Reached goal weight, but lacking exercise motivation

Running is not going to turn you into a stick figure. It will really work and tone your leg muscles. Trust me, I have tree trunks, and I don't even run every day! Try adding in some upper body strength training. You can do that sitting on said couch! I find that I really have to schedule in my exercise or it simply does not get done. I have learned that I really need to do it at lunch time because when I get home, I'm too busy then too tired (single mom of 2 rowdies)! So, my best advice is schedule it in, commit to doing it, and find something you can do easily and quickly..... To me, running is the easiest because you don't need to go anywhere to do it and no special equipment other than good shoes. and it is a big bang for your buck calorie-burning-wise....

Hi, my name is Sarah and I've been using this site off and on for about a year. I used to be an avid runner and couldn't wait for the weather to be warm enough to run the trail every day. But last year, when it got warm enough outside, I stayed inside. I had no motivation to run. The most I exercised was for one month, before a vacation, but when I got home, went right back to the couch, and gained weight all winter.
Now, this year, I got tired of not fitting in my pants, not feeling confident when I looked in the mirror, poor diet, and no energy. It's time to change! So, thanks to myfitnesspal, I lost my winter weight, through eating healthier, not by exercising.
My question to all of you is, when maintaining your weight, what are some good exercise routines? I'm afraid to run everyday because I don't want to be a stick figure. I have curves that I want to keep and tone.

Hi Sarah,

I'm Chelcie. First of all congratulations of getting to your target weight!
I find that I also can lack motivation sometimes. I go through cycles of being motivated and then spending a lot of time in front of the TV. My advice is to try and keep your workouts as varied as possible. Sometimes go to the gym, sometimes work outside, others stay at home and exercise. Do things on your own or with friends! All the variety stops things becoming mundane and dull.

I personally do at least one long run once a week (round my city, the park or even the beach), a swim and a couple of gym sessions a week. At the gym I will do one pilates session a week to train my core, every session involves at least 30 min cardio on the treadmill of cross-trainer and I rotate the weights I do between upper and lower body. Each gym session will incorporate some ab exercises as this is my problem area..

Hope that helps! Feel free to add me and we can motivate each other! Good luck with it all! x