Olives, you inspire me. You always pop into these threads that are often so laden with accusations, defensiveness, and judgment (although this particular thread isn’t so bad), and respond with such a refreshing earnestness.
Wow, thanks.
That’s really where the rubber hits the road - what does it take to get your butt off the couch and out the door? For me, as I said earlier in the thread, it’s just become a habit that I do like flossing my teeth. I’m overweight and I love food, so that’s also a motivator for me - to not become 500 pounds! Maybe you could look at what you’re telling yourself that keeps you from exercising regularly, and figure out ways to negate that thinking.
I can relate, I don’t spend 11.5 hours a day at work, but with commute and work I am out of the house 9.5 hours a day and I don’t consider exercise to be decompressing after working all day. I am trying to work it into my lunch hour, going for a 45 minute walk and taking a quick shower at the office (my office has a shower luckily). I was walking on my lunch hour in spring, but once the weather got hot I didn’t want to have to deal with being sweaty the rest of the day.
Willpower is like a muscle, if you get yourself to do things that are good for yourself that you aren’t motivated to do, it is easier to do other things that are good for you. So that is a motivator for me too, getting myself to do healthy things I’m not too motivated to do will give me more willpower for other areas of my life.
On the subject of exercise, the best exercise for health is high intensity interval exercise. You work out at near full capacity for 30 seconds (HR at 90% of max), then work out at a more aerobic pace (HR 70% of max) for 60 seconds. Do about 8 cycles of those and it takes 15 minutes.
You need a warm up and cool down period, and you need to be somewhat fit before you start doing that. But I am pretty sure 3 sessions a week of high intensity exercise is as good or better than 200 minutes a week of regular aerobics.
Motivation is hard to maintain for that kind of exercise though unless you have really strong motivators (ie are on the brink of heart disease or diabetes unless you turn things around).
Do you know anyone that is not overweight that could benefit from exercise? Like, that would be better off now and not so “far gone” if they would have exercised more?
All of the underweight people in my family have bad cholesterol and blood pressure numbers, and heart problems. I exercise because I don’t want that to be my fate. My brother and my SIL aren’t overweight but both are about to have joint surgeries that may have been staved off by stronger muscles and bones, or regular movement.
I have a friend who’s quite underweight, and dealing with depression and anxiety and cigarette addiction (I’m an ex-smoker, myself). She’s in to running and biking, and knows she would do better with all of those things if she would just get moving. I know I could be exactly where she is if I didn’t keep going.
My mom’s only 61 and is sort of a weakling. I don’t want to end up weak. I want to be one of those badass strong old ladies when I’m 61.
Looking at real life examples of what life without exercise is like - and without a question of weight - is pretty motivating for me to exercise. Of course I’m the fattest person I know and the only one regularly exercising but…still, it’s not just because I want to lose weight. In fact I was doing it regular-like for a year and a half and didn’t lose anything. But I kept going, because of all the stuff mentioned above.
You need to know more sad people 
Hell, Stick in ear buds and dance like a drunken teenager around your lounge room.
After losing a lot of weight via increasing activity and lowering food a tad my mantra has become “resist stillness”. Why sit down to do something if you can stand up and move about a bit? On the phone at work? Stand up. Watching TV? Stand up. On the train/bus? Stand up (great for your balance). It makes a difference.
Or get a jump rope. They’re like 10 bucks at Dick’s Sporting Goods and jumping rope is crazy good exercise. The toddler can do it with you.
Been back on my patented “Yeti Slash and Burn” Program:
Slash my calorie intake by 500 calories per day = 3500 calories slashed
Burn 600 calories in 35 minutes on my elliptical, 6x a week = 3600 calories burned
which on average (in a perfect world), should decrease my weight 2 pounds every week. In other words, the video told me something I already knew and it had worked in the past as well.
Now, if my arthritic knees hold up…I’m golden.
I thought ellipticals were one of the better exercises for people with bad knees.
Oh, ellipticals are great for bad knees…it’s just that my knees (esp. my left) are that bad. I actually prefer working out on an elliptical over walking because my knee clicks every time I take a step…had knee surgery when I was 13, and arthritis became an issue for me by the time I was 25…about half a lifetime ago.