Halp! I'm Losing Motivation SO FAST!!

  • The couch is so comfortable. I don't WANT to go to the gym. I'm kind of tired. I'm kind of hungry. I'd rather read my book. I'm SURE I could find something I should be cleaning instead of going to the gym......

    I don't know why this happens to me, I do SO WELL for a while, then suddenly just lose the drive to go back to the gym and I don't know why. I'm sitting here in my gym clothes, ready to go but... blah.

    Of course, I am going to go. I'm going to get off my butt, go to the gym and feel satisfied that I did it instead of feeling guilty that if I didn't... I was going to the gym every.single.day - sometimes twice a day! for 1-2 hours each time for almost a month and then, BAM - I hit a wall. I wasn't able to pound out even 30 minutes on the elliptical. So I took a "day" off, that turned into a week off.

    Anyone else deal with this?? Any fixes?
  • Hm, if going every day or twice a day causes you to burn out, maybe you should set a less ambitious goal to start. Plan to go every other day, for example. Then if you find yourself actually in the mood to go on your in-between days you can go and it will be a bonus. And you can look at going 5 times in a week (say) as exceeding your goal, instead of falling short of it.
  • My only fix is to make a no-excuse time of the day. My no-excuse time is 5:30 AM. It's just part of what I do. I can't imagine not going. I skipped a Saturday workout once because it is not part of my 5:30 time frame. The gym doesn't open until 8:00. Something about waiting around the house for any length of time for me is a real buzz kill.
  • Going to the gym every day, sometimes twice a day, for one or two hours at a time seems like a lot. I can see why you feel burned out.

    Both carter and Eliana offer good suggestions and perhaps you can set a fixed time for your gym time, but scale back some so it is not such a burden and is more enjoyable. Maybe only three or four days a week, instead of every day. An alternative is to exercise at home - go out for a bike ride or walk around your neighborhood. Do some simple yoga stretches in your living room.

    I hope you find something that works for you, so you can make it part of your healthy life and not just short-term weight loss. Good luck!
  • I also agree that going everyday seems a little overkill. I go every other day, and I would get kind of burned out if I was going everyday. There are so many things to enjoy outside of the gym!

    I would suggest doing something new. Take a group class or something. Spinning, Kettlebell, Zumba, Step aerobics, are all great classes that help to break up your workouts.
  • You have received some great advice on here today!!

    IMHO, I would scale back on the going to the gym a couple times a day. I would scale it back to going to the gym every other day and doing something else on your off gym days. Like taking a walk outside, or doing some yoga. As you switch it up, your body will surprise you with it's response.

    Good luck. I hope you find what works for you!! You're doing great.
  • Sometimes I feel less than motivated to go to the gym, but once I get there I'm pumped.......One thing that really helped me when I started out was doing group classes. I did Step Aerobics, Zumba, Kickboxing (which I still do regularly), Bootcamp, and spinning. This helped to break up the monotony and it gave me something to look forward to because these classes were actually fun.