But I can NOT get the motivation to exercise! I remember when I first started all this I was in a competition, I had friends to go to the gym with me, I had REASONS that basically forced me to exercise. Now that I don't have that, and that I have a job where I'm on my feet all day and am really tired by the end of my shift, I can't ever get off my *** and go to the gym. On my days off, I don't want to do ANYTHING (unless it's going shopping or hanging out with my boyfriend).

Exercise just isn't fun to me. It sucks. I get bored with it so easily. The classes my gym provides don't fit in with my schedule (which is constantly changing because I don't have a set schedule). I just have no desire to do it, which is bad because I really need to exercise if I want to meet my goals! I can eat on plan with no problem; in fact, most days I eat right at 1200-1300 calories and my limit is 1500!

I wish I had someone to make me go exercise, lol.

I hardly ever feel MOTIVATED to exercise. I just do it. I work, have 2 kids (3 years old and 7 months old), a husband, and a house to take care of, plus meals to make for everyone. I definitely don't always feel like working out, I'm almost always tired, and I never get a day off (part of the gig). BUT, I really want to have an amazing body, muscles, great cardio endurance, strength, and all kinds of other things that exercise provides, so I just do it.

You certainly don't have to workout to lose weight, it's really mostly diet (so that's the good news)! If it's something you want to do for all the other benefits, you just have to commit to doing it, motivation or no motivation!

Oh man, Stephanie, everything you said is right on the money. I just do it, like brushing my teeth, washing my hair, feeding the pets... I maybe want to workout a few days a week, max, and usually that goes away when I am tired or busy. But my health demands I work out and I am a better wife and mommy when I am healthy, so I do it. It's become as routine as everything else I have to do, and I figure it's okay that I'm more of a reader/knitter than triathlete

Start small.

20 minutes, go for a walk.
Start the C25K
Start the 30 day shred, just do it 3x a week or 5x.

Tell yourself it's ONLY 30 minutes of your life. And JUST DO IT. There isn't a motivation sometimes, it's like homework. You don't want to, it can be grueling you avoid it for HOURS and HOURS and then you finally do it and it took 30 minutes, wasn't that bad, and you feel better suddenly.

If this doesn't work, and you can't just tell yourself to do it, then do something you can love. Anything can be exercise.

Do you like clubbing? Go dancing with friends. (avoid drinks and stick to water) but go dancing! Dancing is GREAT exercise and it's fun.

Do you like biking?
Hiking?
Swimming?
Walking a dog?
DDR?
Volley ball in the park with friends?
Soccer with friends?
Zumba?

Still not feeling it?

Sign up for a belly dancing class 1 - 2 x a week.
Sign up for kick boxing.
Volunteer at a local animal shelter to walk dogs.

I love a lot of things and I hate a lot of things.

I love dancing, but no one to do it with cause I don't have a lot of female friends (and the ones that would be live too far away) and I know damn good and well my boyfriend won't, lol. I can't afford much else aside from the gym, which I paid for with my graduation money. I love swimming, but I get bored with laps and I'd rather do cannonballs, which I don't think they like at the gym, lol.

It really just boils down that I need to do it, but gosh it sucks.

I know how you feel. I was trying to work out 6 days a week. It was too much with my work schedule and daily life. So I decided to reduce my workouts to 3 days a week and if I have the chance I will throw an extra day or two in. If I can't fit extra days in then oh well. Good luck to you and I think you are doing great so far!

Do you have a video game system, like the wii? You could do Just Dance, and they even have an exercise option. It is fun and doesn't feel like exercise at all if you like to dance. Wii Fit Plus? There are a lot of active games for a lot of different video game systems.

What about just getting a step and doing that while you watch TV, or doing sit-ups or burpees during commercials?

I am NOT a gym kind of person but I don't mind walking the dog, or playing Just Dance with the kids, or boxing on the wii. And I don't mind doing the bike while I watch TV or the ipad, but that's an investment.

I hope you find something that you enjoy.

