Exercise: Totally Unmotivated!

How do you motivate yourself to exercise? I find that when I get home from work, clean, cook, study, I do not want to even think about exercising. I know this sounds like an excuse, and I know that exercise helps with toning and extra skin, but what makes YOU motivated to exercise? How do I get motivated? I just need to get my head wrapped around doing it daily so that I can get on the right track before I have the surgery.

I am right there with you.  I can tell you for me, I don't ever get motivated.  But I do just do something.  As unmotivated as I feel.  haha

I tell myself, I'm going to walk for 10 minutes and then if I want to stop I'll allow myself.  After 10 minutes I reevaluate.  If I truly feel like stopping, I do.  I allow myself that for at least doing a little tiny bit of time.  But most of the time I keep going and reevaluate every 10 minutes.  Right now I typically walk 30-40 minutes a day.  But some days, I do stop at 10.  That's my gift for at least doing the 10 when I'm not motivated to do any of it!   When it comes time to add more serious exercise in I have no idea what I'll do.  Right now, this is where I am.

I've struggled so much with this one. I think reading Frisco's posts have helped me. I also went and got my body fat and lean body mass measured so I can see improvement. 

I started walking and doing lunges and push ups. I do the lunges and push ups while I'm heating stuff in the microwave so it works out to 2-3 minutes 3 times day. 

A friend suggested I get a streak going. It's actually helped

I suck at regular exercise and I am a master of excuses. The one I am on now is that I have a hernia and plastics coming up and losing weight is all about diet and not so much exercise and yes, I am getting really flabby but plastics is in one month or so and THEN, after I have my hernia repaired and plastics done I will tone up and exercise and it will be for toning not for weight loss and I haven't found the right gym or the right class or the right personal trainer or ... yeah... bla bla bla.. I recognize that I am fooling myself. It is really really hard to change if you have not been an exerciser before. I don't have an answer for motivation but I guess recognizing that we really are just kidding ourselves with excuses is a good first step. Good luck!! I am right there with you!

I've found the first month or two are the hardest.  That's when you're in the worst shape and it just doesn't feel good while you're doing it.  It does though feel good once you've finished.  Put on your walking shoes and walk out the door.  Have that be your only goal.  You'll find that you will walk a while since you're ready and out there anyway.  Once you've gotten farther along it will start to feel better while you're doing it, and even better after you're done.  Pretty soon you start getting excited about having that endorphin rush from it.  I got a Fitbit to track my steps and I always tried to do at least what I did the day before.  It took me a while to work up to 10,000 steps a day, but I got there and was feeling great.

Jane

I found something I liked as a kid... riding a bike... and decided to focus on that.  I started slow, and just increased a little bit each week.  It turned out to be fun and joyful.

My simple advice is:

0. Find a physical activity you enjoy, running, cycling, dance, whatever - that you had fun with at some point in your life, or you think you might...

1. Start slow - no need to go crazy day one, in fact that can set you back if you're having a hard time getting going in the first place.

2. Be consistent.

3. Do a bit more every week. 

4. Track your progress, or even better get a trainer or coach.

We sometimes psych ourselves out with "gotta do a lot right away" with crazy workout plans - but that's not necessary, and for a lot of us we end up getting sore, or hurting ourselves and quit.  The most important thing is to do it, and to do a bit more each week - the constant "slight" pressure on your body to do more is what gets you in better shape.

Some people love the "boot camps" and hard-core stuff... but for others, the consistency is more important.  Once you get in a rhythm, you may like it.  You may not, but developing a "habit" takes a few weeks to few months, you'll have to motivate yourself through the beginning until the habit is entrenched.

Once the habit is established you can get fancy - if you love running you might think about an event like a 5k that might motivate you to improve your performance - once you're motivated you might start doing some other, ancillary exercises to improve your performance... you end up with a self-improvement circle!

Good luck!

Tom

And to be clear - I followed my own advice, and started very slow, found something I loved as a kid (bicycling), restarted slowly, got in the habit, picked an event to train for, hired a coach, and now I'm hooked!  

In 2013 I rode 5,000 miles.  My goal this year is to ride 6,000.

But it all started with a mile at a time...

Tom

One more thought... if you can find a group of like-minded people to do the activity with, you will probably be much more successful... that's why semi-group activities like running and cycling are great - you can do it alone if you're short on time, you can do them in a gym or your house if the weather is bad, but best of all you can do it as a group, outdoors on beautiful days and have a great time in pursuit of health... and the group setting will motivate you to keep working out so you can keep up with the group!

(1) Start small, like walking "xx" time or miles, build a habit first, then progress as your body allows

(2) At the start, schedule time for it and MAKE it happen, walk away from life's other distractions for a bit and MAKE it happen, sacrifice time elsewhere

(3) Set a goal that you really want to achieve, without this, while helpful, any initial exercise can seem unfocused leading to a feeling of pointlessness

Eventually you'll get to rely on the exercise too much to want to give it up.  It's like rocking a boulder back and forth to start it down the hill.  Once it gets rolling it will feed on itself.  You'll crave more and more then the motivation won't be so hard.  This could take weeks or months though, but until it does, just force yourself to stick to the three basic steps above.

I'm going to second the Fitbit suggestion. I bought one at Christmas and it's been a great motivator for me. You put in your daily goal for number of steps for the day and when you hit that number, the Fitbit get's all happy and congratulates you..positive affirmation! You can track your progress online, it will send you weekly updates on your activities and it even sends you an email when your Fitbit needs to be charged up LOL

For me..I make a commitment to do 20 minutes. In my head, I can totally do that 20 minutes. Once I do that, I tell myself, 5 more minutes. I can do anything for 5 more minutes..and it helps a lot. Start out slow, work your way up. The more you workout, the better you feel, the more weight or inches you lose, the happier and healthier you are..it's a very positive cycle!