Health & Fitness
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
How do you motivate yourself to exercise?
Have to say I pretty much hate it. The aching muscles, the sweat, and the fact that my husband is thin as a pole and has the metabolism of a sixteen year old doesn't make me feel any better about the fitness/diet regime.
How do you guys keep yourself exercising on a daily or semi-daily basis? I have no work out buddies and going to the gym is always a terrible experience for me. I hate the machinery, and I can't go running either - bad knees. I only really need to lose 10-20lbs. to be in a healthy range, but so many things keep me back from doing it: tired from work, too many chores, or the weather.
Re: How do you motivate yourself to exercise?
Well, I don't think of it as exercising. Instead, it is training for the races that I am participating in.
When I am feeling most unmotivated, however, I think about all the people who would love to do what I do. That gets me off my butt.
I had to build it into my daily schedule. If it is part of my routine I don't really need motivation.
First, I found something I enjoyed doing. I love lifting free-weights and swimming, but the thought of spending and hour and a cardio machine is sheer misery to me. Once I started exercising on a regular basis, I found that I felt better afterwards no matter how tired or unmotivated I felt before my workout.
Second, checklists. I love crossing items off to-do lists. I'm doing NROLFW, so it's hugely satisfying to me to check off each workout as it's completed and see how much closer I am to finishing each stage or the entire program. I log all my workouts in Excel, so it's easy to look back and see how much stronger I've gotten since starting. It's become a game to see how more weight I can lift on each exercise.
TTC#2=July 2011: Surprise BFP: Chemical Pregnancy
All of the weight I have lost so far has been by eating better alone (vegan). I worked out yesterday for the first time in a long time. Yes, I'm sore and yes I was sweaty but I felt great afterwards. My motivation comes from realizing that what I was doing was not healthy and I was starting to not fit into all of my clothes and I did not want to buy bigger sizes. I used to hate working out, too...then I discovered Zumba. It's a lot of fun! I bought a Zumba game for my Kinect and it doesn't even feel like a workout...before I know it I'm already an hour into it. If you can't run because of bad knees, I'm not sure if you would be able to do Zumba. Maybe see if there's a beginner's class where you live? You can search for class locations here. I also suggest swimming!
A couple of year's ago my husband and I had a gym membership and we would always have an excuse not to go work out. Too many people there, too tired, too much to do, etc. If you work out at home, it's a lot harder to find excuses. You can throw a load of laundry in and go do some pushups/situps/walk or whatever. Also, I finally came to the realization that I do have time in my day, I just have to make my health a priority like it should have been in the first place. And, I know there are people busier than I am who are working out and eating right. If it's important to you, you will find motivation. You could always write out your schedule so you know that if you need to work out at such and such time on such and such day that you can't plan on doing housework that day. Good luck.
I have always enjoyed it, but it is finding a workout that i enjoy, the feeling afterwards, the accomplishment of pushing myself, the wonderful burn knowing i did something good...and well, the unhappiness i feel looking in the mirror keeps me pushing myself to achieve my goals.
try classes if you are not an equipment person.
I agree with everyone else. Schedule it in like it is a part of your daily routine. Then you don't need motivation, it is just another step in your day.
Also, find something you like. It may take a while to find out what that is, but try different classes. There are so many! Once you like something, you will want to go do it again.
And lastly, I love how I feel after (most days!). I feel strong, proud, and happier overall when I work out.
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1) Find an activity that you like so that you want to do it most days. Instead of a cardio machine or weight lifting, maybe you would enjoy dancing, cycling, hiking or some other activity.
2) Don't think of it as being optional. You make time to eat, sleep, shower, brush your teeth. Exercise, in whatever form you choose, is just one more thing that you do to be a responsible (for your health and well-being) adult.
Duke's House: Eating and Running with the Big Dog in Chennai: eatrunbrit.com
2010 Race PRs:
5K - 24:57 10M - 1:28:20 13.1M - 1:57:29 26.2M - 4:28:29
Are there classes offered at your gym? This is what has kept me going for 2 years straight now. For me the scheduling works (so I don't have to plan my own!). Plus you can meet people during the class and then you kind of hold each other accountable!
I go to the gym 4x a week. I know I would see even better results if I went more often, but this has been a good balance for me.
I hated it, too, until I found enough things that I really enjoyed doing and started mixing them up. I NEVER thought I'd be one of those people who misses working out and actually enjoys it, but here I am.
When I first started, I tried the gym, free weights and cardio machines. Hate.them.all. Boring! Since then, I've found that I love inline skating, zumba, yoga, bicycling and hiking. I've found more activities that I love than what I have time for, so I tend to rotate my workouts both weekly and seasonally. That way I'm always looking forward to what I'm doing instead of dreading it and being bored.
Its not about motivation. If I waited around for my motivation, I'd sit on my butt and do nothing every day too.
Motivation is overrated.
Bazinga!
Liz's Yarn