How to start being healthy when you have no motivation at all!

What do you think of as exercising? Is it going to the gym and lifting weights, running three miles, getting a personal trainer? How about just walking for a 1/2 hour 3-4 times per week? It doesn't have to be some big deal.

If weight loss is your only goal, you don't even have to exercise at all. I would say - exercise makes losing weight a bit easier (particularly when it comes to keeping it off), but again, absolutely not necessary for weight loss.

Find something you enjoy. I love zoning out on a treadmill. My best friend loves Zumba. But when we do each others favorite, we despise it. I hate HATE Zumba. And it's torture for her to do a treadmill. Find what you like.
Right now, with no gym access, I go on evening walks with my husband. Just fast enough to get my heart going, and work up a good sweat.

Weight loss happens mostly in the kitchen. Exercise isn't necessicary for weight loss. Pretty much all of mine was done without exercise.

That being said, exercise has many other benefits, so ask yourself what do you like to do? Do you like to walk? Swim? Hike outdoors? Ride a bike? Roller skate? There's lots of things you can do for exercise, the trick is finding something you enjoy. I don't enjoy any of it, really, but I've got a story app I listen to when I walk, and that keeps me going out and walking. I've found if my brain focuses on something else, it's much easier for me. So maybe try that. Book on tape, music, something to keep your brain occupied instead of thinking of how much you don't like exercise. You can also start small. Something like go outside, walk in a random direction for 10 minutes, turn and walk back. Congrats, you've just walked 20 minutes! Get yourself used to that, then up the time limit. That and something to occupy your mind might help you get started.

leanlicorice wrote: »

I agree with all previous posters' advice. Start small, find something you love OR find the least objectionable and gradually increase.

My addition is to be mindful about the effect exercise has on you to increase motivation. Note how you feel just before you exericse (can be a scale out of 10 - 1 very poor; 10 excellent) and do the same after you exercise. I would be very surprised if you don't feel a little better. Then remember that each time you are trying to get motivated.

Yeah, I never feel better after a walk. Seriously, I get home and flop on couch for 20 minutes trying to recover. And this is with me having used my inhaler and keeping hydrated. However, change has happened slowly. After a semester of walking class (walking for an hour or so once a week), I can now walk at my husband's walking speed. That's a visible improvement for me, but it took several months to get there. And it doesn't matter what exercise I do, I always feel miserable afterwards. That's part of why I didn't exercise for the longest time. But I'm starting to see long term positive changes, and that helps a lot.

I'm another one that never feels better afterwards and I hate exercise more than just about anything else I can think of. I probably have dopamine issues, though. If you have no motivation because of anhedonia, you might not get any of the good feelings either (but most people do, from what I can tell).

What I do like about it when I can stick to it for a while is the strength improvements. While it takes quite some time to see any visual improvements to my figure, you get a near immediate increase in your strength in the beginning. Every time you go in, you can do more than you did before. Being able to lift more and more makes me feel like a badass, even if it wipes me out and makes me feel miserable.... and that powered me through some petulance more than once.