What Makes You Motivated Enough To Exercise?

vnatural

Hi everyone,
I've been on mfp for a while now I just recreated my profile. Yes I've lost some weight but it hasn't been from exercising or calorie counting, its been from purely eating healthy & drinking water. I'm 10 Lbs away from leaving the 200's behind me and I know its seriously going to be tough to get rid of the 79 lbs in order for me to be at my ideal weight....says my doctor lol.

For the past few weeks I literally have been contemplating about exercising but I just haven't done it. I think its mainly because I'm scared. The last time I exercised it was very intense, I had incorporated squats, push ups, windmill, trunk twist combined with walking 3 - 5 miles with Leslie Sansone..(she's my best friend we haven't spoken in a while). After a while I injured myself doing too many squats so I couldn't work out for about 3 weeks. When I did go back to squatting I only did like 5 a day...literally.

So my question to my mfp loves is what motivates you to actually get up and work out? What do you say to yourself? What do you do in order to do it or if you're on a schedule? Why do you do it?

redwan2001

I can relate to what you’re going through, a few years back I weighed 350lbs. I had have enough and I wanted to change, it took years, but I lost 150 pounds on my own. I was stuck at the 200lb mark for a little bit, at times I would lose motivation thinking I am never going to get there. I just think about all the people that say I would never be skinny and all the negative comments people have said throughout the years. That motivated me to keep on pushing.

Currently now I am 166 lbs., I basically lost a whole person. Trust me if I can motivated myself so can you, its extremely hard I know. I am 5’6 and want to be around 140-150 pounds, I am almost there. So I have lost a total of 184 lbs. I want this so bad that it keeps me going, everyone has their own motivation, but having the positive support makes a huge difference.

Feel free to add me if you need an extra buddy

Nadia

4legsRbetterthan2

Find a workout you like or a person you like to do it with. Alot of my motivation is a 6 mo puppy that is much more pleasant to have around the house after a 2 mile run, but not everyone has that. walk/run/go to the gym with a buddy who is focused but also fun to talk to. Or find something you just enjoy doing yourself (nature walk or walk in the park and people watch) or join a fun sports team. Some people are good at just kicking their own butts and some aren't. I am not but the more I do exercise the more I want to exercise so maybe that is the key. I am not really sure....

becky10rp

I've mentioned this in another post - my Dad is 81 years old and goes to the gym 4 times a week; he lifts weights, rides the bike, and walks a brisk walk. I decided about 15 years ago - if he can do this - there's absolutely NO reason I can't! He is my inspiration...........I'm 47 and I want to live a long, healthy life - if that means working out 6 days a week, an hour a day - that's really not all that much time; I play my favorite music - and time flies.............! I mix it up - I have a treadmill, a stationary bike, and an elliptical - plus a universal weight machine and free weights.......my favorite is when my teenage daughter works out with me - nice to have a 'work-out buddy'!

howardheilweil

Forget about the high intensity stuff for now. Start by doing things you like... Walking? Do you own a bike? Go for leisurely bike rides. You can gradually increase the intensity of your workout, but don't rush it. Good luck!

vnatural

I can relate to what you’re going through, a few years back I weighed 350lbs. I had have enough and I wanted to change, it took years, but I lost 150 pounds on my own. I was stuck at the 200lb mark for a little bit, at times I would lose motivation thinking I am never going to get there. I just think about all the people that say I would never be skinny and all the negative comments people have said throughout the years. That motivated me to keep on pushing.

Currently now I am 166 lbs., I basically lost a whole person. Trust me if I can motivated myself so can you, its extremely hard I know. I am 5’6 and want to be around 140-150 pounds, I am almost there. So I have lost a total of 184 lbs. I want this so bad that it keeps me going, everyone has their own motivation, but having the positive support makes a huge difference.

Feel free to add me if you need an extra buddy

Nadia

Wow thank you for sharing that I will definitely add you.

gwenr

Why not try taking motivation out of it? Make it more of an automatic thing that you do. I run 3 miles every day on my lunch break. When 12:00 rolls around, every day i just put on my running clothes and GO. I don't even give it a second thought. You could try planning for excercise first thing in the morning before events of the day have a chance to get in the way.

JADEPH0EN1X

Forget about the high intensity stuff for now. Start by doing things you like... Walking? Do you own a bike? Go for leisurely bike rides. You can gradually increase the intensity of your workout, but don't rush it. Good luck!