The only thing about not doing it at the gym is I forked out the money for it so I should use it. But I don't know how to make my gym time more interesting; I do the same thing every time, lol. 'Bout the only machine I like to do is the elliptical, and I'll jog a couple laps before I do that as a warm-up. But I don't really like to do anything else that my gym offers. I think I'd enjoy the classes, but I'm usually working during the times they are offered. Like I said before, I enjoy swimming but I don't like only being able to do laps.

I need more variety and/or a trainer, but I can't afford that. Bleh.

i hate the thought of wasting my money on a gym membership if i don't use it...so i made it a habit to go to the gym every weekday and i take weekends off...i also use the gym once on the weekend (because i already paid for it darn it lol) and i use the hot tub as a reward for all my workouts

i get up early in the morning to get a good workout in...because i know later in the day i will be too tired and/or busy to get there...for example today i got up at 5:30 a.m. for the gym, went to work from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. without a break or a lunch (i ate on the job) and i'm on my feet all day at work, then i ran errands, came home and got teenager, took him to important things, went to teh store and JUST got home at 7 p.m....if i had waited until NOW i would NOT be going to the gym LOL im exhausted

i also get bored very easily....i challenge myself by doing intervals...like running HARD for a few minutes, walk a minute, run HARD again, repeat and repeat...or perhaps for you to do some jogging, then 15 minutes elliptical, than 15 minutes of rowing, then 15 minutes of spinning, then various sets on the weight machines, etc...design whatever you want to prevent boredom...take some good music to listen to...and when it gets too easy, switch it up or up the intensity of the workouts

I thought about trying belly dancing (at home) for exersize eventually. It's something I've always found highly sensual, and I've never danced anything in my life so it would be totally new to me. I would love to learn to dance sexy-like and burn more calories while doing it. maybe you could try something like that!

I'm just like you though. When I started out I exersziced everyday for about a month. I got so bored. I haven't done it in a long time and I'm still seeing he weight drop do I just have no motivation to do it :/ it's just so damn boring !

i hate working out. i know some people like it, but not me. i bet there are very few people at my weight that actually enjoy it. but to meet my goals i know i need to. and as i shrink it will get easier. the day before yesterday i had such an amazing work out that even though i was exhausted afterward, i was so proud of myself and excited that my mom said it almost seemed like i had taken something that made me hyper. i think she thought i was hopped up on energy drinks or something. but it was just excitement from my great performance. but by the next day (yesterday) i was in so much pain. i had really overdone it. i'm still sore but i allowed myself 2 days to recover from the punishing workout. but tomorrow, come **** or high water, i'm getting back to the work outs. i need to find a happy medium with my workouts so i'm getting exercise without hurting myself. maybe i won't be giddy afterward but i'll be satisfied and proud.

I always try to think; instead of exercising what would I be doing in the next 30 min/1 hour instead? It's 99% of the time nothing worthwhile lol. Plus then once I'm done I can feel guilt free about crashing on the couch for an hour.

Does your gym have any drop in classes that you can go to occasionally when your schedule fits? Maybe make some kind of goal for the swimming you like, so you're not just swimming laps but working towards something?

So... basically everything that everyone suggested you just have some reply as to why that doesn't work for you. Awesome.

I think you're doing that thing where you don't actually WANT any help, you just want to vent... and that's okay. We're women and we do that sometimes. Just be HONEST about it.

You'll either get the motivation or you won't. You're a smart girl, and you know that you do need exercise, that you CAN workout from home, that everyday activities count as exercise, that working out first thing in the morning so you don't have any "excuses" later might be a good idea, that you don't need to be on a set schedule and go to the same gym classes all the time, that you can watch exercise videos on youtube (rather than buy them) -- yes, you know all of that, you're just making excuses.

Do or do not, there is no try.

Does your gym have group fitness classes?

Even if you hate going to those you can build accountability if you keep going and everyone who goes gets to know you. They question you when you skip a class.