I am NOT a morning person but I have been getting up at 4:45 so that I can make it to the gym by 5:00 for the past three weeks or so. It only took making myself get up that early once to realize how much better it was. Exercising before I start my day means that there are NO excuses to be made and, as an added bonus, my workouts are much more efficient because I'm not pooped from all that I do during the day so I have the energy to work harder.
A couple of things motivated me in the beginning. The first was hitting a plateau and knowing that mixing up my routine and exercising harder were going to help get the scale moving again. Second, I was tired of having to juggle my workouts with everyone elses schedule. I wasn't even getting to eat dinner with my family because I had to rush off to the gym. And, worse, I didn't get home until almost 9:00 which meant I missed my kids' bedtimes and didn't have much time left to spend with DH. And worse, I was eating dinner so late because if I ate before I went to the gym I would get cramps etc. Plus, exercising and eating so late kept me from sleeping well. Part of what I enjoy about exercising is that it can relieve stress but, in my case, it was creating it. Getting up early was the only solution for me.
There are days when I don't want to get out of the bed. Our alarm clock is across the room so I have to get up to turn it off. Once I am up I have to go to the bathroom if I want to fall back to sleep. So, while I am up and really wanting to crawl back under the covers I just say to myself over and over, "do you want to lose this weight or not?" The answer is always yes and I know what I have to do. I also remind myself how much easier my days are when I get my workout done in the morning. Not only do I feel energized but that is one less thing I have to worry about making time for.
At this point, I can't imagine not getting up so early. I have everything ready to go before bed (I even put the toothpaste on my toothbrush LOL) and, honestly, I'm really only tired for those first few minutes I'm up. Once I get moving it isn't any different than getting up at 6:00 or 6:30.
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