My personal 3 week experiment: AM workouts
 

Hi everyone! I'm starting this new thread to hold myself accountable for the next 3 weeks. I was doing great the first half of 2008 eating healthy, slowly losing my last pounds, and exercising. Exercising was my best accomplishment of last year because I finally made it part of my regular routine. Unfortunately around August I stopped exercising and eating healthy due to the stress of planning my wedding, and after my wedding in October I continued to eat poorly and no exercise which led to gaining back 14 pounds that took me so long to lose. I have been back on track with healthy eating and some exercise 3 times a week for the pat 3 weeks, and I have decided to do a personal experiment. I am going to get up 30 minutes earlier and work out for 1 hour at least 4 mornings a week. I work out at home because I have a home gym (treadmill, elliptical, weights, DVDs) and I usually work out after dinner. I never had a problem doing it after dinner but I have been reading a lot of people's experiences with getting their exercise done first thing in the morning and feeling great about it all day, plus they don't have to forgo exercise in the evening due to being tired because it is done first thing in the morning. I have no problems getting up at 6 am now, so I am going to get up at 5:30 for the next 3 weeks and see if I can get used to AM workouts and if it has any impact on how I feel throughout my day. I'm going to check in on this thread - hopefully every day, at least every other day - to hold myself accountable and get my experience down in writing. Please feel free to read along and make any comments - any encouragement or other people's experiences with working out early is greatly appreciated. I am off to bed in one hour to get some good sleep before getting up at 5:30 tomorrow for my first morning workout! :)

Working out in the morning is a really good idea. It works for me because if I go for a run in the morning, then the rest of the day I eat better because I remember how hard I worked that morning and how I don't want to undo what I already did. Hope that helps! :)

That's a great idea! I've been working out in the afternoons, but next Monday I start a new job & I plan on also getting up about 30 min earlier than I need to so I can do my elliptical or when the weather permits go running outdoors. Good luck to you!!! I can't wait to hear how it turns out.

My experience with working out in the morning has been good and bad. It's good in the sense that it feels good to get the exercise out of the way and not have to worry about it. On the other hand, for me, I find myself getting tired sooner but that might just be because I'm so out of shape. The importance of working out is whenever YOU know that you'll do it consistently!

I loved working out in the morning... I don't know why I don't do that now, but I should start again!! Good for you!!!!

I looove working out the morning. If I don't do it then I won't do it the rest of the day. Some days I do skip it b/c I just can't get out of bed. But I try to get to bed early the night. And now that it is so cold and dark out in the morning, I find it harder to do it.
Good luck!

I think I want to start working out in the morning as well. 1) Because I try to workout after work and always end up slacking and thinking of reasons why I can't and 2) I am tired first thing in the morning no matter how much sleep I got so I really don't think that extra 45 minutes is going to completely throw me off for the whole day.

The only problem is I got a gym membership and I would be wasting it by not going. They do have a bootcamp at 6.15 am but yikes....

Day 1: Completed!! I usually go to bed by 9:30 or 10:00, but last night I didn't get to sleep until after 11:00, and I wasn't able to sleep very well. I think I was dreading getting up early to exercise so I didn't sleep well. I think I got about 4 1/2 hours of sleep so when I got up at 5:25 I was pretty tired and groggy. But I made myself get up, do 30 mins on the treadmill and some light weights. I am going to work on upping my workouts to 1 hour as I get used to getting up early. I've heard the first day is always the hardest, so I hope it gets easier. I was pretty tired all day, but happy that I got up early and completed day one. I think I will be able to sleep well tonight and it's nice to relax tonight.

Day 2: Done! I went to bed around 9:00 last night because I was so tired and got lots of good sleep. I had a lot less trouble getting up this morning. I tried out Exercise TV On Demand and really enjoyed having different choices. I am determined to keep the AM workouts up and I think I can do it!