I am exhausted all of the time. i'm a last semester college student and I've been dealing with depression for awhile. I sleep A LOT. I know I need to go to therapy (thats a different story).....anyways, I just dont ever feel like going to the gym because I'm so tired.

How does everyone here get motivated to work out and get off of their butts? Anything would really help me.

Also, I honestly hate that I'm in my early 20s and overweight. My mom always says that when she was in high school and college she was so skinny.....and for her 50th birthday, my dad flew me home to surprise her. So for a gift, I searched for old photographs of her and I found some of her in her 20s and she was so skinny. It made me so depressed and that I would never be like that. Anyone else feeling that way?

Wow, that sounds really tough. I am what you would call a slacker. If I can find an excuse to not exercise, I will. My husband motivates me. Well, not really motivates me, as much as keeps my lazy butt on track. I don't like getting up at 6 a.m. to work out, so he'll kick my butt out of bed when I try to roll over and go back to sleep. We work out together, and if he sees me only doing the weight machine half-you-know-what, he'll say something. It's probably tough to find someone, but a workout buddy is the ultimate way to keep yourself motivated. Good luck! Hopefully someone else will have more suggestions.

I think you need to get a buddy. Someone else that wants to exercise with you..someone that is willing to be the motivator and doesn't make excuses and slack as well (because obviously that won't be helpful).

you say you're depressed? Well, I've been through the same stuff before...you'll be surprised that if you get yourself out and exercise at least 2-3 times a week your mood will lift. Exercising and doing something for yourself really does improve your mood.

What about getting a personal trainer? Most college's have gyms with trainers that you can use (either for a fee or for free) maybe if you had an appointment and someone waiting there at the gym for you..you would be more motivated to go. Not to mention, trainers make you feel so good about yourself. They make you feel like you really can do..they are supportive and encouraging. You'll not want to miss the gym.

Goodluck with everything, try to blog or talk to us here on 3FC that will also help with the depression and help motivate you. Read some of the stories of women on here that have lost dramatic amounts of weight. That always motivates me. If a woman who once weighed 400lbs...and could barely move to exercise is now down to 150lbs..I can get my lazy butt up and get moving because I can still move!

For me, I had to just do it. Even though I didn't want to. Now that I go regularly, I want to go. I feel so much better when I do, and now that I exercise regularly, I'm not as tired anymore. Exercising actually helps with your energy level and can sometimes help with depression as well. Write it into your schedule to go one day and make sure you stick to the schedule no matter what. Once you do that a few times, you will want to start going on your own just because it feels good and you won't have to schedule it anymore

Having started and stopped several times on the weight loss journey before getting back on track, I think the hardest part of exercise is just to get started. Once you've found a way to fit it into your life in a way that works for you, its not too hard to keep it up.

I would look at your schedule and figure out what time of day would be easiest to fit in some exercise, even if you can only bring yourself to do ten minutes the first time, whenever it is, just make a plan to do something. If you're like me it may need to be very specific like ' I am going to walk from this place to that place, or I'm going to do 40 crunches and 20 bicep curls' or whatever your goal may be. And then, the thing is to just suck it up and do it. It will probably suck the first time, if you've mostly been sedentary. But every time after that it starts to get easier, and you start to do better, and you can start aiming for more and more challenging goals...and then exercise starts to actually feel good. After my workout, I may be breathing hard, I may be drenched in sweat, red faced and my muscles might be a bit tired...but I feel great. I don't really know how to explain it. Its like even after using all that energy I just feel like I have even more of it. Its a great feeling.

At any rate, you know yourself, how do you motivate yourself to do other things you don't like to do? some people need a friend to get them going, maybe just writing it down on your schedule will work for you, maybe setting up a chart with weekly exercise goals and then chipping away at it, maybe promising yourself a new outfit if you workout regularly for a month, whatever. I hope that all is helpful and made some sense...I prattled on quite a bit there :-)

For me it took a trainer. I would workout but half heartedly. Having some one waiting at the gym for me, some one I was paying to work out with me was what I needed to kick my but into gear. Now after 3 months I enjoy going to the gym and I enjoy the changes I see in my body. I still need my trainer there to make sure I'm showing up and doing what I should. But I also get motivated by the little things now: I can do 10 chest pressed with the 20lbs weights when will I be able to use the 25? My butt's looking perkier, and I have some deffination in my arms. I actually have muscles to flex (6 months ago I flexed for my bf and he didn't believe I was flexing. I had no upper body strength). Things like that keep me going. Even when I really don't want too.

