How did you find the motivation..

I just got up early, worked out, ate well, and complained to my wife. "I'll do everything you say and eat only what you say; but if I don't see any results after 1 week, I'm done." I lost like 9 lbs that week and it was all the motivation I needed to meet all of my goals.

Good luck!

Maybe you aren't the workout at home type. I know I am not. I like to go to the gym where that is my reason for being there, to work out. Any time I have tried to workout at home, I've failed because I find too many other things to do.

Planning has been huge for myself. Just plan the time to workout and make that time all about that. When my wife works out, I consider it quality time with my daughter since it's rarely just her and I.

Also, I noticed you said you have to 'entertain' your SO? Can't he/she do that on their own? Are they contributing their fair share to the workload in the house? Just asking because every persons situation is different and I don't know the details about your household.

I will admit I had to get a trainer to work with. I know they can be really expensive however it is nice because I have someone to be accountable. I have also set an alarm on my phone daily that says "get your *kitten* to the gym" when it goes off. I see it as an appointment that I have to make with myself.

Good luck!

Why wouldn't just jumping on the elliptical be an option? It doesn't have to be for an hour...get on for 10 minutes today. Tomorrow do 11 minutes...or next week do 11 minutes...just start moving, once you get into the routine it gets a lot easier to keep it up.

Anything is better than nothing, so try something. Worrying about all the possible failures just gets in the way of success. Try different things -- everybody has different likes and dislikes when it comes to exercise. Nice thing about working out at home is that you can pop off a quick 30 minute workout (which often will actually wake you up). Heck, pop in a Sesame Street video and jump around with your toddler and sing some songs...it doesn't have to be some structured workout to do some good. If you enjoyed the gym at one time, you could try it again. Many gyms have an in-house toddler area...if your little one doesn't mind those sorts of things, that might be an option...only one way to find out.

I am in insurance too, and 4th quarter almost killed me! I work in employee benefits and there were days when I would go to a client for day of meetings leaving at 5 am and not getting back until 9 pm. So now that things have slowed down, I have decided that I need to get up and moving. Motivation? I just got off a 40 minute treadmill walk and as I was walking I realized that it was much more fun walking to music that I loved. I never did that before. I had fun putting together a playlist of songs that I enjoyed in the range of 120-138 bpm, right in my walking speed range. Getting a chance to move to music is great. A few other things that I think about doing is standing while working (I have a special play list for this too, so that I can kind of dance to the music). I work at home three days a week, so I take my "lunch break" to walk and can stand at my desk and dance without worrying about embarrassing myself. While at work, I am going to try to bring my lunch more often so I can use my lunch break for a nice walk, too.

Lexicpt, find something you ENJOY!!!! I have many days where I feel like cozying up on the couch with a movie or a good book, but I have found some things that help me make an effort to exercise. I found that I really love to do Zumba. It is so much fun that I forget I'm working out. Another thing I do now is create a really fun playlist of songs for a workout in the evenings. One more thing I do to be motivated is to tell myself to do just 10 minutes. If after 10 minutes, I still can't get the motivation then I'll stop. I would say about 99% of the time, I want to keep going! If not, that's okay. Sometimes my body is just too tired.

I'm not going to be a ton of help but the 2 small things that come to my mind would be make quick dinners a couple times a week and use that extra 20 minutes and include your daughter. 1st Maybe use the crocpot on Monday and Thursday? Something simple. The 2nd thing would be will your daughter do a workout with you? I have a son that is 4 and he likes to do some of the moves with me and if there's something he doesn't like he takes a rest and is my cheerleader or holds the stop watch.

Do you have a ymca in your area? They're fairly inexpensive to join and they offer childcare as well as various exercise activities for you. Most have weight rooms, coordinated classes like Zumba, yoga, and even karate and tai chi classes. Heck even swimming is great exercise and every YMCA I know of has a pool.

Take a "before" pic, print it out & put it on the fridge. That's what I did; i said "This doesn't come down until I'm under 200 pounds."

My wife hated it, but it stayed up. 3 months later I weighed 198.5 & took that thing DOWN! And I got the addiciton too, so now I'm down to 171.

Lexicpt wrote: »

Thanks for the amazing responses, everyone! I think I'm going to take the majority's advice and just wing it. If I only do 20 minutes, at least it's 20 more minutes than I would have done otherwise. SO does a pretty good job of keeping the little one occupied with games and such, so I'll probably start on my ski machine tonight. I hope I get the opportunity to chat with all of you in the future!!

If you have a good show on the tv and/or a great music playlist that is about the length of your workout, it really helps. Sometimes, I feel tired and then after a few minutes of working out I am totally into it and having fun. I love watching sports or even the food channel! I also listen to salsa and try to keep up with the rhythm.