When you started what motivated you to exercise?

It gets better - I promise!

Just try to mix things up so you don't get bored.

Have a few routes you walk

Use your iPod - just not too loud if you're walking outside (be mindful of traffic).

After a few weeks maybe you can start weights - get 3 or 5 lb weights - get onto youtube and check out some routines. Don't forget to use your own body weight - push-ups, squats, and lunges are all great.

The very best thing is - YOU will be changing your body - and your health!

I struggle with motivation and sickness. However, when I am motivated like right now, I decided to get back on track with walking and have a 6 km walking profile from my home around the cliffs or down to the beach and home - that take me approx 45-50 minutes. My doctor stated that 20 mins doesn't really get the heart pumping enough. Otherwise, one of my workers about 15 years ago gave me a Leslie Sansone walkaerobics tape. Tapes are really out, however, last year I managed to find quite a few of her programs on DVD on ebay and purchased the lot. General walkaerobics through to weight resistence. If it is too wet to get for a walk, then I will put the DVD on and do some walkaerobics and I am feeling really good. They are really easy to do and I just switch them by how I am feeling on the day. At least I feel like I am doing something positive.

It's going to sound ridiculous, but tracking down neat apps to use on my iPod and tablet, as well as digging around the internet for awesome sites like Greatist and finding YouTube channels that offer free workouts to subscribe to offered me a lot of inspiration in the beginning. While some forms of "Fitspo" are cringe-worthy, I found doing these things amped me up about fitness. For whatever reason, researching is my greatest source of motivation.

Honestly, I had to force myself a lot. But once I started, I felt awesome and didn't want to stop! Any day I have that "ugh...I'm tired...I don't want to" feeling, I remember that it's only an hour for that one Zumba class, or 20 minutes for a power walk. And usually that's enough to get me up and moving. Sometimes you just have to make yourself do it!

It definitely gets better! I'm a little addicted to exercise now! If I'm forced to miss a day/workout I honestly feel bummed.

You could try an awesome audio book. That way it's like a treat you get only if you walk. And a walking buddy would help too. Makes it feel more like a fun chat, than a workout, and you wont want to let them down by not showing up. And remember, you're making a great choice for your health and your life!

I am a biker, NOW.....but when I first got on the bike, I made it 0.8 miles and got off the bike and begged my husband to go and get the car to pick me up and bring me back home. If course, he would not and I walked part of the way back and rode part of the way back.

The next time I went out, I made it three miles. I was just so proud of myself. I thought, if I could do three miles, I certainly could take my time and do five miles. Well, five miles turned into ten miles, and that quickly turned into a 40-mile ride on the weekend. With every ride, it was a challenge to go further and go faster and calculate the number of calories I had burned and what I could now eat because of that exercise.

All of that was good for a while, but then, it became same 'ole same 'ole. I knew I had to have another goal or I would lose motivation. I am an over achiever, so if I am working towards something, I will go all out. So, I set my head around the idea of doing a 100 mile bike ride in one day. To date, I have done four of them. So, now, I had to set another goal. I had to find one that was not so easily achievable that I could do it quickly.

So, what better way to lose weight than to bike from the West Coast to the East Coast. Well, that would take some real training to prepare for, and I don't mean just a few weeks. So, I bike every chance I can to get ready for the long trip (which is scheduled for March 2016). I know I have to train for the trip, so I know I have to ride as often and as fast and as far as I can. The final trip will be my reward and it is my motivation.

What I am saying, is this: Find something you think you can like to do (if that is walking, great). Then set some mini-goals for what you would like to achieve. Maybe that would be to do it for a certain amount of time, or at a certain speed over a given distance, or to burn a certain number of calories. Make it something you try to achieve. Each time you hit a goal, set another one. One that is hard to achieve, so you are motivated to work harder to achieve it. Finally, set a goal you would like to achieve, that is big: Maybe a walk-a-thon, or a marathon, or start a walking group.

It does get better. It becomes part of your day. You know it is a task you have to do and eventually, it becomes as second nature as brushing your teeth....if you stick hard to it in the beginning and develop a habit.

Good luck.

I made a long list of reasons I wanted to lose weight, from the obvious health (I'm on bloodpressure meds and want to reduce and hopefully come off them, 4 months in and my doctor is happy for me to start reducing! Yay!) and being able to fit in smaller size clothes and not just having the limited 'big girl' section to choose from to silly things like being able to paint my nails by me leaning over my foot rather than pulling it towards me because my belly is in the way or being able to get up from the ground somewhat gracefully when sitting down in the grass in summer...

Whenever I can feel myself starting to slag a big (not starting my workout as soon as I get up but procrastinating until later in the morning) I read the list and find something that will get me going again.

The fact that my sister is getting married next June is helping too. I don't want to be the fat blob in the pictures and I want to be able to dance for hours without having to sit down because it's all too much for me....

What I'm trying to say is, make your weightloss / getting healthier a very personal thing. Set mini-goals, serious ones as well as fun ones. Small steps will keep you going a lot longer than a big goal that seems to far away you can't even begin to imagine reaching it.

Best of luck!

I was in the middle of a very stressful string of life events and a friend's relative is a Zumba instructor, so she got me to sign up for an 8 week session. Having been a big stress eater, and after moving out of the city and no longer walking miles and miles a day, I'd packed on a few pounds. I loved going to Zumba, it's so much fun and for that hour all of life's stresses didn't exist. From there I joined the Y, picked up a few more group ex classes, started eating better, etc. I've now recently picked up running and am loving it more and more.

I'd had trouble getting over the initial hump with exercise in the past, but once you get into a routine, it becomes much easier. It also REALLY helps to find an activity you enjoy and you look forward to doing. I used to hate running and was super self-conscious about going to the gym, so a Zumba class through the local adult continuing ed organization was a great way to dip my toes in the water and become comfortable being physically active around others. Look into adult continuing ed fitness classes (they also tend to have walking groups); these classes are usually designed with all fitness levels, ages, and abilities in mind so there's no pressure to perform at a certain level, just have fun and get some exercise. And always set goals, no matter how small they might seem. Even if it's just to walk just a little bit further than you usually walk, or just a little bit faster. Every little bit is progress and with time you'll be amazed by how much progress you're making.

Good luck!

I pretty sure I started because back when I was in college, they used to have these gyms with a statue of Atlas holding the earth in the front. Those gyms had saunas, steam rooms, inhalation rooms, hot tubs, heat lamps, etc. (All the weights were chrome.)
I went with a friend, who had the membership, to take advantage of those amenities. That led to a little weight lifting, because you had to walk through the lifting area to get to the good stuff, and I had been a tennis/soccer/baseball player when I was younger so I did not hate it.
Eventually, I came to see myself as a bit too weak and skinny and I kept at the weight training.
That led to yoga and jogging.
This was many, many years ago. I have never stopped and I have never regretted starting.