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Mental Aids

Old 10-03-2011, 01:48 AM
  #1  
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Default Mental Aids

Everyone has their little mental aids to help them keep motivated.

I always struggle with keeping on a diet if I miss a day or two of exercise. It's like something inside says, well, you screwed that up, so to heck with the rest of it. Then I eat like a pig for a couple of days and through the weekend, and promise that I will "pick it back up" come Monday. But often I don't. And even if I do, I've eaten like a pig for 3-4 days with no exercise!!

This site has helped me get off that track for two reasons:

1) The baseline caloric burn graphics demonstrate that the chief catalyst of weight loss is not exercise - it's sustainable calorie restriction. Not to say that exercise isn't important; it builds muscle and heightens baseline calorie burn, etc. etc. But to make me get off the treadmill of viewing a day without exercise as a "wasted day" (and thus making it easier to chuck the diet), it really helped me to see that if I couldn't exercise one day, then as long as I stuck with a reasonable diet I was still getting the bulk of the benefit - it wasn't a wasted day. This may seem obvious to most of you but it was a real mental block for me.

2) Keeping meticulous track of my moods, food, activities, etc. gave me a reason to stay on my diet - I sort of view it as, I want to see what a long-term trend looks like, and if I chuck it all for a few days, then the data is compromised and I won't be able to see that.

What are your "mental tricks" to stay motivated?
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Old 10-03-2011, 03:28 AM
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Your post reminded me of a saying 'You can't out train a bad diet'.

There is a website Bodybuilding.com (free site), that gives me lots of inspiration. Not that I have any aspirations for competeing but they have a Transformation of the Week section and this section in their forums that I always get motivation from. Heres a link to their forums **Transformations from FAT to FIT** - Bodybuilding.com Forums. Just a bunch of real people who have had success in their weight loss journey.
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Old 10-04-2011, 04:25 AM
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I struggle with this a lot too. Sometimes I think: "I Want To Cheat." But then usually a voice in my head will say, "You're only cheating yourself!" So that helps. It's frustrating.

The best thing for me right now is to log on to FitDay. Entering all my food in the program makes me accountable, and when I think about eating something that will put me over my caloric limit, I then think, "But then I'll have to enter it... and I'll feel like a failure... " So then I don't eat it. Most of the time.

Another help is to read posts on here. It helps to read success stories. They are always encouraging. Or really any thread will help because it gets your mind on something other than that treat you're craving, and helps you realize that lots of other people are doing this too, and lots of them are successful as well.

That's my 2 cents.
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Old 10-04-2011, 06:28 AM
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I get motivation from wherever I can find it. Yesterday I burnt the roof of my mouth, that has been seriously a great motivator in controlling what I put in my mouth. So I think the next time I have to face a birthday party or family gathering I'm going to chuck down some scalding hot coffee first. Just kidding, well sort of kidding. I usually just think about my kids and that I want to be around a long time so I can drive them as crazy as they drive me. Well and I got started having a family later in life than some, so I also want to be around to meet the grandbabies one of these days, and that is quite a long way off. Or at least it better be...
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