Motivation for Exercise - Please help!
 

Diet vs Exercise...

I've read a ton of wonderful, supportive posts as people battle their issues with food, and I do find them helpful and informative. But I have to admit that I feel a bit alone in my own battle... which isn't diet so much as it is exercise.

Admittedly, I've eaten quite terribly over the past year, but most of my life I've been lucky enough to have never had any addiction to fast food or processed food, and knocking down the calories and eliminating the junk hasn't bothered me at all. If anything, I feel like I've gone through a detox the last few weeks and pretty much feel back to normal.

I'm eating 1,000-1,200 calories, and ensuring that everything I eat is healthy and organic. While I'm sure I'll have ups and downs, I'm not terribly worried about maintaining this. I'm not hungry at all, I'm much more energized and my body feels much better.

HOWEVER... I'm not here to say everything is perfect, either. It's just that my own problem isn't diet, but on motivating myself to get proper exercise.

Before the weight gain of the last 18 months or so, I always used jogging to keep my weight down and stay in shape. But now being this overweight, I've found it's just not an option at this point to dive back into that. I'm in terrible shape and it's physically too challenging for now. Also, the primary reason I gained weight was due to a couple serious back operations, and I guess I'm afraid of pushing too hard and injuring myself before I'm in better condition.

I realize there are plenty of things I can do and I've been introducing some light exercises to my days, which is helping. But I have a TERRIBLE time motivating myself for this, getting so easily frustrated with my body not cooperating!

I guess I wonder if there's anyone else here on this site like me, who primarily struggles with exercise and motivation to do so, rather than just the food issues.

I'd love your tips and ideas to handle this, if you have any good advice. :)

:welcome:

Congrats on deciding to get back to health.

I hope some of the "pros" on this forum come in to help you. My concern is for your calorie intake. I think it is too low. Where is your room to cut down as you start losing?

I was having the same type of motivation problems. I went to the library and got several different dvds. I tried a few and decided they were trying to give me a heart attack. I thought I'd be on medicare before some of the others finished. I finally found Walk Away The Pounds. I don't have to go outside if it is cold or rainy or dark. I can pop that puppy into the machine and have a 30 minute on up to an hour workout. I can adjust the intensity. I haven't been able to do it for about 2 weeks now and I miss it terribly. I have some sort of foot injury. It's better now. I can walk on it without limping.

I can understand why you don't want to jog right now. Workout videos may be the best suggestion I can give you right now.

Good luck and I hope you get some answers.

I find that love songs make me want to work more. It makes me want to look good for my guy

Hi cbmare. Thank you very much for your thoughts.

Workout tapes are a great idea and I've actually tried to get into some early-morning televised workouts. I've done it a few times, but haven't yet found anything I can stick to. But I suspect it's me more than the workouts... I've been lazy for so long, it's hard to snap out of it. :)

As for the calorie intake, I appreciate your thoughts and I realize it is low. However, I have no intention of making it even lower over time, but rather increasing it as my activity level increases and my energy needs are greater.

At this point I'm so sedentary (my job is 14-16 hours a day at a desk) that a balanced, 1,200 calories a day is more than enough. But as I find a way to introduce proper exercise into my life, I expect I'll need to increase it. It actually never occurred to me to consider going lower in the future. It's interesting to me that other people would do so. You think that's better?

But I have to say, at this point I feel quite full on the diet I'm on. The only time I wish I could intake more calories is when I look longingly at a nice bottle of red wine. :)

I am the opposite of you - I struggle with the food, :love: the exercise.

If jogging seems like too much, start with walking. Or like Mare suggested exercise DVD's you can do at home. I think you will be pleased with what it does for your overall health. I think some weight training might be useful to you as well...but maybe start small. The key is finding something you like to do so that it is fun for you. Dancing, Wii, DDR, whatever. Just make a habit of moving at least 1/2 an hour maybe 5 days a week. Build your strength...you can do this!! :cb:

There is nothing like a little exercise to get your metabolism going. Speaking of metabolism - up your calories. You should not be going below 1200. You need more than that to get the basic nutrients your body needs. Add some exercise and try at least 1400 calories a day. You'll keep losing and be building habits to maintain your losses in a healthy way.

