How can I get back on track??

[jenscats5]

Man, I've really lost my will to train & motivation.....I don't know what it is but I can't seem to get my butt to the gym & eat right. I'm still eating the right things, but am supplementing with add ons like junk & beer. Does that mean my diet is too restrictive? I do get bored easily with it & I hate eating the same thing day in & day out....

How can I get my rear back in gear??

 

[velvett]

Take a few days off.

No diet, no gym.

Get out and do different things.


Go clothes browsing for cute summer stuff.

On the last evening - write yourself up a new diet and new w/o program.

 

[jenscats5]

Take a few days off.

No diet, no gym.

Get out and do different things.


Go clothes browsing for cute summer stuff.

On the last evening - write yourself up a new diet and new w/o program.

Well, I've been off for about 3 weeks....done some home improvements.

The hard part about the diet is & one I find so darn frustrating is I don't know how many calories to eat daily! I use fitday so I have no problem measuring, logging, etc & I know what foods to eat but since my body never seems to change -- don't lose weight or get more muscularly defined -- I don't know if what I'm eating is too much or little or what.....Ugh!

 

[velvett]

Have you been eating the same thing for a long time?

How many cals have you been eating in the past.

 

[jenscats5]

Have you been eating the same thing for a long time?

How many cals have you been eating in the past.

Well, it's not the same exact thing every single day -- couldn't do that. But I do eat the same breakfast every day: 4-6 egg whites with either salsa or 1 pkt catsup.

If I'm not eating too many carbs later in the day I'll have 1 pkt plain oatmeal with Splenda & cinnamon and sometimes 1/2 oz chopped walnuts, maybe 1 tbslp raisins.

Sometimes, a lot lately, I have 1-2 (usually 1) mug of coffee with 1 tblsp skim milk & 1 tblsp FF French Vanilla Creamer. As the weather gets warmer, I won't be drinking the coffee. Then I switch to Diet Pepsi -- 1 can.

For lunch I usually have chili with either meatless crumbles and/or a salad with tuna or chicken, olive oil, vinegar & raw veggies. I usually eat 2 "lunches." The other thing I'll eat will be chicken and a mixture of cooked veggies like squash, spinach, broccoli, peppers &/or asparagus. Usually a mixture of some of the above. I keep a lot of bags of Birds Eye frozen veggie mixes in the freezer.

Dinner is the hardest part. I know that I should stick with salad and protein or veggies with protein, but after coming home from work, walking to & from the gym & lifting, by the time I get home, it's 8 pm so I guess I just go for what's quick. Plus I don't eat beef.

My cals range anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 cals per day -- I just don't know what to go by consistently....If I keep the carbs low, cals low I feel worn out, too much and I feel like a whale....can't seem to find what works for me...

 

[FitFossil]

Do you keep a training log? This keeps me motivated. It makes training like a game with myself. If strength stops improving or goes down, I know I'm not eating enough of the right foods.

I do not keep a diet log because of my old eating disorder issues. My diet is very similar to "Krista's Komestable Kalculator" found here: http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html under Eating and Diet 101 - part 4: ok, so what the hell am i supposed to eat?

Also, I build in a DAILY cheat treat. I'd get too out of control if I did the once a week thing.

I think everyone goes through periods where they lose motivation. It's like the stock market - there are short term ups and downs, but long term it keeps going up.

 

[jenscats5]

Thanks FF! That is a great site & I havent' read it in a while, good reminder...

 

[RottenWillow]

Jen what I noticed personally is that I am a lot more likely to lay off for a while if my training becomes unproductive. So my first suggestion would be to ask yourself if you were still making measurable progress towards your personal fitness goals back a month ago when you were still consistently training. And if your answer is no then I'd suggest rethinking either what your training methods or maybe rethink your goals themselves.

A second thing I'd do is punch up your routine on a regular basis. Sure your rountine definitely does need to have a lot of consistency in it to be productive, but that doesnt mean you can vary exercises used, number of sets, rep ranges, etc from one workout to the next. I think variety and periodization not only avoids physical overtraining but it definitely also avoids psychological overtraining.

Last thing I'd mention is that I think everyone gets training inspiration in spurts. We might go ovaries to the wall for 8 months then lose some interest for a little while. Just continue to do enough exercise to maintain your current level of fitness (LBM, BF %, etc) so you're not always starting all over again when you feel inspired to restart heavy training....that's what I'm doing right now. For two months now I've only been training each bodypart 1x weekly to maintain what I built last fall and winter. My time and energy committment to exercise has dropped waaaay down but I'm still as strong and as muscular as I was at the first of the year.

 

[jenscats5]

Jen what I noticed personally is that I am a lot more likely to lay off for a while if my training becomes unproductive. So my first suggestion would be to ask yourself if you were still making measurable progress towards your personal fitness goals back a month ago when you were still consistently training. And if your answer is no then I'd suggest rethinking either what your training methods or maybe rethink your goals themselves.

A second thing I'd do is punch up your routine on a regular basis. Sure your rountine definitely does need to have a lot of consistency in it to be productive, but that doesnt mean you can vary exercises used, number of sets, rep ranges, etc from one workout to the next. I think variety and periodization not only avoids physical overtraining but it definitely also avoids psychological overtraining.

Last thing I'd mention is that I think everyone gets training inspiration in spurts. We might go ovaries to the wall for 8 months then lose some interest for a little while. Just continue to do enough exercise to maintain your current level of fitness (LBM, BF %, etc) so you're not always starting all over again when you feel inspired to restart heavy training....that's what I'm doing right now. For two months now I've only been training each bodypart 1x weekly to maintain what I built last fall and winter. My time and energy committment to exercise has dropped waaaay down but I'm still as strong and as muscular as I was at the first of the year.

You've made some great points Anya and thank you! For my routine -- I usually copy other people's routines, like Lucid Blue's for example....the diet is the hardest part for me. I get laid off next week so maybe without the temptations at work (candy dish) I won't have as much trouble. What I may try is having a Sunday cheat day like Gypsy did....that may just keep me sane the rest of the week....

 

[RottenWillow]

You've made some great points Anya and thank you! For my routine -- I usually copy other people's routines, like Lucid Blue's for example....the diet is the hardest part for me. I get laid off next week so maybe without the temptations at work (candy dish) I won't have as much trouble. What I may try is having a Sunday cheat day like Gypsy did....that may just keep me sane the rest of the week....

Well I hear that. I know some women have a lot more trouble staying away from the sweets. Just make sure the cheat day doesnt spin out of control into an orgy day else being good 6 days a week will never be enough to enable you to keep moving forward, you know? (My weakness is homestyle spanish cooking, YUMMM!)