So yesterday I ended up not working out. I woke up, had breakfast, went out for a couple hours... and came home exhausted. My knee was bothering me (though it doesn't bother me when I exercise; only when I sit down and cross my legs) and I just wasn't in the mood to do a half hour of bouncing around and sweating and all that. I figured, fine. I deserve a day off. I'll just make up the time tomorrow and the next day.

But no. Today was even worse. First day back to school. Not only did the full day of classes wear me out... but jeez! I got home at 2pm and I've been working on homework from then until 7:00pm--and I'm still working on it! I'm exhausted, tired, cranky, and... yeah, tired.

I know me. I know that if not doing it one day is no big deal, then I'm not going to see the big deal about missing it another day. But I really, really do not want to do it today. It's been stressful enough I'm so sad. I know what I want to do, but I'm scared of falling off the wagon. But I really don't want to do it! I'm so tired! I earned the right to go and rest; I've been working so hard! (And I'm not even through with one of my classes' assignments.)

I don't know what I'm asking from you guys... At first, I wanted motivation to do it, but now that I've said all that and touched base with my feelings, I kind of want to be told that it's fine to go rest. But at the same time, life isn't always going to let me put it on hold while I go off on a weight loss journey...

How do you guys find the willpower to hit the gym after a stressful and physically/mentally exhausting day?

I tell myself it isn't optional.

I tell myself, "Just go & do it for 15 minutes."

I tell myself that if one body part hurts, I should use a different machine or exercise that doesn't stress it.

I tell myself that I feel better for having done something than having rationalized & excused away not doing it, and for dithering indecisively about whether I'll go or not.

I don't, and so I don't have any words of wisdom for you there. For me, the desire to exercise goes down the later it gets....yet I know it is a key to my continued success with WL and ultimately, with maintainance.

Just today, I finished a 66 day challenge. My goal was to do 10 min of exercise at home every morning. I want a habit that gets me some exercise every morning no matter what else happens. I did pretty well and think it's a habit worth keeping.

I was out of the house by 630 to go to the gym. It's a new habit, too, but when I make a commitment early I find I always get it in.

Best wishes!

I think that it is okay to take short breaks. I find that when I work really hard one week and then the next week I don't work quite as hard, I loose more in the 'off' week than I did in the hard week.
However, exercise is an excellent stress buster. It could be just the break from all your other stress that you need. Even if you just go peddle on the reclining bike but monitor your HR to stay above 65%, easy but fat burning.