:wel3fc: Glad you found us! :D

savanahfloc -- Thanks! I'll keep that in a mind. But after 8 years of marriage, I'm not sure love songs do the trick anymore.

Although if he'd offer to do the dishes while humming romantic music for me, you might be onto something! :)

Thanks, chick_in_the_hat. I tried to explain a bit more about my perspective on the calorie intake in a different post above. I certainly do intend to increase it as I get more active.

I'm glad I found y'all, too. And I really appreciate the supportive words. :)

savanahfloc - Love songs...LOL...I require something a little more active to get me going...maybe it's beacuse I've been married for 20 years. :lol3:

lana1 - one other trick I use to get myself off the couch...I tell myself I'll only do a half a normal workout. Then, once I get going, I usually end up doing the whole thing because it feels good. :D It's getting off the couch that for me is the hardest part.

You know, I don't think its rational to believe you're going to be super-motivated to exercise each and every day, especially at the beginning of a fitness regimen. The bottom line is that, ultimately, it doesn't matter if you're motivated or not...it simply must be done!

So maybe you need to tell yourself that, whether you want to or not, you WILL be exercising. If it isn't an option to not do it, then you'll do it!

After a while of making yourself do it, it really WILL start being fun...but if you want until you are 100% motivated each time to exercise, you'll never do it. Even now, when I'm addicted to exercise endorphins and generally love working out, it sometimes isn't what I want to do...but I still decide to just DO it.

what about a workout buddy? It helps me to have someone that I am accountable to. I know that those ladies are out there waiting for me and I have no hesitation of getting up and going. I used a trainer (if that is in the budget) for 4 years (through 2 pregnancies) this helped me build a habit of working out and I learned to enjoy it. One last thing I do is I filled my ipod with fast upbeat motivational music...you can't help but want to move. the exercise forum has a couple of threads of favorites. You think you feel good now, just wait until you get moving! Good Luck!

Well, I've never liked exercise, and while I've had food issues to deal with, I was never a regular exerciser.

I just had to commit to it. I set myself goals of how many minutes a month I would exercise. I started with figuring I could handle 30 min of exercise 3-4 days a week (I had actually started exercising before then and worked up to 30 min). So, I made a commitment for about 400 min the first month. And I've gone up from there. Now I commit to working out about 5 days a month and usually set goals of at least 1000 min/month (this month is lower because of large work commitments).

So, as an exercise hater, I recommend, not motivation, but commitment...

Amen to that. If I waited for motivation, well, I'd still be waiting. :lol: But I go and once I start I usually do my whole workout. I actually really enjoy weight lifting - once I'm at the gym and started.

Are you a competitive person? Perhaps challenging yourself to something specific will give you a sense of motivation and accountability. I have a goal of 500 miles this year- whether that be biking, walking, crawling, etc. It helps me to feel as if I'm working toward something specific.

If you can't jog- walk. Set a goal for a number of miles. Write it down. Write down how far you walked and how long it took you to do it. Over time, you'll find that your distances and/or times have improved, which is always a great feeling. It's also a good representation to know that you can do it.

I also have significant back issues, though no surgeries yet. I know how the pain is debilitating, but the fear of pain is even worse. Just take it slowly. Realize that strength training will help your back, so will losing weight. And don't let those issues become who you are.

You can do this!

Your post hit home for me. It is much easier for me to keep my eating under control than it is to exercise routinely. So

I'm going to echo Heather. It isn't about motivation for me either. I treat myself as I would a child. Like mare, I love WATP videos. I also have videos for yoga, pilates, resistance bands, and aerobic dance. I have a weight machine and a Gazelle. I allow myself to chose WHAT form of exercise I will do each day. I do not give myself the option of IF I will exercise. So, if I really don't feel like walking, NP - I can dance instead.