Having had an operation at the beginning of summer I couldn't excercise for a while and now am just starting again . All I'm doing is walking - mainly the dog for about 30 minutes but also if I have to go somewhere local if I can walk there instead of taking the car I will . It was hard at first but the more I do it the easier and quicker I get ! I had a doctors appt the other day & what had taken me 30 minutes the first time only took 20 mins last time !

amie709

Hi everyone,
I've been on mfp for a while now I just recreated my profile. Yes I've lost some weight but it hasn't been from exercising or calorie counting, its been from purely eating healthy & drinking water. I'm 10 Lbs away from leaving the 200's behind me and I know its seriously going to be tough to get rid of the 79 lbs in order for me to be at my ideal weight....says my doctor lol.

For the past few weeks I literally have been contemplating about exercising but I just haven't done it. I think its mainly because I'm scared. The last time I exercised it was very intense, I had incorporated squats, push ups, windmill, trunk twist combined with walking 3 - 5 miles with Leslie Sansone..(she's my best friend we haven't spoken in a while). After a while I injured myself doing too many squats so I couldn't work out for about 3 weeks. When I did go back to squatting I only did like 5 a day...literally.

So my question to my mfp loves is what motivates you to actually get up and work out? What do you say to yourself? What do you do in order to do it or if you're on a schedule? Why do you do it?

I do it every single day that its on my schedule to workout because I know if I miss one day I will end up missing another and another until finally i will stop doing them at all. I cant afford to stop. I started at 270 lbs. I wont go back there. Even when I dont want to I have to because I know I just cant stop!!

TeaBea

Forget about the high intensity stuff for now. Start by doing things you like... Walking? Do you own a bike? Go for leisurely bike rides. You can gradually increase the intensity of your workout, but don't rush it. Good luck!

This!^

If doing intense stuff puts you off, then do less intense stuff. Besides starting with intense stuff when you're not ready will just make you more prone to injury.

Once you start doing something regularly .... it will become a habit. You will like how you feel (more energized, less stressed, stronger, etc).

Leslie Sansone Walk at Home DVDs are excuse proof for me. You can do these at your own pace and then increase the intensity when you're ready.

This is my favorite right now: http://www.amazon.com/Leslie-Sansone-Ultimate-Walk-Plan/dp/B006NKFAA6/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1378835819&sr=1-1&keywords=5+day+walk+plan

It's programable.... you just do as much as you have (time) energy for.

shortmomma81

For me, I keep in mind that being fit is just like being a kid when moving around was fun not a chore. If you tire your body out, why would it want to move the next day?

Alehmer

It really does have to become a habit, one ingrained so that NOT exercising makes you feel weird and not the other way around. Once it's there, you have inertia and it's soooo much less effort.

If nothing else I would imagine myself at the end of the day, annoyed and dissapointed in myself for not getting up and doing what I needed to do. You never look back and regret working out, and you rarely if ever skip a workout and feel really positive about it. Imagine yourself looking back at the day that evening and what you would have wished had happened.

Good luck!

justal313

for 2012 I made a new years resolution to lose weight. It was probably doomed to eventual failure but my buddy Alex got us Patriots tickets on new years day. They were in the 400 section, high up enough to touch the sky. We had to walk up ramps to get to the top of the stadium and I was so out of shape I almost didn't make it, we missed kick-off and I wanted to die from the effort.

So the next day I got serious. I was not going to let my self be held back by my lack of fitness ever again. In fact this year I ran a 10k that ended by running out of the big inflatable patriots helmet in Gillette stadium and across the 50 yard line. The best part of the race is that you had to run the ramps in the stadium and run around the top level and down before coming out of the big helmet.

I ran the #%#$ out of those ramps GRRRRRRRRRRAAAAWWWWWWLLLLLLLL!!!!!!

I have run the warrior dash, tough mudder, a LOT of 5Ks and I have my first 1/2 marathon next month. I also have a 2 year old daughter and I plan on being healthy and fit enough to keep up with her for as long as I can and then even longer then that.

whitebalance

What motivates me to exercise: Starting it. I'm a creature of inertia. Once I'm started, it's pretty easy to keep going. So I'll play a head game with myself, like, "ok, so I don't feel like it today, but I can do just 5 minutes, let's go." And after 5 minutes pass, "hey, that wasn't so bad, I can do 5 more." And then I'm rolling and I don't want to stop.

Just start.

BIRD0

At first, it was just that I hated being overweight. That wasn't enough though, because I tried a million times because of that.

Then, I made myself go, even if I didn't feel like it. It became a habit, and now I love the way I feel afterwards, and that is motivation enough. The more I work out, the stronger I get, the better I feel.

