Help me find motivation!!! PLEASE

"If there is a will, there is a way.
If there is no will, there is an excuse ..." ;-)))

If you want to, you will exercise. And once you've started and see the results and feel your body change to the better and feel the muscles in all those spots where you would have never expected muscles at all -- you will never want to stop.

Maybe start with going for a walk. Maybe start with just watching workout-dvd's. Maybe just have a look at http://www.bodyrock.tv as a starter to see where you can end up ...

I myself get very motivated by the way other women make their bodies look. That helps for me.
Find your way -- you WILL, if you WANT TO! :-)

You want to, don't you?!

Good luck!!!!

whilst moving i found a beautiful slink black dress i found in a charity shop yonks ago and bought on a whim. i am going to wear that damn thing and i'm going to look amazing in it. that is my motivation...

... that and fast paced music on my ipod whilst on my bike, the irony of hearing Snoop Dogg saying he wants to make me sweat

AHHHHH!!!! Motivation! My motivation was my health My Mom died at the age of 46 & her Mom died at the age of 47 .... I'm almost 57! So originally I started working out to live a longer & healthier life ... now it's truly my "glass of wine at the end of my day" Start slow ... too discouraging if you set too high a goal ... like "I'm gonna walk a bajillion miles today" ... find something you really enjoy ~ use your exercise time as your "me" time ... great music while working out ... I started taking Zumba classes (& trust me ... I have little rhythm & I LOVE IT!!!!! Good luck to you

i am the same way! i have a very busy schedule, i work 40 hours a week and go to school fulltime in the evenings - so i am the queen of excuses! i hate going to the gym because you have to schedule it into your day and go through a whole ordeal, pack a gym bag, change at work, drive to the gym, work out, blah blah... so i started purchasing stuff to do at home. i invested in an elliptical treadmill (i found a really good golds gym one for around $200 on amazon), and because i am also a couch potato, i put it in front of the tv! i hop on it every commercial, sometimes i will stay on for a whole show (if its a re-run, and i dont have to pay too close attention), when i am waiting my turn to use the bathroom in the morning, while i am waiting for something to cook/bake, etc. the elliptical will tell you how many minutes you do each time, and when mfp adds it all up it ends up being almost a couple hours! you can also get resistance bands and use those while watching, or hand weights. i also purchased some fun work out dvds (carmen electra strip aerobics, envy girls, hula) which i pop in for maybe 15 to 30 mins at a time.

hope this helps!

ps. if you make plans to do something active with a friend, you'll feel guilty if you have to cancel!

Obviously everyone's motivation is personal, but here are some things that have helped me. As always, your mileage may vary, but I hope they help get you thinking about what might get YOU motivated. When in doubt, experiment These aren't necessarily in order of importance.

Number one thing for me, is variety. I can do any exercise a day or two in a row, but then I get bored. My trick is to always do a different exercise(s) at least every third day. Even things I don't especially enjoy are more interesting if I'm doing them when mixed with other, more fun stuff. And it doesn't matter if an exercise isn't "efficient" or huge for burning calories, if doing something "inefficient" one day gives you the variety needed to feel good the next, then it's still helping.

Number two is structure and habit. This may require a bit of cash, but the best thing I ever did was join an exercise class (crossfit, what an *kitten*-kicker) and martial arts class for 6 months. Just getting in the habit of going in and working out every day really helped, and the stronger/faster I got, the more I enjoyed it. Plus, it was easier to get motivated when unattendance meant I was burning money. Even after I stopped attending for timing reasons, the lessons and structure stuck with me, and made it easier to self-motivate. And learning a bunch of new exercises fed back into the "variety" thing.

Number three is, if possible, find something you DO enjoy, and do it whenever possible. Running and walking bore me in minutes, but I love racquetball, even when playing to the brink of exhaustion. Even thought it's not something I can do every day, I try to work it into my weekly or bi-weekly routine. And when the non-fun exercises make you better at the fun ones, you don't mind them so much.

Even thirty minutes a day, at a medium-to-high intensity will help. Maybe try "before I eat [meal], I'm going to knock out a mile or two, and a few crunches and maybe some jumping jacks." (I do this). This won't take long, shouldn't be too stressful, and can help you ease into a more structured routine. Make whatever you want to do (the couch you mentioned) the reward - i.e. "i have to put in 30 minutes before my show starts, or I don't get to watch it!" or just work out when the show is on with the volume up. The distraction may make the exercise easier too.

You'll figure it out, but it can definitely be hard to start! Good luck, I hope this helps!

A few ways that I motivate myself to work out... make plans to exercise with a friend. If you know someone is going to be waiting for you, you may be less likely to cancel. Also you may want to try signing up for a class. I registered for a bootcamp class and I never miss it because I paid for it so I want to get my money's worth!!

On the days that I'm having a really hard time motivating myself, I just think about how great I will feel afterwards. I never great getting up and working out, but I ALWAYS regret it when I don't! Good luck and I hope you find the motivation to get active! This is a great first step!