I have slowly increased my DVD collection (half.com is a wonderful place). I really like DVDs because I don't have to think. I just follow along. I am not nearly as tempted to quit early like I am on a treadmill, the Gazelle, etc. For me - someone telling me what to do and when to do it, really keeps me on track.

Agreed! Putting on my shoes or getting to the gym is frequently the hardest part!

chick_in_the_hat -- VERY good trick, I agree. Honestly, the times that I DO get my butt in gear and do something, it's almost always because I 'trick' myself, indeed. As you said, it's just getting started...

mandalinn82 -- Oh goodness. I remember that feeling - that endorphin addiction - sooooo well. Running was good for that. It's just hard to get my mind to connect to my body the same way, to realize that the rewards (beyond weight loss) will come if I just commit.

thisrlipo -- Thanks for the encouragement. A trainer is a very good idea, really. I think my mind block to that is the same as I have to gyms... I hate being in the company of others as I do this. (I know that's pathetic, it's just a combination of disorganization and insecurity. Ugh.)

heather -- You should work for NIKE... "Just Do It!" :) (And I agree -- If I can just break through this mental block of mine, I suspect that mindset will serve me well)

waterrat -- Once we start, it's so much easier, isn't it? Congrats to you for your commitment to the gym! I'm never been good at that, even in my better days. :)

southlake -- Thank you so much... the fear is definitely the worst of it, you're so right. My surgeries went generally pretty well. It was just that the second surgery was caused by working out too hard to get back into shape after the first operation... and I guess I'm letting myself be forever terrified that I'll cause the same problems.

countingdown -- I'm glad someone else can identify with my particular issue. Perhaps we should taunt each other to push our efforts. (Although, let me warn you: I'm just aiming for 10-15 minutes a day for now -- no 30 minute sessions for me, for a while. Lordy, I'm a mess..!)

JUST DO IT!! - thats what I tell myself. All the above suggestions are valid. You need to schedule in exercise time and make sure that you cannot do anything else during that time but exercise. I generally come home at 4:15 so my exercise hour is from 4:15 to 5:15. during that time I don't allow myself to do anything else that would get me side tracked (TV, sleep, going out etc..). Another thing you might want to do is vary your exercises, get some videos like WATP, an easy dance video and switch between videos and walking outside for 30 minutes. Another thing is getting your exercise gear ready, I have my shirt, pants and shoes layed out on the bed for me so when I get home I just change clothes and start working out. You have to make it into one of those no-excuse tasks in your life like eating, brushing your teeth etc.. good luck! :hug:

so i dont think exercise should be so scary. i started to lose weight without doing any form of exercise except walking. mind u i was walking up and down hill for a bout 4 miles a day, but that was enough at the beggining. is there anyway u can walk to work, or cycle? or do you have a dog, or a friend has a dog to walk? or kids to walk or a freinds kids? some people find it better to exercise with someone, so joining locall weight loss groups gives u the chance to meet other ladies, who wanna exercise and you can arrange to go walking or cycling with them.
if you want a bit more then walking, then i think swimming is amazing, ok there is a the problem of waring a costume, but you can easily get away with waring shorts, and there are so many bigger people at a pool, its a great way to do exercise without feeling too warn out.its amazing for your joints also.
running and jogging is one of the best ways to lose weight i have found but its high impact, and it depends on your poersonal preferance, i started doing jogging when i had lost a bit and my confidence was stronger then it was when i first started to loose.
i have never gone to the gym while loosing weight, now im not saying its a good thing, but im saying there are otherways. I think there are sooooo many sports, you just need to find what suits your confidence, your personality, and your timetable. I have found that the only person who can motivate me to push harder is myself, im my biggest critique and enemy, so i can happily walk/swim/jog alone. but that doesnt work for everyone.
good luck :-)

Same with me! I need the guidance and the 'totality' of completing a designated workout.

lana, welcome! Do you think you'd like to try videos or DVD's? I like going to collage.com, as they have tons of info on each offering, and you can preview a clip.

On "Fit TV" I've sampled some workouts that were great! One woman (forget her name) had a low, LOW impact workout; it was so low-impact, yet I was sweating and trying my best.

