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Ken7237

I'm having a hard time staying MOTIVATED and CONSISTENT. I'm thinking of joining a new gym in hopes this will set a fire under me. Any suggestions? Anyone?

rosebarnalice

Consistency and developing health habits and routines that are TRULY habits and routines are the keys for me.

Joining the Y and getting on a regular swimming schedule that I keep in my calendar and do not cancel without serious consideration was an important motivator for me. When I swim, I feel like an athlete (even an old pudgy athlete), which motivates me to eat better (because, you know, I'm an athlete and we athletes have to take care of our bodies :-) ).

gzimmermann3855

I smell what you are standing in!! I m a caregiver so gym membership is out, but some days even getting motivated to get out and walk is difficult. I am 66 years old and still trying to figure out the answer.

PurplePenguinnn

Everything comes full circle. you get up , eat right, exercise.. then that donut will be less tempting.

ngbalance1

Swimming and exercises in the pool at the YMCA are my thing. I started out doing 3 days a week and now am at 7 days a week. My body has gotten so much more muscular, now I’m starting my journey on the app trying to loose weight (1 week in). Getting the food right is hard, but several of us in the pool are encouraging each other. I highly encourage exercising in the pool. It eliminates the stress on your joints. And you feel so young. Plus it’s fun and pool people are great encouragers. Good luck in the journey.

AnnPT77

Caveat: I'm a bad influence sometimes.

I think consistency and motivation are overrated, at least as often interpreted.

In reality, consistency is an "on average over small-ish time periods" thing, not a "perfect every day or I've failed and should give up" thing. The majority of our days determines the majority of our outcomes, y'know?

Yes, we need to make positive changes we can stick with. But if a "consistency" goal leads to "I over-ate at lunch so I've ruined everything, might as well eat the whole pizza for dinner" . . . that doesn't help. If I overate at lunch, maybe eat less at dinner if I'm not hungry, but mostly just get back on my regular healthy habits as soon as possible. Life happens, including the occasional sub-ideal choices.

Motivation is (still IMO) very over-rated. Maybe I only think that because it's one of my weaker muscles, I dunno.

For me, though, I can't rely on "motivation" or "willpower" to keep me doing something long term. Long term (permanent) is what I need, in order to stay at a healthy weight. I tend to use my limited bursts of motivation to experiment, and find new, sustainable, improved habits I can follow long-term reasonably happily, almost on autopilot. When life gets complicated - as it will - autopilot habits are useful.

I do agree that an exercise habit can be helpful, as it can help us notice what eating habits make us feel good and energetic, vs. those that leave us feeling dragged out, and that sort of thing. For me, what's been key is finding exercise that's enjoyable, or at least tolerable - ideally, though, so much fun I'd do it even if it weren't good for me. Exercise we enjoy (so do routinely) is 100% more effective than theoretically-perfect exercise we put off, procrastinate, avoid at every opportunity.

If gym-y things are practical and positive for you, then a gym membership is a good thing. But lots of other options are out there: Active video/VR games, biking on the local trails, walks in the park, games like frisbee or ping-pong or whatever, etc., etc. Any form of increased movement is beneficial, bonus if it's manageably challenging to current physical capabilities as well as fun. It's a myth that exercise has to be intense, miserable, or punitive in order to have fitness, health or calorie-burn benefits.

Same general idea on the eating side of things: Some rules-y named diet is helpful only if it makes weight loss easier and more pleasant for you. Just eating calorie-appropriate amounts of nutritious foods you personally enjoy eating, find filling, affordable and practical - that will work.

TL; DR: My suggestion would be to think in terms of making weight management and fitness easy and relatively pleasant, rather than trying to make them fast. YMMV.

(Bona fides: I'm in year 6+ of maintaining a healthy weight, after at least 3 decades previously of overweight/obesity.)

karilbrandt

I am new to the blogs although I have been on (and off) My Fitness Pal for years. I have been on my new weight loss journey for about 30 days so far this time. I have been following my plan pretty consistently with just a few meals off plan for that time. So, it seems to be a plan/way of eating that I can maintain for a while (at least 30 days). As time goes on, I would like to have a place to discuss the journey, so I started looking into the blogs. So here I am.

annliz23

I have never joined a gym but my son has on and off but I cant see the point as I no I wouldn't go enough forvthe price so as long as you would then go for it. I have found logging my exercises on here has made me more accountable by adding friends because if I dint feel like it I see some else has worked out and that makes me get moving. Good luck.

cwolfman13

Ken7237 wrote: »

I'm having a hard time staying MOTIVATED and CONSISTENT. I'm thinking of joining a new gym in hopes this will set a fire under me. Any suggestions? Anyone?

IDK...do you like gym stuff? I lift a few times per week in the gym and that's pretty much all I do there and the gym really isn't a hugely desirable place for me. Most of my exercise is fun stuff I like doing...riding my bike, going mountain biking, walking my dog, going for hikes, kayaking, etc.

Most of the people I know IRL, including myself who are pretty fit an healthy aren't really "workout" people...just active and engaged in life. I get a wild hair now and then for some kind of event that requires some training (I used to do a lot of endurance cycling events but have semi-retired from that), but as a general rule most of my exercise is physical recreation more than it is a "workout"

I've found that when you enjoy what you do, motivation isn't really all that necessary and consistency just comes naturally with enjoyment of the activity. I'm more often than not bummed out if I am unable to do something due to weather or time constraints or whatever...like this past weekend I had intended to spend several hours kayaking on the Rio Grande but we had heavy rains and thunderstorms all weekend making it unsafe to be on the water...bummer.