How can I start exercising?

Clos eyour eyes and leave out the door. It is just the first step to make.

Sometimes it is good to make an appointment with youself in the calendar and put this one on premium or mark it red.

Best tipp to make an appointment with a friend, but I know from experience that this is often not consistent.

Hope this helps.

Regards. Bee

When I started, I got a dog who would need to be walked. He got me moving. He was my motivation, my obligation the one I wouldn't let down.

First, I want to be clear about one thing that may not apply to you, but for sure is a common misperception among new folks here: To improve fitness and burn a few extra calories, exercise doesn't need to be gym-based stuff, doesn't need to be some punitively intense thing, doesn't need to be unpleasant. If a person likes gymming, great. Same for intensity. I don't know anyone who likes "unpleasant".

Ideally, find some way of moving more that you personally enjoy, or at least find practical and tolerable. There are so many options: The videos mentioned above, walking, dozens of kinds of dancing, a martial art, yoga, active VR or video games, swimming or other pool activities, playing with kids, gardening, hobbies like carpentry that involve movement, and many other options.

Once you find that thing or combination of things, the sweet spot is a total exercise plan that is manageably challenging. Ideally, it would leave a person feeling energized for the rest of the day(s), not fatigued. (A few minutes of "whew" right after an activity is fine.)

The "enjoy" part is because any exercise we enjoy, we'll tend to do more often, and that's 100% more beneficial than some theoretically better exercise we procrastinate and skip at the slightest excuse. The "manageable" part avoids overdoing (which is counter-productive for weight loss OR fitness improvement. The "challenge" part is what gradually creates fitness improvement.

A total exercise plan considers the types of activity, the frequency, the intensity, and the duration - that should add up to the "enjoyable, manageable, mildly challenging".

Over time, with repetition, the combination that's manageably challenging will get easy. If the person wants to keep making fitness improvement, it's then time to increase one of those things - frequency, intensity, duration, activity type - to keep the manageable challenge.

I can't tell you exactly what to do, but the above is how I'd suggest thinking about it. Don't make it more unpleasant or difficult than it minimally needs to be. Thinking "enjoyable, manageable, mildly challenging" IME reduces the amount of "motivation" required. Just think of ways to introduce more movement into life - whether official exercise, or daily life routine. That'll work.

Best wishes!

pick an activity that you think you can 2-4 times a week and then start by setting your timer for 2mins, and tell yourself that if you aren’t enjoying it you just have to do 2mins.

ideally habit stack it, so it’s easy to continue to do, so for am walks set your clothes out ready to go, for after work take your shoes and change them before you drive to where you walk. Make it easy for future you to follow through 🙂

Start slow; start walking, doing beginner classes, or even join a sport or two. The thing is that beginning to exercise is really slow and you definitely won't like it (I know I didn't), especially because you're physically "weak" (not an insult, just meant you're not really used to anything yet?) but as soon as you get into a good rhythm it'll get better, I promise! Find exercises you like to do (ex. After a while I found out I really like running and weightlifting) and just enjoy the process. Working out will make you feel a lot better, and all you need to do is just… begin. Even if you don't enjoy it, even if it's 6 in the morning and you're preparing to work out and you're thinking "Ugh, I really don't want to do this," it WILL get better! You need to have that "I won't stop even if I'm tired because this is how I will get better and I will thrive from it" sort of mindset (It's what I normally have nowadays) and yeah. Remember that you need discipline and not motivation to keep working out consistently, and it's okay if you get things wrong because if you keep doing this stuff you WILL improve. I wish you the best of luck on your workout journey!!

Above comments are all excellent!

You're making YOU a priority, improving your health, and exercise is part of that, thus make your exercising a priority as well. For me, I hit the gym before work as know after I just want to go home, and parking, crowds are easier. And walk the dog on weekends. Look at your routine (where can this fit in), what do you enjoy? (dancing to the TV, walking the malls or trails, swimming, lifting filled milk gallons, activity is activity!), and plan/prepare ahead. If you have a friend to be accountable with, that helps too!

What have you been doing during the past 2 weeks? And what is the plan for next week?

You can do it!!

Mall walking can be a relaxing and climate controlled way to get started moving more. Window shop while you do a few laps!

I once read an interview with an ultra runner, and she said something that really stuck with me when they asked about how she motivates herself for training.

'Its not about whether or not I want to, the decision has already been made'

So now I make the decision. In the same way I clean the bathroom, it's not about what I want -it's just something that needs to happen.