Motivation to Exercise
 

I joined a gym years ago and really enjoyed going, despite seeing a lot of kids I would substitute for in the local schools. I was going and doing cardio plus light weight training 4-5 days a week, but I continued to gain weight. I got discouraged and even though I have continued my gym membership, I have not gone in probably 18+ months.

I am getting really serious about my weight loss, finally. I am being more conscious of my calorie intake, but I cannot motivate myself to start exercising again.

What does everyone else do to get themselves moving? I plan on going slow, doing exercises at home before going back to the gym, but I still am not doing that either.

I started out with simple walking. I found that it was so good for me, mentally, that I started actually looking forward to it and not avoiding it. That progressed to some light jogging and a little bit of weight training. The key is to find something you enjoy, or at least don't totally hate. :D

But sometimes you have just to power through those feelings of exercise avoidance. When I wake up in the morning and am getting my running gear out, I tell myself, "I am going to have a GOOD run today!" instead of, "Gosh, I don't feel like running today."

I agree with you HereIStand, I definitely need to find something that I don't hate, at the very least.

I actually really love the way I feel when I work out, but since I got to my heaviest weight (2 months ago or so), even being on my feet long enough for shopping hurts. And I am not a lover of shopping, so I rarely do it for long anyways.

I am thinking that I might need to find something that doesn't put a lot of strain on my back and feet until I drop some more weight. I keep thinking I can do the workouts I use to do in high school (I was overweight then too, just no way near like today).

I think I get disappointed in myself when I can't exercise for long and then it kills my motivation. It seems like being on this site might help me stay on track this time though :D

You might find the Chicks Up For a Challenge sub-forum helpful. It's in the Support Groups forum. There's a thread there with a monthly exercise challenge. You can decide what your challenge is - maybe just exercising 20 minutes/day, 5 days/week, or something like that - and then you just post how you're doing in the thread.

Do you have access to an indoor pool? If your back and feet are hurting, low-impact cardio might be a great option.

Thanks for the suggestion HereIStand! I will check out that thread for sure. The pool is a great idea also. I do not currently have access to one, but maybe I can figure out a way.

There are a lot of videos on U tube for exercising while sitting. Cardio and lifting.

They give a good challenge. I do them and I am sweating by the end.

LG

That is something I hadn't thought about, thanks mam1958!

Your welcome.

You can't always rely on outside forces to drive you, on a trip. Having a personal or emotional interest in your objectives comes from knowing you're why for exercising.

I agree with you.