Weight... and Motivation loss :o

About 3 years ago, I weighted about 200 pounds, and had stopped doing any kind of sports during the years on University. I was eating unhealthy - typical things that are cheap and quick. I continued to do so some years after University. My husband shared that unhealthy lifestyle and had gotten out of shape too.

When my thirtiest birthday crept closer, I realized that something had to be done about my health and weight, I just didn't feel right anymore.

So I slowly started to change my whole lifestyle, started to do sports again, first only on an indoor bicycle ergometer, then riding outdoors. After I had lost some pounds, I started running outdoors (cost me quite an effort to do that). This spring my husband gave a new shiny mountainbike as a gift to me, since then we are riding almost every day.
I started eating healthy, "real" food and tried to stay away from sugar, sweets and any processed kinds of food. I decreased my carbohydrate intake as a whole.

I have to say that despite this changes I never stayed hungry, I tried to not overeat but didn't limit my energy intake too much.

So I continuously lost weight but really really slow. Over the last 3 years I've lost 50 pounds. I also gained a lot of muscle. I still have enough pounds left to lose but the work pays off, and I think my husband and I have a lot more fun today than three years ago, going out and doing sth instead of sitting on the couch. Also, we both like the things we are eating. So, to be honest, it isn't exactly "hard" to lead this new lifestyle.

But somehow the last two weeks where hard for me. This whole weight loss thing seems to last forever. I have strange cravings. Everything I didn't eat (and didn't miss) over the last 3 years seems sooo appealing right now. Eating "some" icecream just isn't enough, I could eat pounds of it everyday. I want chocolate. I want beer. I want cookies! I want everything I shouldn't eat and not just a littlebit. (Oh btw: I am NOT pregnant :p)
Because eating too much doesn't seem to be enough, I also have a hard time motivating myself to go out riding. I know every hill I can reach around town, and there isn't one left that I can't get over. I also seem to have reached a plateau in my downhill riding skills and have the impression that I don't get better. I'm also a really bad runner, I like to do it as compensation for biking, but 5km seems to be the best I can do without stopping (5km of running doesn't allow for tons of icecream or cookies...).

So... at the moment I still feel fat and out of shape and - out of control. If I can't get my motivation back I fear I will start gaining my weight back instead of losing another 20 pounds.

I will stop whining now :D poor readers, but I will be happy if you have some tips or anything to say ... maybe I will find my lost motivation somewhere again ;)

Think about what the positive and negatives are of your current phase. In other words, what benefits are you getting out of the increased eating/cravings and what liabilities are you getting? In terms of your final goal(s), where are you on your journey? Think about how you have arrived at this point. What have you achieved? Do you have specific goals or just a general one of losing weight? Develop some very specific goals around your lifestyle change, if you need to.
That said, maybe it's time for a physical exam, just to rule out any physical reasons.
It's OK to run slowly or run 5K. Just get out there and run for now. Same with riding. If and when you feel like it, you could add in intervals (bursts of speed) in both running and riding, but the trick is to just get out there.
Have you thought about adding some yoga, Pilates, or weight training? Our bodies really need tis type of work, and often times it will help get over a plateau. You might not lose pounds, but you will develop muscle/strength and lose inches. Working on your core might help improve other things you do. And yoga not only works your body, it works your mind, too.

What I get from your post is that you're bored. Are you goal driven? Maybe you need to sign up for a race, or a charity ride so you have something to work towards.

You need a challenge.

I appreciate your input :)

I think you two are right, I lack new goals or challenges. Until recently I always had something that I wanted to achieve, there was a mountain that I couldn't climb with the bike or I wanted to be able to run this whole round near my home without having to walk. Now that I am able to do this things, and not so limited by my body anymore, maybe just reaching a weight somewhere around 130 just isn't enough of a goal to keep me motivated.
It may sound strange but it also gets harder the easier it gets - I have the feeling that I have to do more and invest more and more time to get enough out of my workouts to keep losing weight. It's a bit scary :o

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That said, maybe it's time for a physical exam, just to rule out any physical reasons.

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I had one recently. It seems that I am a very healthy person. Not that I am complaining, but physical reasons for the very slow weight loss would have been an explanation at least. My tsh-level (tyroid) was high but within the "normal" margins (margins here in Europe are wider from what I read).

I have thought about adding weight training. It will be something new and exciting and I think you are right that I need this kind of workouts atm. I planned to sign in at a Fitness center when the weather gets colder here (in about a month). But maybe I will find something that I can add in right now... I don't have any weights at home but maybe I can find some core workouts that don't need weights.

And after reading your post I did go out and did the 5k round :)

Susan,

How has it been going? I see there have been no posts for a few weeks.

I'm also stuck in a low/no motivation cycle. My eating habits have sunk to below sad ... ugh, I feel terrible.

The 47 lbs I lost a couple years ago went slow but consistent, my goal was to just eat and be healthy and by golly it worked. My past year has been ugh ... I'm trying to find my missing link.

Tabby

I lost 35lb a few years ago (went from 155 to 120). I used weight watchers and it went really well in the beginning. It was rewarding to see the weight come off and start to look and feel better. Hitting maintenance was the hardest part for me. In weight watchers, you continue to do the same things but with more "points". After a time, I started to lose motivation. I also had developed some unhealthy habits (like hoarding points til the end of the day and likewise week). I ended up working myself into an eating disorder. Known as restrict/binge cycle.

I like that you applied better eating habits, healthier choices, and mindful eating without all out "RULES" like I did. I've had to re-teach myself how to eat sensibly and stick to my instincts of what is good for me, when I should stop, and when NOT to deprive myself of a treat.

I do understand how challenging it can be when the motivation is gone. The maintenance phase and any phase where you're seeing slow results or are more happy with your body - are times when you can really struggle. I definitely have found that being active and finding new fitness goals help motivate me :)

Best wishes

Hey Tabby and warneral, thanks for asking :)
First I allowed myself some slack (regarding eating and sports) if I had to and tried to keep eating healthy the rest of the time :o As far as I can tell it didn't hurt my goal to lose weight too much. After relaxing a bit it didn't take to long for the cravings to stop.

We had really bad weather since August, so we had a bike-break and had to do more running. Because running the same old route over and over got boring, we started searching for a new one and found a very nice track in a forest quite close to our apartment. There is an "official" training route at half marathon distance but even more appealing for me are the many little pathways through the forest. Running through the rainy wood on soft dirt paths has been so much fun I hardly noticed that I had increased my running distance to about 7-8 km per run after a while.
Last week the weather got a little better and biking was a lot of fun after the short break too :) Somehow, DH and I have inspired my brother-in-law (who never did any kind of sport since I have known him) to buy himself a MTB and go riding almost every day and he was so beaming talking about his new passion that some of the inspiration somehow came back to me.

It wont help you to say that once you start to eat healthy again you will soon feel better and have less cravings than while eating unhealthy, will it? :D I know it's hard once you are stuck in this cycle.