I'm trying to lose weight before this summer and I know that to meet my goal I need to work out. I bought several workout videos that I can do in my dorm room but I just can't seem to get the motivation to do them. I plan to do them and even make time in my schedual but yet I seem to get busy or something. Does anyone have any ideas that might help me or anything that you do that helps you? Any ideas would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

It's hard isn't it? The only answer really is to "just do it"... the motivation will come once you've done it a few times!

Find an exercise you really like doing. Maybe walking with your friends or going swimming or ice skating or biking or something. I love to play basketball, so it's really easy for me to get motivated to do it.

I agree with futuresurferchick...the more I plan and think about working out, the more I sit on the couch!! You have to just put the video in and turn it on. Don't even think about it at all first. I am in the habit now of putting on my workout clothes as soon as I get home from work, that way, I am ready to go. I used to put my PJs on as soon as I got home from work, which really didn't help at all

If you don't have lot of time at once, you could try breaking it up into smaller chunks - say 10 minutes 3 times a day. Sometimes it is hard to find 30 minutes, but who can't fit in 10 minutes? Some exercise is better than none at all.

Wake up early.

Trust me, I'm a student too, and I know how crazy life can get (especially when the girls down the hall have something fun to do). The only way I have managed to get in exercise consistantly is to plan to wake up early, go to sleep in my workout clothes, and commit loudly to everyone who will hear that "I'm going to the gym at 6:30am" (so that I have people who will notice if I stop).

If you have a roommate, doing workout videos in the morning might be a problem, but most colleges I know have a gym for students. Might be worth checking out.

Definitely just do it!

Some days I just DO NOT want to work out, but I feel so much better after I do it. Now that I have worked out long enough to realize this, it's much easier to get my butt off the couch.

I like the idea about either sleeping in or coming home and automatically putting on your workout clothes. That's great!

I trick myself into exercising in the evening by stretching. It's not strenuous, so it's easy to just get up and do it, then, once I'm already up and moving, it's not a challenge to just keep on and head for the elliptical. I always say, "well, I'll just stretch and that will do", but then I wind up doing the full workout anyway.

If you're interested in stretching, there's an excellent book that's been popular for decades called Stretching by Bob Anderson. You could probably even find it at your library.

-Lala

The first thing I do when I get home from work is to change into my workout clothes. Then I make dinner for DH and myself, watch a little tv or do some chores, and then an hour after I eat I go on the treadmill and work out.

for me, the workout clothes help me signal that I don't have the freedom to eat what I want and then as soon as I feel my food is digested enough I get my workout done, hit the shower, and go to bed

"I will just do the first ten minutes" say that to yourself and promise yourself that you will at least do 10 mintues no matter what! I can only think of one time where I actually did stop after 10 minutes!

What I do when I am stuck like that is tell myself "only for 5 minutes" I can do anything for 5 minutes and if I still don't feel like it, I can quit. So far that has only happened 1 time, the other 888 times I kept on for minimum of 20 minutes. I think that for me the hardest part was just getting started and once I passed that hurdle I was home free!

Thanks everyone for the help!!