Motivation

kcnjjt

How do you keep motivated when routines change and life happens? When you don’t feel like training or keeping on track with diet?

Lietchi

If I only did things I 'felt like' doing, my life would be in a sorry state 🙂 I would have rotten teeth (I don't particularly 'feel like' brushing my teeth), no one would want to be near me (washing myself or my clothes isn't the most fun thing either), my kitchen would be full of dirty dishes, my house would stink of cat poo/pee, my possessions would have been repossessed (for not paying my bills) etc.

It's okay if life sometimes gets away from us, but I try to consider exercise or minding what I eat as a task like the ones mentioned above. It's okay to skip them occasionally, or perhaps put in a minimal effort instead of a good one from time to time.
Some examples:
- you could say that if its a hard day, you allow yourself the option of stopping your exercise after 15 minuten instead of the full session
- you could allow yourself a maximum number of days (for example 2) in a row to skip exercise

You could also plan for hard days:
- have some easy meals in the freezer/ fridge as a backup option when cooking seems like a giant effort or there isn't enough time
- do food prep in the weekend if you are regularly too busy on week days
- exercise in the morning if it's too hard to fit it in in the evening (or vice versa: do it in the evening if its tricky to fit in in the morning)
- always have your workout clothes ready if you think having to collect them is an extra barrier in starting a workout.
- aim for maintenance calories instead of your weight loss calorie goal on very hard days

It also helps if you keep your routine more or less enjoyable: exercise you enjoy doing, at a reasonable frequency (don't aim for 1 hour of exercise each and every day if you are just starting, for example); foods you enjoy, in a reasonable amount (not banning all the foods you like or having a very low calorie goal).

kcnjjt

Thank you for taking the time for writing that.
I really appreciate it because you’ve just highlighted to me that we do things everyday that sometimes we don’t want to.

Exercise is so important and eating well that it shouldn’t be something I stop should be the last thing.

Thank you

earlybirdlady

I find habit trackers helpful. It’s great to have MFP for tracking food, but I also use Daylio to track mood and other activities and observe trends when life gets crazy.

Another thing I have done is more of a mindset shift - I look at exercise as medicine. Food too, yes, but exercise is especially critical to my mental health. Just like I wouldn’t skip taking my medicine, I try to fit in some kind of movement each day even if all I can do is stretch or walk the dog. Food is a bit harder for me when life gets chaotic, but I try to maintain focus on fiber and protein and everything else falls into place.