Beginner: Needing Motivation to Eat Right and Excercise

kelseyhafner
kelseyhafner Posts: 1 Member
edited November 17 in Motivation and Support
Lately I've been trying to motivate myself into getting healthier, but I'm having a hard time staying on track. I don't have the money to join a local gym and I have a hard time motivating myself. Any ideas how to make eating right and excercise more motivating/enjoyable? :)

Replies

  • happysherri
    happysherri Posts: 1,360 Member
    Look up budgeted healthy recipes online, I find it fun to get creative. There are so many activities in the world, find one you enjoy and you will be more likely to stick with it. Trial and error, try new spices, new foods, try new exercises or classes. I love volleyball, I like to do HIIT and I like lifting weights. I just got a gym membership last year - my first one ever and I'm 41 years old. Before that I worked out at home - Tabata training, P90X, Body Beast, HIIT cardio, Running. Keep trying
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,024 Member
    Motivation is internal. You really either want to do this or not. So really how important is it to you? If it's important enough, you'll do what you have to. That's the first thing you have to sort out.

    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
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  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    No one can give you motivation - you have to want this for yourself.

    That said, you don't need a major overhaul. Just get started by making a change here, and a change there. Weight loss is taking in fewer calories than you expend.

    So take in fewer calories by adding more veggies. These lower calorie - high volume foods will take the place of more calorie dense ones. Google lighter recipes - Skinny Taste & Cooking Light have great websites. Tweak your favorites to fit new goals.

    Make an effort to move more. Buy a cheap pedometer & make a goal to get 1,000 more steps each day this week, than you took last week. Ramp this goal up every couple of weeks. Before you know it, you will be an active 10,000 steps. YouTube has tons of free workouts - test drive new things. Keep searching until you find something you like.

    Don't ELIMINATE anything from your "diet" that you can't live without.....forever. Seriously, losing weight is just the first step. Keeping it off requires a lifetime of some kind of change.
  • Bakerchk
    Bakerchk Posts: 424 Member
    Take it one day at a time, one step at a time. Cut out bad food habits then find healthier alternatives, then cut, then start with a morning workout, add an evening workout after a few weeks. I've always thought gradually eating healthier and gradually adding workouts to my schedule made it stick longer. Best of luck!
  • KeepRunningFatboy
    KeepRunningFatboy Posts: 3,055 Member
    I'm not big into motivation. Make a decision and then go make it happen.!discipline determines destiny. Give you an example; I didn't want to run tonight, not at all! I wasn't at all motivated. But I did run because working out and exercising is not optional.
  • GemstoneofHeart
    GemstoneofHeart Posts: 865 Member
    I agree with what some others have said. You can't ask or rely on others to motivate you. Motivate yourself by keeping a journal, taking progress pics, write down your goals, etc. you have to figure out why you want this and just do it
  • Heather4448
    Heather4448 Posts: 908 Member
    KeepRunningFatboy wrote: »
    I'm not big into motivation. Make a decision and then go make it happen.!discipline determines destiny.

    Brilliantly put! DDD!
  • whatlunasaid
    whatlunasaid Posts: 173 Member
    Motivation is short term. Habits are long term. Find small changes you can make every day that will help you to be healthier. You will form healthy habits, which will bring good results. Then you will build healthier habits on top of that. And so on.

    The initial motivation, and motivation during stressful times, really has to come from within. You have to want this for the right reasons.
  • fiddletime
    fiddletime Posts: 1,868 Member
    kelseyhafner wrote: »
    Lately I've been trying to motivate myself into getting healthier, but I'm having a hard time staying on track. I don't have the money to join a local gym and I have a hard time motivating myself. Any ideas how to make eating right and excercise more motivating/enjoyable? :)

    I've done many things in the past several decades to maintain my health. They haven't all been either "motivating" or "enjoyable". But what was very motivating to me was my commitment and determination to not being an over weight, out of shape adult.

    Look at your peer group. Look at the next generation up. Look at your grandparents, or people in their age bracket. Are most of them healthy and a good weight? You have a choice every day, to try to improve yourself, or not. It's up to you. You've come to the right place. Hang in there.

  • owa1s
    owa1s Posts: 273 Member
    I would say if gym is too much for u then start exercising in ur house (body weight) and when ur form and everything is on point then join the gym and as for nutrition u can eat clean for a week then at the end of the week u can treat urself with some junk (while at ur calories intake). But it's up to u whatever mindset works for u do that.
  • owa1s
    owa1s Posts: 273 Member
    Once u see the results it becomes addicting (fitness lifestyle) it's all worth it
  • MessyApron
    MessyApron Posts: 206 Member
    I'm going to tell you a truth that someone told me that I didn't want to accept when I first heard it, but I find it helpful now years later:

    It isn't motivation you need, it's discipline.
    Motivation is that feeling you get when you make a healthy choice, and that first good decision turns into a chain of good decisions. Motivation is momentum, and often it comes down to good old fashioned discipline to get the ball rolling - to choose to make a healthy breakfast instead of opening a box of sugar bombs, to take a walk instead of eating through half a bag of chips in front of the TV, to go to bed at a reasonable hour instead of watching "one more" episode on Netflix. Motivation comes from accomplishment, and accomplishments often come from self discipline.
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