Guest Posting at "Where Are My Knees?"

Today I have a guest post over at the blog Where Are My Knees? I tell my story again and also give some advice for those of you who are still struggling to lose weight. The ladies over at Where Are My Knees have a great blog full of inspirational stories, recipes and advice, so go and check them out!

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Why You Shouldn't Wait For Motivation

Since losing over 10 stone, I often hear people say, "I wish I had your motivation." Often, I read a lament on Facebook about how someone "can't get motivated." Over and over, people claim they are waiting for motivation before losing weight, and I just have to speak up.

Stop waiting for motivation! If you really want to lose weight, then lose it! If you are tired of being overweight, then take the steps necessary to become healthier and lose your excess fat. And stop moaning about your lack of motivation!

None of us lack motivation. Motivation is just a combination of the reasons you have for losing weight. It is the rewards you expect to gain when you lose the weight.

When I was 10 stone overweight, I had plenty of motivation to lose the weight. It hurt to walk. I had health problems developing. I had seven children who relied on me and needed me to be healthy and energetic for them. I lacked energy. I hated the way I looked. And this list of motivators goes on. And yet, all of this motivation to lose weight did not start me losing weight. I was morbidly obese for over a decade.

It wasn't until I began taking the steps towards losing the weight (like joining Slimming World, keeping a food diary and exercising) and going through the necessary actions that any of my drive to lose weight started coming into play. The more I ate healthy and exercised, the more weight I started to lose, the more drive I found to continue with it.

So stop moaning about your lack of motivation. If you really want to lose weight, then you will do something about it. No more saying you just can't do it because you can't find the motivation. If it's important to you, you are capable of making it happen.


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Treading Water

Wondering why I called this post "Treading Water?" Am I going to be writing about a new swimming exercise or some fascinating aspect of water that helps with weight loss. Well, no.

Treading water is, metaphorically speaking, what I am doing right now. You know what I mean, right? You do the same thing over and over, and even though it is the same thing that you do so easily in the beginning, it begins to get harder and more difficult to keep doing it. Currently, that's me.

I am still eating healthy, and I am still exercising a lot, but my results are not coming as easily. It seems to be getting more difficult to maintain my weight loss. I am not binge eating. I am not having lots of fatty and unhealthy fare. I am not eating out. I am cooking healthy nutritious meals. I have even started watching my portions.

But despite all of this, my weight has been creeping upwards. I am up about ten pounds and it doesn't seem to want to come off. I have no idea what changes I need to make to bring my weight back down because I am doing everything I am supposed to do. I am staying focused.

I am not giving up because it is not in my nature to give up, but I am frustrated.

Of course, this was all something I could have posted about last week. This week, I actually haven't been eating enough, not because I thought it would help me lose weight or anything daft like that but because I had a toothache and eating anything at all caused me a lot of pain. I've been to the dentist now, and my tooth pain should be gone in a few days.

But not eating enough over this week of pain has caused my weight to go up a few more pounds. I feel like crying, but I'll get over it.

Reebok has said that they will replace my crosstrainer and even give me an upgrade, as my case is such a special one, to a crosstrainer that has not had any complaints. It won't be here for another two weeks though. Maybe getting my crosstrainer back will help with my weight. I hope so (mainly because I am oh-so-tired of running up and down the stairs of my three story house while carrying handweights. I am not graceful, so I will be lucky if I don't end up breaking something while doing this particular exercise!)

I am not feeling sorry for myself (okay, maybe a little). I know the added pounds will eventually come back off. I'm frustrated and fairly angry at my body right now though. (Who knew my body had a mind of its own and was as stubborn as, well, me?)

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