Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - lost mojo

How do y'all get your fitness/weight loss motivation back when it takes a serious vacation? I went from 317 to 240 (5'4" female) a year ago. Walk 3 miles every morning, took up riding - longest ride 25 miles. Over the past several months the weight loss stalled - simply sloppy crappy eating habits returning and now I'm making way too many excuses not to walk/ride.
any ideas?

Join an online (or real) support group and make yourself accountable. For example, at Halfmysize.com (http://www.halfmysize.com/phpBB2/) you post your workout daily and get support from other members. There are also healthy menus and recipes.

My wife logs into a forum that she calls 3 fat chicks, but I have never checked out the real link. She says there are some really good support people on there.

For my motivation. I set a goal, and when I reach that goal, I get myself something. Usually a bike part or tool for my bike. Sometimes it is a dinner out with my wife and eat some place that we have never been before or try a different type of food.

How do y'all get your fitness/weight loss motivation back when it takes a serious vacation? I went from 317 to 240 (5'4" female) a year ago. Walk 3 miles every morning, took up riding - longest ride 25 miles. Over the past several months the weight loss stalled - simply sloppy crappy eating habits returning and now I'm making way too many excuses not to walk/ride.
any ideas?

It takes three weeks to establish a habit. It seems like pulling teeth to get going again, but the only way is to commit to three weeks of no-excuses-get-up-and-just-do-it. You can make it easier by commiting to 3 days a week (doesn't sound as hard). Once you have that habit established...it just feels uncomfortable and unnatural to not do the work...then its easier to add things into your workout.

(A personal point is that I felt bad about driving instead of riding my bike to the store last night at 10:30 to pick up some things that my DW needed for today. I've established the habit of riding to anything I have to do within 3 miles of the house.)

For me, the most important thing is setting realistic goals. It can be as simple a basic diet change-- eating a piece of fruit before each meal has worked well for me, I'm less hungry and I eat less of the things that aren't as good for me. Or, as far as a workout goes, starting small works, too-- walk around the block after dinner, take a short ride every day after work, whatever works for you. I set weight loss goals as well, at two pounds per week. I write my goal weight on the calendar for the end of each week, and weigh myself every day. I've been doing the little stuff since last Thanksgiving, when I was 280 lbs. (I'm 5'11") Now I'm at 240 lbs, and I've stalled for the last couple of weeks, too. Since my stall, I joined BF and have found that the riders here provide a lot of support. Hang in there!

Reward system, just like training a puppy.

For me, it's Cheetos. If I ride, I can have some Cheetos. If I don't ride, I don't get no Cheetos. Simple and effective.

Just don't follow this guy's example: A men stopped for donuts at a little bakery every day en route to work and became obese. So he went on a diet and stopped buying donuts, and after 3 months he'd shed a lot of weight and his coworkers were very impressed.

One day they were surprised to see him show up at work with a bag of donuts. "What happened?" they asked.

"Well," he replied, "my diet was going so successfully that I thought I deserved a little reward, so I decided it wouldn't hurt to get donuts this one time. But as I approached the bakery, I began to feel kind of ambivalent, so I said 'God, if it's okay with you that I have donuts today, let there be a parking spot right outside the bakery this morning'.

"And sure enough, on just the third loop around the block, there it was!"

Maybe I should have been more specific. hehehe A proportional reward to the goal accomplished.

If I ride to work (22-24 miles r/t, 1500-1650' total climbing) then I get to have a handful of Cheetos with dinner. Yesterday I rode almost 81 miles with ~4900' of climbing and I drank a soda and ate deep dish pizza for dinner, but I didn't supplement that with a half a sack of Cheetos. :)

Inappropriate rewards will not work well: WooHoo! I rode to the grocery store. 2 mile r/t, 50' of climbing. I'm gonna eat a family size sack of crisps to celebrate!

Maybe I should have been more specific. hehehe

Sorry, I wasn't spoofing you!

To the OP: 77 lb weight loss is incredible. Since many dieters gain back the weight, if you just manage to stablize it for the time being, even if you don't lose any more for a while, that would still be a major accomplishment.

You're all right about the reward thing. At certain goals I earned a down comforter, a kayak and the bike. Food rewards don't work - I'm one of those people who can't stop at just a little, so it's a whole bag or nothing. Now if I could just get that cute pool cleaner to agree to be one of my rewards..........

Check out The National Weight Control Registry (http://www.nwcr.ws/default.htm). This is a data base of succesful weight loss maintenance. Here are a few of the findings (http://www.nwcr.ws/Research/default.htm):


Registry members have lost an average of 66 lbs and kept it off for 5.5 years.
45% of registry participants lost the weight on their own and the other 55% lost weight with the help of some type of program.
94% increased their physical activity, with the most frequently reported form of activity being walking.
78% eat breakfast every day.
75% weigh them self at least once a week.
62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.
90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day.


