It's so hard for me to find the motivation to exercise...

I'm a pragmatist. So first...perhaps you should remove the expectation that you will enjoy it. You *may*, in fact, with time, find something you like. But that will take time, and experimentation. Which I will encourage you to do. But, you may find, that you *never* enjoy it. An analogy: Some of us *love* our jobs. But many of us could take it or leave it. Its a job. We have to do it, its not so bad, so we do it. That's it.

I tried to find things I liked for exercise. I came to the conclusion that: I do not like it. Another way of thinking about it is: I found that my favorite exercise is the shortest exercise. So, I run, because if you're doing it for exercise and not for "training" purposes, its short. I do intervals...because its short. I do body weight exercises in an interval/no rest fashion. Because its short. I do not *like* these any more than fast-walking, a yoga class, or zumba. But these alternatives are 45 minute to an hour. Mine? 20-30. So I prefer mine.

I'm not saying you are like me. Which is why I encourage you to experiment. Maybe a social activity will be more motivating than working out by your lonesome. BUT, I tell you my story because, I think you have to get rid of the notion that people that exercise "enjoy every second of it". Because it won't always be a bucket of laughs, even *if* you find something you, relatively speaking, enjoy. There will always be an element of having to "parent" the child in you who'd rather not. And that doesn't make you lazy. That just makes you human.

Dont exercise then!
Youll lose fat and lean mass!
It's a lose lose situation!

Or

Do what I do and workout 20 mins 3x a week!

Its simple!

How about strength training? To quote the Men's Warehouse guy, "You're gonna love the way you look. I guarantee it."

How about strength training? To quote the Men's Warehouse guy, "You're gonna love the way you look. I guarantee it."

The force is strong in this one!


Listen to the Jedi's of this website!
We know what we talk about!

I have the same problem. I haven't exercised almost at all since i started on MFP, and what i've lost so far was just dieting.
But i really want that to change...

I'm starting a new strategy now. When i started dieting, i thought i couldn't do it, and i set myself the lowest possible expectations, and after i started losing weight and i noticed the difference, that was in itself a motivation to continue (because, let's face it, nobody likes dieting, either). So now i'm picking ONE thing in my body that i wanna try to improve (i chose my belly), and i'm gonna try to work on that with the minimum effort. So i'm trying to do some abs at home almost every day. It's taking 5 minutes off my day and i don't have to go out in the cold or anything (most of the time i just do it in my pyjamas). If after a couple of months i can notice that my belly is firmer and i look better, i'm sure that will give me more motivation to start strength-training other parts of my body.
I know this is the laziest advice EVER, and it will take a while to show results (if indeed it does), but i've tried exercising before with higher goals and expectations and i always gave up very soon. I can't deal with a big life change in something i HATE doing. But i can deal with a small one... So i'm going for baby steps.
Whether it will work for my body or not, i don't know yet, but the good news is i have been sticking to it for a few weeks, it hasn't been much effort or taken much time, and maybe it's psychological, but i'm starting to see a subtle improvement.

My point is: try to work out a way that works for you in which you will stick to it rather than giving up soon. And remember you just need to find something until the weather gets better, and then you can ride your bike again.

My bigger point is: i love your topic and i hope someone has better advice than me! (which so far has been the case, haha)

Pilates is actually very enjoyable, and you can do it at home with a dvd and mat. It really works, too.

You have to find what you enjoy doing and make it fun.
I personally love spin class. It is challenging and the cranked up music always motivates me. I developed friendships in class and people expect to see me. They help hold me accountable.
When I am feeling particularly lazy, I just put on my work out clothes and then my brain just kind of follows my motions and before I know it, I am breaking a sweat!
I think the important thing is to find what you enjoy doing and at a time that works for you.
Good luck!

I just fill my ipod with good music and tune out the world. Working out is my time out. My break from the world. To me it is as relaxing as a nice massage or bubble bath. Plus you know that feeling when you try to walk down the stairs after a good workout and you have that nice after sex, jello legged feeling? Oh hell yeah! thats the best feeling in the world.

Trust me, I hate exercise too! Everything about it! But like some wonderful smart person said, my favorite exercise is the shortest! I do Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 because it takes only about 20 mins and burns 350 to 375 calories. Now I do crave the feeling I get after exercise, I feel powerful and confident, but the sweating still sucks!! LOL I figure I hate to do the dishes too, but they are a fact of life and I hate being overweight, or according to my BMI obese. Hope you find something that works for you!!

