Hi there. I am coming here for support because I have been having a lot of difficulty lately. I am 23, a teacher, and recently married. I think I've settled into the "he has to love me no matter what" mode and have had a ridiculously poor diet and no exercise probably in the past 6 months. I have about 20 pounds to lose and I can't seem to get motivated! I set my alarm early, wake up, turn it off and go back to sleep. I'm too tired when I get home from work to do anything, and I really feel like I'm slipping into horrible habits that are going to be harder to break the longer I keep them. I know everything I'm supposed to do, I just can't seem to find the motivation to actually do it. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions to get motivated? I really need some help here! Thank you!

even if he has to love you no matter what, you have to love yourself as well!!

show your body some loving by eating right, keeping it full with the right stuff, keeping it active and be healthy.

it doesn't matter if he loves you, or if he will love you forever. show the world to respect you because you respect yourself!

Hello!

I'm a teacher too and I've found a couple of colleagues at school to walk with a couple of times a week after school. We're not always faithful about it, but there are several of us so that makes it easier to cancel when meetings or whatever conflict. Just having that connection with a couple of my peers makes it easier for me to pay attention to what I'm doing and what I'm eating during the school day.

I think the best thing you could do is not focus on the weight you have to lose right now, and focus instead on a 3-day healthy eating "detox." After you've eaten healthy for three days, you'll feel a lot more motivated and a whole lot less tired!

Do some research on foods and recipes that are healthy and sound great, make a shopping list, and hit the grocery store!

I've noticed that once I've put some effort in and really focus for just a few days, it's much easier to continue long-term.

Good luck and try not to be too hard on yourself! You have to love yourself no matter what, too!

Some advice I can give is to stop trying to wake up early, since you know you wont do it, and the alarm is interrupting your sleep, contributing to you feeling tired later in the day.

Some other advice is try to exercise before you go home after work if your schedule permits. Like a previous poster, see if other teachers go for a walk after work. Or find a nice place for yourself if they don't. Being outside is great because it also gives you access to sunlight and vitamin D production. I feel really sluggish when I don't get enough sunlight (like right now in the never-ending boston winter).

I go to the gym after work, and clearly I have enough energy to do the workouts, because I do them. However, if I were to go home first, I'd probably decide I was "too tired" to work out. I used to do that a lot, actually. I mean, I came home! I'm at home base, I'm done for the day. I can give in to the tired. And once I eat dinner, it's all over. I get really tired after I eat sometimes, and I don't like to exercise too soon after eating, especially after a larger meal like dinner. So the same level of fatigue I feel after work seems worse if I go straight home.

There are ways to sneak exercise into your day.

Take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Park at the far end of the parking lot. (Also less chance of having your car "dinged" by someone else's door. And in the long run, this saves you time over driving around in circles for an hour, looking for a "good" space.)

If you ride the bus, miss your stop by about four blocks.

Do some quick exercises during your breaks.

You could also try doing a short workout dvd at home. 20 minutes long, who doesn't have 20 minutes! Even if you came home from work and you're tired, you can move your body for that long before you hit the couch! That motivates me, thinking that I only have to work out for less than one sitcom show length and then I'm DONE.