What motivates you to exercise?

I needed to lose weight, I needed to not end up with diabetes, HBP, high cholesterol and I especially didn't want to end up like my mother. She has trouble with her knees, heart..you name it.

I like the way cardio and lifting weights make me feel. It's addicting. I have committed for the past 2 years faithfully and now I plan my life around exercise instead of the other way around. If I have to miss a workout I get irritated. Most of all I love how I can move more freely with 113lbs less on my body Everything is so much easier!

Nads36 wrote: »

I have gained so much in the last year...feel so heavy. I have no motivation these days...So how did you get yourself out there exercising? What types of exercises do you do, especially when weighing around 263lbs. When did you start to see the benefits? When I was lighter I used to jog lots....its been a while. I would lo email to be slimmer and fitter like before. Thanks in advance

I started because I was done being fat. I've been fat my entire life.

When I first started, I wasn't much lighter than you (about 250lbs). I started by walking on the treadmill 3x a week, and I would attempt to run - I could only do about 30 seconds to a minute at a time of running back then.
Now, I can run 8 miles

Okohme wrote: »

In the beginning, I forced myself every day. I literally gave myself gold stars (on a little calendar).

i did this thing where i calculated (conservatively) that every time i biked to work and home i was using up at least 120 calories. and 120 calories is one tablespoon of human fat.

so got a clear jar that was about half a litre, and every time i rode to work i'd let myself add another tablespoonful of raw rice to it. i really got to look forward to my little ceremony, and it was comforting to know that the jar would fill up, and to have an actual visual representation of how much me i had rid myself of.

and yes, i know exercise calories doesn't necessarily equal your daily deficit, but after a while i gave myself a new arbitrary rule that every time i emptied the jar i could weigh myself, and i can attest the results were quite validating.

the whole thing was still really satisfying, and by the time i'd filled and emptied and refilled the jar a few times, i was long past the 'habit forming' part of exercising.

with lifting it's more simple. if you don't do your lift at x weight this week, you don't get to add more weight next week. the numbers are very visible and very satisfying. in fact, even the deloads are satisfying because it's just 'step back and start right in on trucking forwards again.'

For a guy like me who is a bit too heavy, my main motivation is looking at old photos of me from my fit days. I know it's just a matter of getting on the right track and make it a routine to do my workouts. The hard thing is of course to begin working out. But I'm on the other side of that now!

When I began a month ago I would really have to push myself out the door - now I don't even think about it. I just do it. The thing is, that it also motivates me that things are getting easier every day

Nads36 wrote: »

I have gained so much in the last year...feel so heavy. I have no motivation these days...So how did you get yourself out there exercising? What types of exercises do you do, especially when weighing around 263lbs. When did you start to see the benefits? When I was lighter I used to jog lots....its been a while. I would love to be slimmer and fitter like before.

Your last sentence that I bolded should be motivation enough.

The main motivation: to live longer with an improved quality of life.

Start small with a routine you can successfully complete (both diet and exercise), then after you achieve some success you can up your game and adjust goals. You didn't gain it all in a short period of time, so you have to have patience that it will take a long time via lifestyle change to get back to that slimmer and fitter condition you were in before.

You have to want it. So here's to that want increasing enough to get you motivated!

Saw this the other day.....exercise is a privilege.

I exercise (now) because I can. I exercise (now) because I want to be able to so for as long as I can. Motivation is easier for me (I'm older). Seeing how much strength and the range of motion I lost from being a total couch potato was frightening.

Even if you just add yoga (for starters) - you will feel a difference. Yoga will make you body aware. Increasing your flexibility and your range of motion will make you feel better. For the less flexible, look for Yoga for the Rest of Us (or Peggy Cappy). For bigger folks, look for Just My Size Yoga, Mega Yoga or Heavy Weight Yoga.

Getting started is the most difficult part. In the beginning of my fitness journey, I could hardly get motivated to even get in the gym, and when I did I didn't want to lift or go in the oh-so intimidating weight section (where I had no clue what I was doing) so I just hit the cardio section and left. After a while (about a year-and-a-half ago) I finally got up the courage to incorporate weights. That's when I no longer had to "force myself" and talk myself into going to the gym. The strength that I was gaining was motivation enough. Increasing PR's, seeing my body change so significantly, feeling healthy, that was my motivation. Now it's a lifestyle. I still need a little extra motivation every once in a while, but for the most part, once you get over that hump in the beginning it's easy sailing and you enjoy the gym.

I've trained over 30 years to look good and be physically fit enough to do challenges that require physical abilities. I don't want to be the one that stays behind because I'm not fit enough to do something. I'm out to have fun in life for how short it is and it will take being in good shape to do some of them.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

MeganAM89 wrote: »

At the moment, my wedding coming up in December. After that, we want to start trying to have children in the semi-near future and I want to be as in good a shape as possible for my recovery afterwards and for the benefit of my future babies.

I lifted weights through both pregnancies and was better for it afterwards.

I started by going walks, would borrow a friends dog to motivate me.

What motivates me is having my fitbit synced to MFP and watching the calories increase throughout the day.

I just got a good idea from another post. Rewarding yourself is motivational. You can reward yourself after every workout to create that positive association in your brain. As long as the reward is tied to working out, it may in time make your brain want to work out. It's like reprogramming your brain.

Health first motivated me because I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis and knew it would only get decreasingly debilitating without activity. I started out with walking, and I turned from someone who always hated exercise into someone who was in the habit of exercise and eventually became someone who enjoyed exercise and wanted to keep challenging herself at it.

In the act of challenging myself I've water jogged, taken up running, and lifting weights.

I exercise now mainly because I enjoy it, and my day doesn't feel right without some sort of physical activity in it. I'm still motivated to stay healthy, of course, but that's no longer my main reason for strapping on my sneakers or picking up the weights.