I don't have trouble staying under calories anymore. I've finally been able to give up the sweets. But now I have encountered a new problem. I can not make myself exercise. I have a treadmill, but it's almost tourture for me to get on it. I like riding my bike, but it's a bit to cold outside right now to ride everyday. Maybe I'm just lazy, I don't know. But I would seriously appreciate some helpful tips to actually enjoy a workout.

I put a 60 inch big screen TV in front of my treadmill and have been enjoying my walks ever since. Suspense is great, because I walk faster when I get scared. The time just flies! I do 90 min per day.

I have the same problem with exercise only it's pain that usually forces me to quit. I have pain in my knees and pain in one hip that drives me crazy whenever I try to walk , even a slow walk. I pick up the pace just to get it over with and burn more calories but I can't make it, as yet, more than 15min. before I have to stop. Everyone tries to do some form of workout but maybe going dancing on a saturday night might be more fun......yah think? Lol But, it's exercise none the less!! Look at dancing with the stars and how many of them have lost allot of weight. It's great exercise. Just look for something u can actually get done with quickly but still burn many calories and maybe you might find u actually like it.........Good luck!

I was having the same issues with lack of motivation. Last week I hired a personal trainer and met her for the first time three days ago. I have worked with trainers before and I know what to do. She was very impressed with my knowledge. I let her know the reason I hired her is because I keep appointments. I remember how great I felt when I was eating right and working out regularly, but for some reason, I still haven't been able to stop eating junk and start working out this time. I also started meeting a coworker at the gym before work. Again, I will go because I know she's expecting me and I would never be a no-show.

So my tactic is to meet with a trainer. She took my measurements, took me through a fitness test to see where I am physically and we discussed my goals. She then gave me a cardio "assignment" to complete during the week and she gave me eating tips. This will work for me because 1.) I keep appointments. 2.) Having to meet her will make me accountable. I don't want to be embarrassed if I am not making progress when she does my next fitness evaluation. 3.) I know I will work out at least on the days I meet her.

It's so easy for people to say, "Just do it!" but if it was that simple, everyone would be slim and healthy. Think about what your "thing" is - like mine is the fact that if I have an appointment, I will keep it. If having to pay a trainer results in weight loss and better health, then it'll be worth it!

I think these are all good suggestions. My experience has been that I hardly ever FEEL like exercising. However after I've forced myself to do it, I usually FEEL pretty good afterward and always FEEL better about myself. The secret to my losing 50 lbs was doing the things that I didn't FEEL like doing. One of those things was writing down my results. Tracking every single calorie and minute of exercise worked for me because I knew that what I did or didn't do was going to be on the computer the next day and that motivated me . Diets, resolutions, goals and plans for the future don't work for me. Writing down the past on a daily basis does. My goal is to get healthy as evidenced by a change to healthy habits in exercising and food intake. So I keep it simple and force myself to choose healthier foods, eat half as much as I used to and get to the gym 4 days a week. I really believe that successful people do the things that unsuccessful people aren't willing to do whether in exercising or in life.

It is so easy to be lazy and not exercise. You have to find what works for you, but these are some things that have worked for me over the years and I am pretty consistent with exercise anymore.

1) Plan it and do it. If I plan to run in the morning, I get all my stuff ready the night before. If I exercise at lunch, I make sure I have what I need. I try not to ask myself if I "feel like " doing it because I will just talk myself out of it. Telling myself I will exercise "later" never happens. If I don't exercise first thing in the day then I try to plan when I am going to exercise.

2) I agree with the people who recommend a gym and classes. That's another thing that you just plan and do. You can't procrastinate. You will meet people in the class and make friends and that will start to make you accountable. I swim with a group at 5:45am and sometimes what motivates me to get there is hoping to see friends that I don't see anywhere else.

3) Try baby steps. If I really don't feel like doing something, I bargain with myself. I tell myself to just get my workout gear on. Or get to the gym. Once I am at that point, I tell myself I only need to do it for a few minutes and if I feel like stopping I can. Once I start working out and get to those few minutes, I generally can finish the workout. If I am still feeling lousy (which is rare), I stop and congratulate myself for just getting to that point.

4) I download books and listen to them when I work out. When its a really good book, I can't wait to workout so I can find out what happens next.