Ok, so I've taken a break from excercising almost 3 weeks now. Definately not happy with myself. Everyday I wake up and say to myself today Amanda you're gonna get off your butt and get moving and burn the fat. But I just cant seem to get motivated and I make excuses "oh its too cold" "I'll start on a monday" and anything else I can think of. So I need everyone's help or whoever wants to what do you do to get yourself motivated?? Do you say something to yourself when you excercise? what time of day is best?
I make all the people around me aware that I'm a huge slacker and that I live on guilt trips. My husband will ask me if I worked out and if I don't he gets disappointed in me and that breaks my heart. So that works!
I have an elliptical at home, so I have no excuses!
I work out 6 day's a week, only allowing myself to plan 1 day off a week. It's gotten to be harder to plan the day off then to actually work out!
I usually work out immediately after work then eat dinner, but on my late week (working until 8pm) I get up at 5am and do it right away in the morning before work so I can still eat dinner before 9 at night!
I like watching shows on weight loss and health and exercise. It gets me motivated to do the same. I watch Discovery Healths I lost It show at 11:00 am every day before I go to the gym.
Try making an appointment with yourself to just do it, no excuses. Look at it this way, do you take the time to brush your hair, teeth, shower, feed a pet, etc. every day? You have to put exercise on the same level. You might also try setting up a procedure where, if you don't get your exercise done, you don't get to do so and so. It's got to be something important to you though, or you'll just end up skipping the thing you want to do in order to not have to exercise. The point is, you just have to get it done because your body needs it, and I promise, you'll feel so much better afterwards!
My best advice is to promise to do it today and if you don't feel better afterwards, you can skip it the next day. One i start exericising, I can continue to exercise.
We saw a lady on a FitTV show last night say that when she first started going to the gym to work out, all she did for a week was challenge herself to get there. She'd get up, drive herself to the gym, and walk in the front door. Then she'd say, "That's one!" and go back home. She wanted to start out with very simple goals and work her way up. She then did 5 minutes on the treadmill each visit. Then she added a little. She also switches to different machines so she doesn't get bored (and so her body doesn't just adjust to the same motions and learn to do the actions efficiently in order to burn less energy - never thought of that). Now she's up to hour-long workouts. I think setting such mini goals is a great idea.
Lots of good ideas here. I think making it a habit has worked best for me, and that took me a while of just forcing myself (at first) basically. I kept reminding myself that it's not a punishment, but a very good thing for me, and that helped. There's probably lots of little tricks to get yourself to do it, like leaving clothes at the gym. Or saying to yourself I can't do X if I don't do the exercise. Can't buy something, can't watch some favorite tv show, can't go somewhere. Or maybe positive reinforcement, if I do it for this week, or today, I can buy myself X, or go to this movie, or wherever that's a treat. Just throwing out some ideas.
I am such a product of inertia--once I start slacking off, I tend to keep slacking for awhile, so I totally relate to where you're at!!! Here's what I do:
-Exercise first thing in the morning. I do step aerobics, and if I'm in a funk of not wanting to do it, I get up and don't even let myself think about it. I'll just focus on what I'm doing (getting dressed, setting up my step, etc.), pushing all thoughts out of my head. Before I know it, the warmup is over, and I'm exercising.
-Keep track of your exercise. I use a calendar, and draw a box around each day that I do step aerobics. I write in other exercise that I do. In the past, I've used stars (gold for aerobics, blue for pilates or yoga, red for strength training). For me, it's very gratifying to visually see the frequency of my exercise like that.
-Do something you love. If you enjoy the exercise you're doing, you'll be more likely to look forward to it. If you love dance, get some aerobic tapes (they have everything--bellydancing, latin dance, ballet). If you love swimming, do that. Even if it's easier than what you think you should be doing, do it. If you love it, it helps you to get past that first 3 weeks of resuming an exercise routine. Once you're in the habit again (after 3 weeks), you can make it harder.
-Post here on Move Your Kaboose, or join the monthly points challenge. It keeps you accountable.
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