Tips and Hacks for Days you aren't feeling it

Veganmerfish

Hey Guys,

What are your tips and hacks for days when you feel super unmotivated and like you'll do everything and anything but stick to your diet/exercise?

What do you do/ tell yourself ?

issiahs

If I'm feeling that crappy then I eat at maintenance for the day and consider it a little break. Usually the days I struggle are when I'm just bored. I don't know if yours is the same case, but if so, sleeping actually helps me. I just take a long nap if I feel like snacking or eating a calorie dense meal. Usually after the nap I want to go out and that eats up even more time to not mindlessly snack. It's also good to remind yourself how good it can feel to just get *kitten* done. Usually that coerces me to just go outside and get some form of exercise.

ninerbuff

Honestly, days I don't feel like it, I just go home and sleep.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

TavistockToad

day at maintenance... tell myself i will just do 10 minutes of a workout and then can stop (usually i'll keep going once i'm started anyway)

most of all, don't worry about it. call it a rest day, move on.

Andy10725

I would just do something else. Sometimes I would go to swimming pool and stay at hot tub. Then for whatever reason, it would ended up lap swimming. Sometimes I just cook. Not the actual meal, but the ingredients that need prepping like sauce, broth etc... Weirdly enough, that also put me back on my normal routine. When all else fail, I just do my daily logging and call it a day. I do weight myself daily, so if I wonder off too much, the numbers will throw me right back.

zjpq

eat at maintenance or just below, or I work some exercise into my day (force myself!) and usually I feel pretty good after that!

RachsLosses

Days I don't feel like it generally come from lack of sleep or weekends where I just want to sit inside.

If its a weekday I will have pre-workout before the gym, and jump on the treadmill, it's even better if I book some gym classes in as then I have no excuse!

Weekends if I don't want to workout I try and say 'just 10 minutes' just do 10 minutes at the gym (thankfully its local) but this often turns into about 30 minutes, and then for the remainder I will convince myself to do little workouts in commercial breaks, this might just be a few air squats, burpees, lunges etc but you really barely notice it.

mrack1

I make working out part of my morning routine, so it's just sort of "something I do" without thinking too much about it. I'm lucky to have an elliptical in my living room, so I just jump on it and watch the morning news. When I'm tired I just do less - 20/30 minutes instead of 45/60.

Eating is tricky, but I tell myself I can have anything i moderation, and I'll just watch the portion size.

Kullerva

Make it easy and make it fun--or yeah, you'll skip it.

It took me roughly a month of repeating my doc's exercises (about an hours' worth) for my back in the morning for it to be normal. I allow myself one "skip day" per week for exercises, but I don't even do that anymore, because skipping feels wrong.

I prepare and eat the same kinds of food in the same pattern. Again, if I go off-track, I feel weird, and usually find myself being pulled back into my old habits. (OCPD has limited benefits, in this way.) If only habits didn't take so long to form!

The point, to wit: I make it easy to follow the plan, and I have to actually (gasp!) work to go off it any meaningful way. I'm generally lazy (thought-wise) and a creature of habit, so I stick to the plan because it's easy.

As to bad moods/no motivation--I don't believe in motivation (only decisions). I woke up in a terrible mood this morning and am consuming massive amounts of caffeine and cinnamon tea for a lift. I also have a playlist on YouTube for moods like this. ("Um Jammer Lammy: Keep Your Head Up!" is the first track.) Music is a powerful tool for me. YMMV.

KelGen02

I just make myself do it, and it takes every fiber of my being to get in that exercise in but usually after I am done I am glad I did it and feel great... or sometimes I just take a "rest" day and make sure that I stay with in my calories or if I am going to indulge in calories I must work out. It's pretty much a balance and a matter of how much you really want it... it being to lose weight, maintain, get fit etc. It may take some convincing but in the end I just get it done because being Healthy and successful in this lifestyle change is all that matters to me in the end. Oh and my transformation pics are very motivating... I have an album in my phone of "Before" and "after" 71lbs less... that is all the motivation I need to push through the excuses and justifications and get it done!! Mind over matter... my new mantra