I think it is important to find stuff you like or even love to do to keep the motivation.

vnatural

Thank you everyone for your advice I've come up with a eating schedule along with a exercise schedule so now I have something to follow and motivate me. I also made a little collage for my desktop and screensaver full of photos for motivation, tips and reminders

Winston1717

The feeling you have after a great work out and the motivation of always feeling fit and being active instead of overweight stressed and sedentary!

Francl27

Easy - being able to eat more, lol! Seriously, I mean my exercise is mostly walks (treadmill or outside), with bodypump classes/video twice a week, but I wear a fitbit (most days), and I can tell that on the days I don't move much, my TDEE is absolutely horrible. So that's a huge motivator for me, to see it going from 1700 to 2200...

For the bodypump classes, it's really because I don't want to lose muscle and end up skinny fat. I used to do it three times a week though, but lately I've been using heavier weights and I'm often pretty sore for 2 days afterwards (plus I still walk a lot), so it has to be twice a week. I might increase to 3 times again though now that the kids are in school.

And yeah, it's kinda nice to have more endurance to be honest. I don't run because I breathe through my mouth a lot and I have asthma, so it's a bad combo, but just walking at 3.5 mph on the treadmill with huge hills is a good workout and it's nice to know I could walk for like 3 hours without getting tired now. You'll still probably never see me do Insanity or something...

JuantonBliss

Thinking about that flat stomach that's slowly starting to develop )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))<333333

tallmansix

What motivates me to exercise is:

1. No car - daily commute to work on my bike

2. A dog - no ordinary dog, one of the most energetic dogs you can get - border collie, will run a half marathon every day

3. Food - I like to eat, and since using MFP, I've wanted to continue eat and enjoy food. When I see my remaining calories dropping low, I take a walk or a bike ride so I can eat some more!

soehlerking

Basically what everyone else has said--I have been at this for nearly 2 years. I started w/ a Jillian Michaels DVD 3x/week, and now I'm training for my first Half Marathon. For me it was just a matter of making it part of my daily routine. It's no longer a question of "should I work out" or "do I feel like it," it's just what I do to get my day started. But in the beginning I heard some other helpful tricks: sleep in your workout shorts, put your gym bag w/ your work clothes out in your car the night before, do something you actually enjoy (regardless of what burns the MOST calories). It's not always easy, but it's a great lifestyle change to make!

Cindyinpg

Reason #1 Exercise= more ice cream.
Reason #2. See above.

Babygi6003

#1 - My 2nd half marathon in January, I want to do way better than I did on my first (I finished in 3 hrs 37 minutes)
#2 - Workout = ice cream (I only eat it on days I workout, it's my reward lol)

Leah_Alexis

I exercise to challenge myself not to mention the good feeling of accomplishing something. Every time I work out I make it a game with myself. I try to push myself harder each and every time. Find something you enjoy doing that is phyically active and it wont seem like exercise. Walking, biking, hiking, running, workout videos, swimming, just dance, tennis, zumba, etc. I really enjoy my bootcamp classes (crazy I know, haha) and walking/running on the treadmill as that is the only time I allow myself to watch my tv shows.

dawn72467

I have always HATED to exercise (any at all was too much), but NEEDED to do something so I joined a gym. Now we have all the workout equipment and weights at home in the basement and have for years, but I know if I am at home I will come up with a million excuses NOT to exercise (dishes need to be done, need to clean the bathrooms, mow the lawn, etc). I started going thinking I would just walk everyday since I haven't done any sort of exercise in a couple of decades, but met with a personal trainer because it was free. He set me up doing the 30 minute circuit 3 times a week and the treadmill the other times I come in. I make myself go EVERY day because I know that if I don't I will start coming up with excuses not to more often. On the days I am really tired or just not "feeling" the gym, I still go and get on the treadmill and walk. When I started I could only do 30 minutes at 3.0 miles per hour, I have worked my way up to jogging 5.0 per hour for 20 minutes and walking 4.0 miles per hour for 40 minutes. I still have those days that I don't really want to go (less often now then before), but I still go and walk. It's something and then I don't feel quite so guilty. Just keep trying, you can do this (just don't overdo it in the beginning because then you won't want to go at all).

tumbledownhouse

I know this might not be that helpful, but habit is what makes me exercise. Once it's a habit it feels odd not to do it, like not having a morning coffee or brushing your teeth. This comes from someone who does at least half an hour of exercise a day after having rarely if ever exercised before (intentionally).

HOWEVER to get to that point it is important to do it at the same time each time you do it I think. Put aside a time that is non-negotiable. Also, just think of the end point you're trying to achieve, and if following MFP the extra calories you will get to eat

tumbledownhouse

I should have read the other replies first, just reiterating many other peoples comments! :laugh: