I'm not motivated to following the 4 Hour Body

Hi,

I just want to throw in my two cents.

I was overweight for years, and I often had family members (specifically my Mum) ask me to go to the gym, lose weight and so on. I tried these things for their sakes, but never kept it up and never lost weight, because I never had my Karajuku moment.

Two and a half years I moved to Japan and I started, almost by default, eating more healthily. I lost some weight. Then I joined a futsal team, and I lost some more weight. It was only when I started to lose some weight initially that I realised I could do this, and became more motivated to lose weight and become interested in nutrition. I've lost over 20kg in two and a half years outside the slow-carb diet, and, starting tomorrow, will start slow-carb in the hope that it will help me get rid of some of the remnants, i.e. my beer belly.

Might I suggest something? Why not try a small change at first, see if you have some results, and then the small results may very well motivate you to work harder. I would suggest changing breakfast to high-protein as I think that was one of the inadvertent changes I made coming to Japan that really helped me. If your single, it really helps as well. Throw out all your cereals, bread etc., and buy a pack of eggs and leave them in your fridge. By having no other choice, you'll simply default onto the slow-carb diet.

If you have the book, turn to page 36. The Harajuku Moment. Apparently you haven't had yours. "My" moment completely motivated me, and I still am through week 4. Hope you find yours! If not, try challenging a buddy on who can do the best each week, or post pictures up of your "belly fat" to make you WANT to get rid of it. GL!

I'm motivated by a crush.

My motivation?

I was talking with a friend of mine, and I remember hearing myself say "I'm tired of looking like that guy who USED to be in shape." That was my catalyst.

Much like you, I was not fat. I've never really been fat. I worked out A LOT for a while and I still carry a good bit of muscle, but my mid-section... not so good. I'd been carrying love handles and a belly for quite some time and it really, REALLY started to get on my nerves that I never wanted to take my shirt off in public. I live in the desert, I've worked out for more than a decade and I STILL felt self-conscious about going shirtless?

I've also never really been a healthy eater. My diet was not the greatest and I thought to myself, even if this doesn't make me lose the fat that I'd like to lose, the WORST thing that can come from it is that I'll get into a healthier eating habit. That can't be all bad.

Well, I'm at the end of my 4th week (two days away) and I've lost more than 2 inches off my gut, and about 17 pounds, all without stepping foot in the gym ONCE during my 30 day Rapid Fat Loss portion.

I guess if you are not motivated to start the 4-Hour Body as a weight loss program, think of it as a way to change some eating habits you may need to change. It can only help!

Simply that its not just about losing weight but as much about being healthier and eating healthier. The stuff that is not allowed on the 4hb is stuff that nobody should be eating on a regular basis as its not good for you. This applies to people from obese to stick thin.

I'm motivated becuase im 21 years old and 220lbs. Used to be pretty two years ago before I put on 5 stone but now I look like a bag of cellulity lard!

I dont have any confidence to progress in my career becuase im uncomfortable in my own skin, i'm tired of not having any friends becuase im too embaressed and ashamed to talk to anyone I dont know and I dont want to spend the best years of my life obese and unhappy becuase my feet are too fat to squeeze into nice shoes.

If you dont have the true motivation then you wont do it, simple as that. But If it is something you truely want to do, that you can improve your life in any way becuse of it then you will make it happen. If not then there cant be anything significant enough in your life that is worth changing by cutting out a few foods.

Well if you look to behavioral psychology, Motivation is the weakest force is creating change all be it a necessary one.

When you say "I'm not motivated" does that mean you have no desire to change OR the change presented in the 4 hour body seems too difficult for you to make?

If the change seems too difficult, this really has nothing to do motivation. It's what called "Perceived Ability" the harder the change seems the less likely it will happen.

Instead of going full blast in the Slow Carb diet for example, break up into baby steps. Start by drinking 3 to 4L of water a day. Focus on only making that change and only move onto the next change when you succeed. When you try to make too many changes at once it just all blows up in your face.

