Motivation is not my strong suit right now

Can you get someone to join you? (If you would like company). I don’t do much more than chores, either. But my husband walks the dog with me which makes it seem like less of a chore itself.

You dont have to exercise to lose weight. If thats all you want to do, is lose weight... that happens in the kitchen.

that said, health and fitness, happens with exercise. Find something you enjoy doing, or at least don't hate. it doesn't have to be for an hour at a time. As Lietchi said, just commit to 10 minutes. You may find yourself doing a bit longer, just because you're already in motion (Newton's Law of Motion, you know). Take a walk. If you are a member of a Y, and they have a pool, try some of their water classes (they are actually a lot of fun and quite easy for beginners). Even just turn the music way up while you do chores and have a dance party while you do them. you may look silly but... who's going to see you? there are millions of youtube workouts of every type and level. I could never get into them, really, but many LOVE them. try them out. even if you cant do the moves, just stay moving (that was what i did when i used to do zumba classes- which i LOVED)- when i started i couldnt always keep up, but i figured if i kept moving, that was good enough (and it was!) LOL. try different things. try them more than once. more than twice even.

when i first started working out, i didnt even consider it that. i just wanted to try and be a bit healthier. losing weight wasn't even my goal. I mean, i needed to, and knew i needed to, but i just wanted to try and be healthier. I started by just going on a walk 2-3 times a week. and.... it wasn't much of a walk. at almost 400 pounds i could not go very far at all. 10 minutes was about all i had in me. but i kept doing it. and it didnt take long, really, before i could go a little bit longer. and then, i started to go more often. always when it was dark, i didnt want people to SEE me - but id go after dark, or early in the morning. often, both. more days added. my neighbor was a member at planet fitness and asked me if i wanted to go with her (she only went occasionally). I said sure. So I'd go with her. i thought i was going to die on the elliptical. lasted about 7 minutes. But kept going. maybe once a week with her? not very often. kept walking. By that point had started watching what I was eating (i think). Then i wanted to go to the gym more than she did, so got my own membership. That was back in 2014. as of september 1, I have lost 192 pounds. ( for 2 years I was in maintenance, working on losing the last 40 or so now). So... all of it was a process. a long one. But I didnt give up. You dont have to work out to lose weight. As I said, that happens in the kitchen. But it does have many other benefits that your body does need. Find something you enjoy. Most Y's are affordable and have a wide variety of classes for all fitness levels. Make small changes. dont try to change everything overnight. little changes can lead to giant ones, if you give it enough time.

I've downloaded a load of really funny comedy podcasts which I listen to while walking. I get so engrossed in what I'm listening to that I don't even notice how long I've been walking for. Been doing this for 3 weeks now and it's becoming a habit, I don't feel right if I haven't been for a walk and will only allow myself to listen to an episode if I'm out walking. It's become my treat.

This may not apply, but sometimes when there are chores to be done, time and effort spent exercising can feel frivolous. My father would have been likely to say, 'If want exercise, go till the garden."

Making exercise a priority doesn't always come easily and motivation is a moving target. What motivates you now might not be what motivates you six months from now. As Goal06082021 points out, the doing part is all that really matters.

My early motivation was all about not dying. I started exercising regularly because I was obese, easily ran out of breath, was pre-diabetic and nudged the high side of the acceptable blood pressure range. What finally tipped the scale for me was knowing that I mightn't survive Covid. More than a year on, my BP is 100/60 and I can briskly jog whilst carrying on a normal conversation. These days my motivations include a wee bit more vanity.

Only you know what will click for you. In the meantime while you puzzle it out, maybe start some sort of non-chore related movement for a mere 7 minutes for the next week. I say 7 minutes because that's about the length of two pop songs and how I started to form the exercise habit. Once you can manage 7, maybe add another song and do 10... 12... 15...

And as callsitlikeiseeit says, weight loss mostly happens in the kitchen, not the gym. Sometimes it's all too easy to think, 'Oh, I've eaten too much today, so what's the point of exercising?' Remember there's ALWAYS a point to exercising... so just do it.

Aw crap, I think I've just talked myself into a run.

< reaches for trainers >