There is also an online bibliography (http://www.nwcr.ws/Research/published%20research.htm) of peer reviewed publications from the NWCR.

Set yourself a goal and give yourself a big carrot. This year my big carrot, or at least the first one is doing Bike Florida. A reward that leads to more riding and more importantly fun and adventure. Now that's a winning combo. Working hard with no specific goal and or reward is a losing propisition. I was on my knees for seven hours on a job today. It was a bear. You think I wanted to get on the trainer when I got home? Not a bloody chance! I did it though and I spun through a whole spinervals DVD and followed it to the letter. Something about leaving the great white north and not just riding, but riding well in the Florida sunshine is a great motivator for me.
Believe you me, I know its hard. its really hard. But it will be worth it. Good luck.

Jim

I am only about 20 lbs overweight right now but I try to get out and do something every day. If I slack one day I try to double up the next. Even if you miss a few days a week, you're still doing well. Don't get down on yourself.

Jtgyk's insight is a good one, takes about 3 weeks to get into a routine where you want to keep exercising so you have to discipline yourself for about a month.

I could be hired for a small fee to chase you with a Cattleprod ;) That would be a serious motivator. ;)

Hey, we all go through periods of low motivation, and often, all we really need to do is just get out on the bike with no particular destination or goal and just play....rediscover the plain old fun of it. :D

As to the eating part of it....always remember, it's YOUR choice what you eat and how much. You can let poor habits control you, or you can control them. Every once in a while, indulging yourself is just fine....don't sweat that. Just keep MOST of your eating healthy and allow yourself vacation days. :D

You're all right about the reward thing. At certain goals I earned a down comforter, a kayak and the bike. Food rewards don't work - I'm one of those people who can't stop at just a little, so it's a whole bag or nothing. Now if I could just get that cute pool cleaner to agree to be one of my rewards..........

I'll agree with your thought, food rewards will not work, one needs two kinds of goals, short and long term, a short term goal could be if I lose 20lbs, I can get that new jacket that I have wanted for a while, but couldn't really afford. A long term goal might be 100lbs, and I can get that new 8kg CF bike, instead of having to ride around on my 20kg clunker because it's the only thing that will hold my weight.....

My goals this year are to ride a metric before my birthday (if this winter will ever quit :cry), birthday is in June, and an imperial before fall. Also to get one of those cool Emeritis certificates.:D The reward in all cases, are to just say I did it, and a couple of certificates....

I could be hired for a small fee to chase you with a Cattleprod ;) That would be a serious motivator. ;)

Tom, your hired, do you want a W2 or a 1099? :p

Actually, I'll just invoice you ;)


Tom, your hired, do you want a W2 or a 1099? :p

That will work too.

Here's a couple more tips that have worked for me over the years:

Try new forms of fun exercise. Examples: row a boat, dance, swim at the beach or lake, play basketball with kids or grand kids, play frisbee, go on a nature walk. Keep it fun!
Try mountain biking if you usually ride on the road, or vice versa.
Make your vacation about exercising. Examples: bike tour, hiking trip, canoe trip, climbing. You'll get exercise "training" for the vacation as well.
Work out with a friend or join a cycling club.
Try competing in races, TTs, runs, tris, etc. That keeps it interesting for a lot of people and really pushes you to your max.
Compete with yourself. Keep trying to beat your personal best time on various routes or rides.
Cycle or walk to work and to do errands. Never drive when you can walk or ride. Consider getting rid of your car. This is actually the one that has worked the best for me.
Limit TV and internet, and even consider throwing your TV out the window.
Write down your exercise in a journal every day. Keep good track of your progress and formulate measurable goals. This is one of the best motivators, and it also keeps it interesting.

Reward system, just like training a puppy.

For me, it's Cheetos. If I ride, I can have some Cheetos. If I don't ride, I don't get no Cheetos. Simple and effective.

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_1_19.gif LOL!

Cattle prod might be fun!

Sorry, I wasn't spoofing you!

To the OP: 77 lb weight loss is incredible. Since many dieters gain back the weight, if you just manage to stablize it for the time being, even if you don't lose any more for a while, that would still be a major accomplishment.

I agree. One thing anyone who has lost a lot of weight needs to learn is maintenance. That includes me, who isn't doing so well with it currently.

How do y'all get your fitness/weight loss motivation back when it takes a serious vacation? I went from 317 to 240 (5'4" female) a year ago. Walk 3 miles every morning, took up riding - longest ride 25 miles. Over the past several months the weight loss stalled - simply sloppy crappy eating habits returning and now I'm making way too many excuses not to walk/ride.
any ideas?

Get a best friend named Neil. It's worked for me. :D

Seriously, a person you exercise with regularly is probably the best motivator, especially for males. We don't like rivals, even when we do like them.