Also be prepared to fail ALOT, I've been going off and on Slow Carb for 2 years and only recently in the past several months have I been consistently successful. Trying and failing is actually just learning as long as you change your approach instead of doing the same thing over and over.

Finally create lots of triggers to remind you of the changes you want to make, in the example of drinking more water, buy a big water bottle and carry it with you everywhere. Make a sign on your desk and/or to remember to drink water. Create a calendar reminder or alarm every 4 hours to drink more water. Just make sure you whatever you do, it's done in a way that you can't ignore it.

I'm starting tomorrow and am excited to get to work. I saw pictures of me at my sisters wedding and knew then I had to make a change. It didn't even look remotely close to how I see myself, so I know I have to get serious.

Toodles.

Jeremiah

I think your issue is that you're looking for motivation in the first place. You don't need motivation you need momentum. All you really need to do is to make it from "stop" to "go". The convenient thing about the 4 hour body is that you don't have to do anything to start, you actually need to do less. Don't eat cheese and bread this week, that's a whole lot less eating you have to do. See what happened there, we lightened your work load. So just try cutting the dairy and the bread and see where it goes from there. Your innate curiosity will kick in when you start seeing some changes.

I am/ was not motivated to do 4 Hour Body because of weight loss, I was motivated because I felt like crap. Super lethargic and depressed. I am sticking to the Slow Carb diet however because I am feeling great so far and I want to keep the good times rolling. Letting go of Flour and Sugar and Dairy was really hard and weight loss takes a long time but the positive effects of giving these up are quick in coming. I am sleeping great, full of energy, great mood and Slow Carb foods keeps my blood sugar from spiking throughout the day. It's been really great JUST for those reasons alone. Whether I lose weight or not is neither here nor there but I am motivated to keep going because I feel so much better!

I'm from the Deep South of the US. I grew up with everything being breaded, deep fried... you get the idea. Just watch a Paula Deen episode and you'll understand. A year ago I was in pastry school and got a text from my favorite uncle telling me he was diagnosed that day with diabetes. My grandfather also had it. They ate about the same kinds of foods that I did, only difference being that i had set out to explore the food world.

So a couple of days later I was in my bedroom on my Kindle browsing books to buy, when I came across an ad for 4HB. It was getting rave reviews, and I had just gotten paid, so I was like, wtf...

2 hours later, I was still sitting in bed reading, big nasty 1-liter bottle of Mountain Dew in hand. It brought so much to light that I hadn't realized before and should have. I read the SCD chapters over and over. The next morning, I went grocery shopping. I called my family back home and told them all to go buy the damned book.

So, it was combo of bad news and pure happenstance that got me here. And I'll never go back. I might slip, I might cheat, but I'm on the train for good.

I'm guessing we all had something that triggered us to start this.

I was trying on shorts at the store and when I was asking the clerk if they had a certain one in a 40-waist, she said in a really bitchy way, "We have a big and tall section."

I'm not saying she was wrong, but I wanted to slap her. To be fair, I am 6-2 and even when I've been in good shape I have sometimes bought shirts from the Big and Tall section, but never shorts or pants...

I was visiting a friend a couple weeks ago and his daughter (age 4) asked me if I was pregnant. I tried to laugh it off, but I'm not going to lie, it hurt, and I'm not exactly Captain Sensitive.

If you have a scale, weigh yourself tomorrow morning, then cut out ALL dairy and bread for JUST 2 WEEKS. This is an experiment about yourself. I guarantee you will lose a good 5-8 pounds by THAT ALONE, maybe up to 10, depending on your intake (belly fat may lower). Just try it, whats 2 weeks? nothing. If this helps, you might be glad you did it, but if you don't even try it, then you'll just never know. Just a thought. Good luck to you man.

Tim says you don't have to do it all at once because it can be over whelming. For example, you can do the diet without working out at first. Or start by just changing your breakfast. Small changes in your life can help you get started

You're not ready, if you can't motivate yourself you might as well not start.