any tricks for staying motivated through MFP?

[knaidel]

title says it all!

Is that the idea of the "friends" over there? that the friends help keep you motivated?

[hillview]

friends for sure. also the message board is a great way to get connected and stay hooked.

[pastrygirl]

Yes to friends and the forums! If I feel a slump coming on, I read the Success Stories forum.

[Melaine]

Sorry, I was waiting to put the baby down to respond to your PM. Full disclosure, the first 25 lbs I lost from MFP, the last 10 came off from elimination diet. But I am absolutely done losing weight, all I need to do now is TONE TONE TONE. I am sure that I could have gotten down the last ten with MFP if I hadn't gotten pregnant when I did. And then nursing, so I had to do an elimination diet for my DS.

I like having friends on MFP for sure, it gets almost like Facebook with tons of status changes and friend requests. Seeing people weigh in and meet their goals is encouraging and gives you the motivation to keep going. Knowing others are "watching" helps too.

I really think the best thing if possible is to find a friend to work out with. When I first got started with MFP, I was completely new to working out and finding a friend to work out with me made a huge difference. Plus we got a chance for some girl time. We did this while our kids were in the childcare at the YMCA. Since then we both got pregnant and we both let our memberships lapse. I just renewed my YMCA membership this week and I am SO excited about getting back there. I'm not sure how I am going to work it out with the baby, because I don't think I want him in the nursery yet.

I made sure to log in every single day and I logged every single bite that went into my mouth. I didn't cut corners and I didn't skip any days. Then after awhile I got the messages like, "You've logged in 70 days in a row" and that also made me stick with it. I didn't really do anything special with my diet, I just kept under my limit every day and even when I worked out I didn't usually use every single calorie.

I love MFP! It was kind of like a challenge, it's free and it works! I can't say enough good things about it. Good luck!!