To ask what MAKES you choose to eat healthily?

[fatgirlgonerogue]

I’m struggling with motivation to lose weight.

I’ve never been slim and in my adult years have never had a BMI less than 29.
Right now it’s at 37

My motivation for eating healthily used to be socialising, I wanted to look and feel good.
Since that hasn’t been happening for the last year I no longer have that motivation. I don’t get dressed up. I just live in lounge wear.

I start the day well and just eat rubbish come early evening.

I pretty much live on takeaways at the minute.

I ordered it and I know I’m fat and will get fatter, but I just think so what

I’m always really fascinated when I see people out running, eating healthy food.
Why is that? What makes people want to give up a nice big juicy burger (which would bring so much satisfaction) in favour of a salad

I don’t even think about the health implications of my weight. It’s like I just don’t care.

I did go for a walk to my local park a few days ago and saw a friend. I purposely walked in the opposite direction so she didn’t see me and my vert obvious large weight gain.
So it must to an extent bother me. But not enough to do anything about it... 🤷🏻‍♀️

Being healthy and fit feels really good. Healthy food tastes good and makes me feel good. I want to look after myself. I want to be fast and strong. It's fun and fulfilling. Also I'm effectively slightly addicted to exercise and feel flat and trapped if I don't get at the very least a long walk. I eat the burger too if I want one (I had pizza last night). Just not all the time.

For me, I run because it makes me feel good and I eat healthily because it helps me run and reduces my blood pressure (it tends to be naturally on the high side, which is genetic).
I am also hoping that’s it’s not too long until we can socialise again and maybe go back to the office so I want to be able to look and feel nice.

I also had takeaway last night. It’s a treat though, not a regular occurrence and I walked 10k steps beforehand.

Have simple rules you always follow. Mine is no food after 6pm or before 8am (unless eating out for a special occasion)

Meal plan

Don’t shop while hungry.

Aside from that, try and get active every day, eat what you want, just have smaller portions. I’ve gone from a size 10/12 to a size 12/14 (heading more towards the 14 over lockdown) and I know being at home so much hasn’t helped.

I eat healthily because it just makes me feel better. I have more energy. I'm not saying I don't ever have take aways or have a drink. I like that as much as the next person but I notice the difference in how I feel when I have had certain foods.
Try starting with small things like how much water you're drinking. I was amazed how much better I felt drinking more water.
Try logging everything you eat.... It's actually quite shocking when you see it written down! Do some batch cooking so there's always something there so you don't eat ready meals or take aways all the time. Make those foods interesting and tasty rather than just food.

If I'm painfully honest, the reason I can stop myself from overeating, can accurately guess the calories content of most food and happily weigh nearly everything I eat before i eat it to get the right portion, is because I'm terrified of being fat. It's awful and rooted in fatphobia which I'm still trying to dismantle my feelings about, but I have two conditions that mean I have low energy and a shitty metabolism, so I'm really careful about it because gaining weight is so easy for me, and I don't want that.

I know it's a terrible way to feel though and I feel awful about it.

Once you get into the habit of eating healthy foods you start to crave them and try really enjoy them. Not necessarily plain salads for me but but things like hearty homemade bean and vegetable soups, roast vegetables, veggie lasagna, etc. The burger starts to seem heavy and greasy and much less appealing. I still like veggie burgers though and I make healthy chips in an air fryer.
In terms of exercise I don't like running but I do enjoy long walks and hikes with the dog. I think it's about finding what you enjoy rather than copying what other people are doing.

I eat healthy because I'm type 1 diabetic and it makes me feel better! Simple as that

Fear of death. My mum, dad, grandparents, great aunt and a few aunts and uncles all died of cancer. The rest from heart disease.

I know eating healthy won't prevent death and all diseases, but I watched so many family members suffering from health problems that could have been prevented with diet and exercise. Most of my family were heavy drinkers, smokers and took various drugs as well as ate mainly processed foods.

We're really good at heart problems in our family, despite being healthy, active, non-smokers. I feel I'm trying to outrun that, literally.
And I'm a working lone parent. I have to be healthy for them.

I love a takeaway, we have one once a week, but it doesn’t make me feel good the next day! I don’t like salads at all, but I like really good quality, quite healthy, foodie food. Lots of flavour, healthy, but not restrictive.

Anyway, I eat healthily and I don’t overeat because quite honestly I really like being slim. I could very easily (and have in the past) become overweight by just having a bit of what I fancy whenever I fancy it (all it takes for me to gain weight is to have a couple of extra snacks a day, or finish the kids leftovers, or a couple of glasses of wine in the evenings). But I feel bad about myself when my jeans get snug and me chin gets chubby. I look and feel loads better when I am slim, so I make a big effort to keep myself that way. I don’t deprive myself of anything, but I am sensible about it.

Also, whenever I have allowed myself to eat whatever I want, whenever I want, in the past I’ve never truly enjoyed the treat food I’ve been having. I’ve just been eating it because it’s there. Half of the enjoyment for me with a takeaway or a custard tart, or whatever, is the anticipation! I enjoy food more when I don’t overeat it.

I don’t have an answers but I’m in the same position as you fatgirlgonerogue with a similar bmi. I feel rubbish every night after overeating and then wake up determined to eat sensibly and then go off course. I’ve started cutting out sugar as when I want to eat it’s like something takes over my brain and I have no control, so I’m hoping it will reduce the cravings. I’d love to be like Scarfaceclaw who has to exercise, but I can happily go days without. The thought of going back to normal life and lockdown lifting is having a bit of a motivating effect though. It’s much easier to carry on as normal when you can hide away at home all the time.