I hope you find something you like, and can stick to! :hug:

I just recently got myself to jump headfirst into the exercise pool. I'm like you -- eating can be 100%, but exercise was down close to 5%, sometimes I felt like I took a total of 20 steps during the day (I also have a sedentary job). What I'm doing is challenging myself -- I thought up a plan to jump-start my exercise routine, and have a reward set up for myself when (not if) I succeed. I'm starting out with 20 minute daily challenges, as my stamina is not yet built up and I don't want to burn myself out on exercise (which is what I'd do in the past). Take it easy, take it slow. If you try to tackle too much too soon you won't want to do it again, you'll see it as a chore, something painful and to be avoided, etc.

Make yourself a promise to get out there and do something ONCE. Keep your promise to yourself. Write down afterwards how it made you feel. Write down the reasons why you need to start exercising regularly. Make a commitment to yourself to keep going. If necessary, set goals and rewards for reaching those goals. Do your best. Hold yourself accountable.

You can do it :) The first step is the hardest!

You've gotten a lot of advice here. I'm having trouble getting motivated again, too. I've had a foot pain. It is subsiding now due to my foot exercises and this rolly thing I use every night. Now it's just a matter of cracking out my WATP dvds again. Since it's been a couple of weeks, I will start back down on the lower intensity ones and work back up.

Please remember that the library has exercise videos for free. Try different ones and go from there.

Hi Lana,

There will always be something to go around at some time or another and I think it's best just to begin your beginning :)

I am definately overweight but the more I get out there for a run the stronger I become and the less overwhelmed I feel. You know the drill right? You can only run 50 paces and have to walk one day - next day you can run 60 paces and walk - on and on and on........until you can manage your first
5k race!!!!!

JUST DO IT!!!

RAY XO

OK, I did yoga and dancing today. How about you?
Don't worry about how many minutes when you first start out. They key is to get in the habit of doing it. You can add minutes once you get going. Baby steps are doable and sustainable. :)

New Approach
 

I have lost lots of weight mainly by exercising. No special diet. Just making good food choices and cutting portions. After the birth of my daughter, who is 11 now, I had packed on 50 pounds. I lost all of it by walking & aerobic exercise. I even ate what I wanted for the most part, but really cut back portions. BUT... in the last few years 20 of the pounds have crept back and and I have not been able to get myself to stick to an exercise program...soooo

Starting now, I am going to choose to move. What I mean is, I had a mind set if I could not work out for 30-60 minutes at a time, why bother? Starting now, I want to workout any way I can, even if it means 10 minutes. I am hoping this helps me get back into my old routine that worked so well. :dancer:

I have read in several places that it's best to rotate calories so your body doesn't figure out your diet and has to guess. Jilian from the Biggest Loser show says that in the book I just read, if you hit a plateau to try rotating calories, so maybe 1200 every other day, and 1400-1500 the other days, with a cheat day of 1600-1800?

I don't like exercising either. I find though if I get started I like how it makes me feel, especially afterwards with increased energy. Do you really sit at a desk for that many hours? That in itself is unhealthy if you aren't moving and taking breaks. You might start with breaks from the desk. Go on some very fast power walks several times a day. Even if they are 10-15 min each walk you'll get in 20-30 minutes of exercise just getting up from your desk and moving! Do you have stairs at work? Take them. Park further from your office building. So if you can get in the 20-30 min at work then you could do one of the short videos at home at night, I like the ones that are about 20-25 min as I can't exercise long. But I prefer the ones that really get the heart rate up. If you want to lose the weigh and can get the heart rate up with power walks at work and a video then you'll see progress I think.

Hi there!!

I need motivation also! So... I went out and bought a dog!! A big one!!! That needs to go for walks!! Hahaha....

I need motivation constantly. I started Slim N Six yesturday. I did it 3 years ago with great results. I actually did at 10 at night. I was on line reading posts thinking to myself, I should be up and moving. It took me that long to talk myself into it. So glad I did. We all need to move!