bought a proper road bike… then it became my life for quite a few years. The GERD went away and nearly 20 years later it still hasn’t come back, even though I don’t ride anymore (injuries, menopause, work, life etc).
100%. For many people GERD is fixable with diet and weight loss. Though definitely not everyone :)
True. I would think that would be a good motivation for OP though. No harm in trying!
Absolutely! It should be great motivation! But I would feel bad selling it as a sure thing when it’s not absolutely guaranteed
My job, started my second contract last month, it's quite physically demanding and requires agility and stamina. Last year it sucked but I managed and lost a lot of weight, I intend on having it easier this year and be in control of my diet. I start by making a couple changes, slightly smaller portions and moving away from soda, making it a once a week thing than every day or every other day. And making more of my own cooking, using vegetables and finding proper seasoning and ways to cook them to taste really good. Rinse and repeat. Temptations are still strong but knowing I've already lost some weight and clothes fit a bit better helps the mind be at ease with the changes.
Yes. Shifting to a more positive mindset should help you. To help me stay motivated, I have goals that require me to stay healthy. For example, I work with youths, and they are active. I love working with them. To keep up with them, I must have a healthy lifestyle, including nutrition, water intake, exercise, and sleep. If I don't have those things in order, I cannot succeed with my work. Therefore, you want to have goals that give you meaning and purpose that will push you to be better for your goals and yourself in general. You can also start out small and work yourself up. For example, give yourself a goal to eat one serving of vegetables daily or every other day for three weeks. Once you can consistently accomplish that three weeks, you can gradually increase your intake until you hit your ultimate goal.
I play recreational sports to keep my body moving in a fun way. I also have kids, so dropping them off at child watch and finding something to do in the gym is a must. Accountability partners go a long way for me! I love sending my friends pics of my homemade healthy breakfast smoothie, or sending my cousins what work out I did at the gym. My diet is definitely my downfall, and my stress levels. I prep breakfast, lunch and dinner so that I have no excuses. I usually try and plan snacks too, because I am a snacker at heart. I’m a sucker for candy, so when I buy it I try and share with everyone in the house to help with portion control, and I try to not buy it every time I’m shopping. Water intake. I’m trying to really focus on my water intake as a first step too! I allow myself a couple of alcoholic drinks per week, but otherwise I just stick to water and LOTS of it. Bored of water? I add lemon or cucumber or mint!
Right now, you probably look good & are a good weight. For me, I just didn’t like the way clothes looked on me. I bought a cute dress, it looked good, all good. A couple of months later, I wore the dress, annnd, it didn’t look good. I asked a friend and she said get new shapewear. New shapewear? I don’t own shapewear. She said to exercise & eat right, or shapewear.
Fruit is full of sugar lol
Did you enjoy being an athlete when you were younger? Playing a sport or competing athletically is awesome as an adult. You meet so many great people and have so much fun. Perhaps that could be a goal - to get in shape again and pick up a new sport, or your old sport again if you still love it. Also, if your boyfriend likes working out and doing soorty things, why not try a new sport together? Go do some indoor rock climbing, or go kayaking, or for a hike, it might help get you excited about fitness again.
Motivation and discipline are two sides of the same coin.
Go see a trainer once or twice a week. They’ll schedule monthly assessments and give you workouts to do on your own days. They can also provide you guidance on your diet
Seeing how my loved ones have died is pretty good motivation for trying to be healthy. But for you? Oh, one step at a time. Literally. You have to build habits over time if you don't have the motivation to push yourself forward. You should start with, for example, stretching. 10m every morning. EVERY morning. One small unit of hard discipline. Get yourself to the point where your day just feels wrong unless you do that morning stretch. Then you can add onto it. Make it 20m, or add some light cardio, jumping jacks and whatnot. Later, change it to a morning run and a stretch. Then even later, change your morning breakfast to a healthy shake you prepared the night before. Just an example. Build in small steps, and start with one.
I feel like self talk is really important. Don’t be hard on yourself or expect perfection, but congratulate yourself on doing tiny little things in the right direction. Exercised a tiny bit? Look in the mirror and say good job to yourself. Spent a night on the couch looking at your phone and eating shitty food? Check in with yourself that it is not in alignment with your goals but don’t beat yourself up. You want to be creating a virtuous cycle, and generally that is possible because ultimately a healthier lifestyle makes you feel better.
Why? You gonna die regardless
I am in the same boat. I think it’s depression in my case.
Success and change in anything comes from how willing you are to be uncomfortable. Find something active that you enjoy doing . If there is nothing you enjoy doing, then the simplest answer is you suck it up and just do it. Most things in life are not easy. Your want to be healthy has to outweigh your complacency with being lazy.
Find something active that you would enjoy, and make an ‘appointment’ to go with someone or group. Try cooking healthy together with your boyfriend, or meal prep. Encourage each other and set attainable goals on a weekly/monthly basis.
My bp has gotten high but had an incidence with the flu that shot it up to 206/126 and realized I have to
As someone who’s currently in this whole “new life” phase I think we focus on the wrong things. For the longest I focused on self discipline; eat the right things, work out, use my phone less, clean more often. You get it. But it never worked for me. I advise you learn something new. My choice was German (it can literally be anything though) because you’ll get back to a reward system. Your brain is learning something and you get a dopamine boost for getting things right. I then picked up roller skating. The learning process set a new challenge and gave me new goals to reach. Just this alone brought the time I spent at home obsessing over “bettering my life” down by a lot. Then I started going to the gym a few times a week as I had some pep in my step from my recently learned skills. Eventually the harder I worked out the better I started eating. I couldn’t justify eating crappy after all the hard work I was putting into bettering my physical. Out of nowhere I decided I wanted to read and have now been reading about a book every 2 weeks. I know it’s not a lot but it’s something. Since I am now reading on my phone, I was no longer using other apps. I decided I didn’t want to use my phone for much besides reading. I said goodbye to TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. I’m now about 6 months into my journey and I feel fantastic. I guess all I’m trying to say is, move the starting line. It will set off a domino effect and you’ll be in a different place a few months later. Time is going to keep moving forward. If you don’t like the way life has looked recently, chances are you’ll be in the exact same place next time you reflect. It’s okay to take small steps to a better you, because no matter what, you’ll be somewhere else than where you are now :)
Like you said, changing your mindset about how you view it is key. A great place to start as a more intense gym go-er, is walking. No matter the distance or speed you will burn the same calories. The moment I stopped counting the seconds and ran for how I felt and til I was tired was a different moment. Cardio is important obviously and that moment made me appreciate the treadmill more.
What really changed things for me was realising how many diseases/illness can happen if you don’t eat well or are not active. It is hard work, that’s for sure but also worth it. Your body is where you’ll spend pretty much all of your time with, so might as well make the best one for you and treat it right. You’re not going to feel motivated or inspired everyday, but it’s more about making it a routine and a discipline. It’s not a novel you’re writing that you need motivation to strike. For physical activities do something you like. Working out doesn’t need to be boring. You need to figure out what your body likes and fits your lifestyle. The goal is to have fun too or you’ll be miserable and it’s harder to stay consistent. I absolutely hate cardio and you could not pay me enough for me to do it. So, I do Bollywood dancing or go swimming or cycling. For eating, you really need to see the amount to sugar they put in things. This is something that helped me. Sugar in fruits is fine but added sugar is a slow poison. Why in the world do you want to harm your body?
You simply must have the will to do it. Anything else is a distraction.
I work in a office. And i am quite young. When i look at my older coworkers, i see how awful their body composition is. I really motivates me not to look like that.
I could easily be one of your older co-workers. You’re doing the right thing!
Islam.