It isn’t motivation it is just discipline. Motivation will come and go so if you are waiting about for it then it might never happen .

My motivation is diabetes and fertility.

I'd happily live on takeaways and eating out otherwise, while doing nothing but watching crap on the telly.

For me running was initially a way to get a decent cardio workout, but I pretty much hated it. However over time running has become so much more and I genuinely love my 30mins a day running 5k. It gives me time to myself and I also know I've done a good workout.

With regards to eating healthy, the desire to loose weight is greater than the desire for the burger, and then when you weigh in every week and see the scales going down, that motivates you for the following week.

Also, eating healthy can be delicious and if you want a burger, have it, but without the bread, you can manipulate your favourite meals to be low calorie, that's what I did!

Now I've lost my weight (2 stone) I'm still running and eating sensibly but I'm also allowing myself the odd takeaway or burger. It is about balance. Good luck!

I like being fit and healthy and being able to walk/run without being breathless or wheezy

I'd prefer to avoid diabetes/ heart disease etc if possible and not die young from any avoidable cause (yes I know I can't guarantee I will avoid cancer and plenty of other illnesses but at least I would know that my size didn't increase my risk if I do get ill)

I like being able to buy and wear clothes from mainstream shops and not being limited in choice by my size. I'd hate having to choose items from my wardrobe based on my current size.

Having been a variety of sizes I know when i overeat and put weight on everything just feels harder. Walking is harder, moving about is harder, my hands rest on my protruding belly, my clothes dig in to me and of course they don't hang as nice.

My motivation is that if I can keep a healthy weight and eat well 80% of the time, the other 20% on holidays can be spent eating and drinking a bit more. My motivation for exercise is that toning makes clothes fit better and I am now at that age where I need to think about bone density before menopause hits although I might have left it a bit late.

Once you start to lose weight though it can be a motivator itself but really you need to be in the right frame of mind mentally to start and that's personal to each of us.

How do you feel when you eat healthier?

I always feel so much better when I do compared to eating a lot of unhealthy food. I have more energy and just generally feel more “up” in my mood. So that’s my motivation.

Forgive me if this sound blunt, it comes from a place of trying to help.

You do care about your weight, enough to feel ashamed of it and to realise there are health implications. You are fascinated by people with healthy habits, perhaps you admire them a little, but you think they are completely different to you.

You need to get some satisfaction from something that isn’t a takeaway. Make some better choices for your evening meal, just for a week, even that means ready meals with veg on the side. If you can afford takeaways though, you could afford a really nice steak or chicken breast, easy to cook with salad, steamed or stir-fry veg and no hanging about for Deliveroo. Fruit afterwards to signal the end of the meal.

See how you feel at the end of the week. Is there a sense of achievement? Can you fit in a short walk every day, or a very easy stretch/yoga session?

You aren’t desperate to lose weight, so start with things that will lift your mood - unlikely as it may seem, that is why runners run. Running isn’t for me, but just moving about can alter your mood.

I feel the same way and my BMI has tripped over 30 in the past year. Realised I’m motivated by what other people think rather than my own self worth. Hence feeling a bit like you with the ‘f*ck it - it doesn’t matter if I order another takeaway, no ones here to see me’. When I dress nicely it’s for other people, rather than me.

Just being consciously aware of that has made me try and reprogram my brain a bit. I’ve been living in the same old stretchy clothes for months now as nothing else fits. I did an online order for some new bits in my real size (depressing but hey) and i already feel so much better. Ive started walking more and cutting back on the booze - know I’ll feel good as those new clothes start to get loose....rather than the depression of squeezing into old stuff.

Essentially it’s about your own self worth. Mine was tied up in some very complex infertility issues. But you have to want to do it for yourself (and as a final push the thought of the world opening up again soon as terrified me into it!)

Well being as you asked... for me its constipation . I had been unwell with abdominal pains bloating and cramping. I had various tests and it turned out I had slow gut motility.
I had to completely overhaul my diet. It was far too white carb heavy and a ridiculously low fruit and veg count.
To stay on top of it I'm constantly eating fibre rich foods. Loads of fruit and veg. I still have the odd takeaway. It is so important not to feel deprived.

I don't think you will naturally make healthier choices until you learn to like yourself.
I only started eating healthier options when I stopped seeing them as a punishment and more as a treat for my body.

I lost weight last year and my bmi was about 34. I was motivated by lots of things but probably one of the first things was the fact that I was always tired. Yet I slept poorly and woke up in the middle of the night, every night. I felt like I was always operating in sluggish mode. I'm in my 40s so I was concerned about feeling like this. I also had aches and pains and I was worried about diabetes.
Once I started doing something about all this my motivation shifted to getting more fit, faster at walking, eating for fuel. Using a step counter helped, too, as I tried to beat or equal the previous week's steps.

Takeaways make me feel sick so I don’t eat them. I do like Icecream though but I will o my buy two brands nd they are too expensive to eat every week.

Smaller portions, fruit and veg, lots of water and protein, cut the carbs and bingo - you crave sugar and everything goes tits up.

Sorry I should have said the tests were to rule out anything sinister. We knew I was constipated.