[RuveK]

Help. I now I've got to get moving because I feel terrible and so lethargic, but my job is so demanding that after 11-13 hour days I roll home and flop on to the couch. The weekends, when I get a full one to myself where I don't have to work, are just spent recovering. I am always tired and have headaches and asthma pretty much constantly.

I'm not dieting at the moment as such - am just trying to ween myself off sugars and that has proven hard enough. I am just trying to start to make healthy choices around food but its all very early in the piece and somewhat shaky at the moment.

But I just know that if I could get moving then I'd have a stronger motivation to eat well. I see these joggers and such up early in the morning and out pounding the footpath when I'm driving to work and I look at them and so wish I could be like that but it escapes me as to where they get their drive and energy from.

Does anyone have any helpful tips or advice on how to pull my finger out???

[Raelynn]

Welcome! I would say to start small. The hardest part for me when I started exercising, was that I was so out of shape that it was not fun at all. Once I crossed the line between being out of shape and becoming in shape, exercising became really fun to me. I started having three times the energy that I had before, and now when I miss a day, I notice right away the next day because my energy level is down big time. What about the Walk Away the Pounds tapes? Many ladies here just love them, especially when they are first starting out.

[RuveK]

Thanks Raelynn but what are the Walk Away the Pounds tapes?

[Raelynn]

They are a set of workouts done by Leslie Sansone (http://www.walkawaythepounds.com/homepage.asp). She has the 1, 2, 3 and 4 mile workouts out, and basically you put the tape in, and follow her lead on the tape (I've been told it's very easy to follow), and after x amount of time, you've walked one or more miles. I have heard nothing but good reviews about them.

[aprilbride04]

Hi! I have been back to exercising for about 3 weeks now. I have had incredible amounts of stress lately and been extreamly tired as well. My first week, I worked out for 1/3 hour only 2 days that week. I did 30 minutes on my elliptical one day and another day I walked for a half hour. This was all after work...I was tired but made myself do it. The next week I went to Curves 3 times, and on my elliptical one day for 30 mintues, and took a walk one day. This week I have gotten up every morning and been at Curves at 6:30 am.

I think that it is hard to get out of bed to exercise if 1) you haven't been working out (when you work out for a few weeks you start to get this feeling that you have to work out - it is a great feeling!) and 2) if you are doing an activity that you don't like.

Like Raelynn said, start slow - even if it is 20 minutes. Another thing I have started is I bought a pedometer to see how many steps I am taking a day. I am trying to get to 10,000 steps a day...so far I have only gotten to a little over 7,000, but when I started I was only doing an average of 1800 steps per day!

If you have someone that you can take a walk with that might help to! Good luck!

[Suzanne 3FC]

Another suggestion would be to try to exercise in the mornings. I can imagine that after such long work days, it would be difficult to do anything. Getting up 30 minutes earlier to allow time to exercise to a video, or do anything at all, would probably make the rest of your day better. Exericise boosts your metabolism, so you'll have more energy - and will burn more calories per hour - for several hours after exercising.


Exercise in the evening can also be nice, though, because it helps you to unwind. There have been many times that I would drive home from work, just gripping the steering wheel because the day had been so stressful. But I would go home, get on the treadmill, listen to great music and nothing else in the world mattered.

Good luck

[gma22]

If you can find it at maybe the library, the Oct 1 Family Circle (it has an apple pie on the front) has an article on exercise and the routine only takes about 15 minutes! Take it from someone who knows, get up and get moving even for 10-20 minutes. After about a week it will definitely help with the sluggishness!

Faye

[MaryR]

All the preceding advice is great, and I have another suggestion. The Jorge Cruise 8 Minutes in the Morning program. You can find the details on his site: Jorge Cruise.

I've lost 75 pounds and kept it off a year. When I started out, I was much like you: tired all the time, headachey, unmotivated. I started with the Walk Away the Pounds 1-mile tape -- it takes 20 minutes -- and then added the 8 Minutes to get some resistance training.

Two years later, I take power yoga once a week, go to Curves three times a week, and take a couple of long, brisk walks a week. I also take a day off!! I'm 75 pounds lighter, my headaches are rare, and I have much more energy. In fact, I find that if I exercise when I'm "tired" (from sitting in front of a computer all day), I feel much better. By the way, I'm also completely off all blood pressure meds!

Exercise...it does your body good!