How to stop quitting exercise?

I always recommend trying to find things you love doing and that don’t feel forced so you feel more motivated.

Since you’re just starting up, if you’re following a work out plan, maybe start by dividing it in half and working up to it, or allowing more breaks.

If you’re doing cardio on a machine, try intervals...do a minute at a hard pace and then slow down your pace to where you feel like you can breathe and move again..and repeat..you can increase the time or the resistance as you find your groove!

You could also try doing a few small workouts throughout the day...5 min 4 different times of day adds up to 20!

And, if day one you get 5 min in...you got up there and did it...tomorrow, aim for 6 min...and increase to work your way up as you can. Remember, we all have to start somewhere. Make small achievable goals and find accountability partners to help keep you going!

To echo Ig013’s point about achievable goals..

If you hurt or are out of breath after five minutes, then stop and build on that. You describe yourself as a serial quitter (and I can relate by the way) but does that mean you’ve tried multiple times, only ever been able to do five minutes and given up in disgust? If so, perhaps your expectations for the beginning of the process are too high. Because it can be a painfully slow process. At least it was for me and I eventually built up to an hour a day, five times a week and nobody was more shocked than I was. (Sadly I’m currently having to start almost from scratch again.)

Rather than aim for six tomorrow, I’d even cut yourself more slack and give yourself a full week of doing a good five and then step up to six for a week etc. Again that’s how I started last time out and actually I started at five as well. Though in my case my difficulties stemmed from a challenging combination of very poor fitness and Butterfly Mind Syndrome. I just used to get so bored, I wanted to yell. (People make light of that, but it’s no joke.)

You do need to take care if you consistently find yourself in pain or short of breath. You have to expect this stuff of course, but if you’re at all in doubt then see your doctor just to be sure. But all things being equal my advice for what it’s worth, is to give yourself a pat on the back for doing it despite the difficulties. Don’t push yourself into another failure, expect a slow lengthy process and embrace it rather then be daunted by it. Sort out a really good playlist on your MP3 player and lose yourself in it while your workout happens in the background.

Good luck
Badger

It's okay to start off at an easier pace. For instance, you can go on walks. You can even start off with a 5 minute walk! Or even less, if that's a lot for you (no judgement, everybody's got to start somewhere). Or if you're going to a gym, you can start with stepping foot in the door the first day, then doing some stretching the next day. Then build up over time. Remember, the goal is to build habits for a lifetime, so it doesn't matter how slow the beginning is as long as you eventually increase the amount you do to a good amount. And in my experience, building habits is easier if you start off easy rather than starting with maximum intensity.