I have the 'winter blahs' pretty bad right now - I don't know if that is what you have too? Or if there is something more. But I am having a hard time staying motivated to exercise, too. Last night was rough - but instead of doing a full 60 minutes of exercise, I told myself, I only had to do 30. Compromise.
I also went tanning the other week. It felt AWESOME.
And I have found, as silly as this sounds, taking a multi-vitamin regularly helps level out my moods a little.
The exercise really will make you feel better. Treat yourself every time you workout (or every week that you get in all your workouts) with something little and special (an extra 1/2 hour of TV, a new book if you like to read, a manicure, etc.)
Also, what works well for me is classes. If you can take a class at the gym or somewhere, they are great - you get to meet new people and you have a group that is expecting you to be there.
I keep reminding myself, the more I do it, the easier it will get!

I'd like to say you're DEFINITELY not alone in this. However, my experience is more like I was depressed because I wouldn't ever even be as skinny as YOU are RIGHT NOW while I was in my "prime years." I was already over 200 pounds when I entered high school, and I was around or over 250 for all of college. I haven't been a "normal" weight since I was maybe 4 years old. It's hard and often downright depressing to know that I have never experienced a "normal" young adult life.

BUT you've got to be able to see past it. I KNOW it's hard and definitely easier said than done. For you, I would celebrate the small victory that you're below 200 pounds, that you've decided to do something about your weight before it spiraled too far out of control. And remember that you're STILL young, so exercising and gettng healthier now WILL get you closer to what you want for yourself physically at this age. I KNWO it's hard to think positively, but thinking negatively never got me anywhere but in a worse position than when I started.

As for the exercise, if you can't drag yourself to the gym, don't go! I did lots of exercise in college in my on-campus apartment (I use the term "apartment" very loosely--6 girls with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a common kitchen/living room). It was tight, but Tae Bo didn't take up too much space, and Walk Away the Pounds takes even less, and neither require leaving your place or any equipment. Don't like workout videos? Just do some basic exercises that use your own body weight as resistance (push ups, lunges, squats, crunches, etc.). It's completely free, and you don't have to go anywhere or even make yourself presentable (that was always my favorite part about exercising at home--no need to make my hair look nice or make sure my shirt matched my pants ).

long time no reply, but thanks so much for the thought-out replies.

I'm moving in with my boyfriend and when he's "in the zone" he can be quite the workout person, so we made a little pack to just work out together every day when we move in together in July. and I am a die hard vegetarian (no broth, no eggs, nothing with broth or eggs or meat, soon to be more of a no dairy), so *I* will be cooking (because I know he'll absent-mindedly cook a steak for our dinner), which is great. And I'll be cooking for not just me, which is hard before because all I'd want is more unhealthy food. And if he's there.... then he'll hold me accountable and I'll hold him accountable.

It's so hard not to compare myself to my mom now especially everyone always compliments her and I'm still stuck. Ugh. She recently lost a lot of weight by just eating less and playing golf and it worked for her. It's hard trying to find what works for me. Anyways, I appreciate everyone's help.

depresseion aside im in the same boat as u, im in my last term of the year, exams exerywhere coming out my ears...revision, stress,, working for money to pay rent in a month bla bla...its a mess...
BUT
thats what i see as a challenge, i have to be focussed to get through it, so i try and use that focuss to help me on my diet.
You could use exercise as a way of relaxing, it does not have to be seen somthing negative. so im not one tor eally make motivational speeches, but i walk to and from uni and i do find that relaxing,, i clock up 4 miles easily, and i feel like my body is at least doing somthing.
u could just try doing somthing like that, walking with friends and talking over problems, maybe ask one to go jogging with u.
i think the only way to continue on with exercise is to choose somthing that u dont mind doing, makes u feel good after u ghave done it, and is not going to make u feel bad.
good luck with exams xx