I need to get in shape. I have been trying for some time to make time for exercise (cardio and weights) and have come to terms with the fact that I need to be getting up early to do it without sacrificing my time with my child or hubby.
The past two mornings I haven’t been able to (Tuesday because I was plain tired, this morning was because of a wonderful morning migraine).
I may need someone to come over and physically kick my ass from my bed.
Instead of moving your rising time by two hours, it might be better to ease into it. For instance, if you currently get up at 7, get up at 6:30 for a week, then get up at 6:00 for a week, etc.
Then – go to bed when you get tired, which will probably be half an hour earlier than you’re used to.
I usually get up at 6, so it shouldn’t be that bad, right?
:hopeful smile)
Seems doable. When I got a new job last spring and had to start getting up at 6, after many, many years of getting up at 7:30, I got up at 6:45 for about a week and a half as an interim measure – it really did help, since I am totally not a morning person. So maybe go for 5:30 for a while – but absolutely no BS get up at 5:30, instead of having the alarm go off at 5:00 and you see if you feel like it or not. Because “not” is going to win most of the time.
Put your alarm clock somewhere you can’t reach from the bed. When it goes off you’ll have to get out of bed to turn it off. The key is not climbing back into bed 
The first week is the worst. Just consider that every succeeding day is easier than the previous.
I would also recommend that even if you’re only working out 3x per week, get up at 5 on the off days as well to keep the rhythm.
Good luck.
Honestly, the only thing you can do is get up out of bed, you goddamn (insert epithet here)!!!
Once you’re up, and once you start moving around (especially once you start exercising), the endorphins will kick in and you won’t even notice what time it is.
The key is just to get over that initial lethargy, which some self-negative-reinforcement and one big push out of bed should accomplish.
I’ve been getting up at 4:30 since I was 18 (making that 15 years now), and you do get used to it.
I gotta agree with Pup, just get up. At that moment when you can make the choice, choose to get up.
The other problem is that I want to (as much as possible) allow my husband to sleep, so a super loud alarm is not an option.
Sigh. I can do it. I know I can. Tomorrow morning, 5:00 I am up and out the door.
Involve another human being -
getting up early is hard. But it may be easier to do if you know you’re meeting “Pat” to go running at 5:10 - and you can’t just leave Pat waiting.
Other than that, is there any way you could do the cardio with your kid? Go walking or running together (or run while the kid bikes along side?), play a sport, do something active as a family?
I was just going to suggest the buddy. Do you know anyone who already has a morning excersise routine? See if you can start joining them.
You’re looking at the wrong person here. I cannot get up in the morning, for the life of me. The snooze button on my last alarm (this is true) wore out from being mashed six, seven times a day. You could dangle Denise Richards from my bedroom ceiling, clutching a bacon roll in each hand, and I still wouldn’t climb out of pit until the absolute last minute. And I KNOW that if I just got up 15 minutes earlier, my morning would be much easier and less stressed, but I simply can’t do it.
And the most infuriating thing is that while I may be really tired at around 9pm, I am wide awake by 11pm and then cannot sleep before 1am at all.
Working crappy hours doesn’t help. I don’t have to leave the house until 8.20am, which is good, but I’m often not home till 11 or even midnight. Thank Og it’s only 4 days per week.
This will be great in the summer, but not so much in the winter - it’s not necessarily great to have her strapped into a joggin stroller when it’s cold. I may be okay while running, she’ll get cold just sitting.
No one else lives near me.
Me too Poyson. I usually have to get up at 6 am, but I just can’t seem to make the hyper jump to 5am. I need to get my butt in gear this year. I know it’s cliche, but this is IT, NY resolution (I normally never make them, but I’m making an exception for this year). I gained a lot of weight over the last three years, since my breakup with my boyfriend (funny, don’t women usually lose weight during that time? I was the opposite, gym rat when we were together…Pffft I don’t give a @#$ when we broke up).
Maybe we could do an internet version of “kicking each other’s asses”? I was the most successful at my gym rattiness when I belonged to an online weight loss/workout group.
I have YIM if you think it might work.
I was about to suggest standing by your bed with an airhorn, but that might wake your husband.
The only (halfway serious, because the doctors say I have to be occasionally) suggestion I can give you is to think “Tomorrow, I am getting up at five o’clock” and repeat it to yourself until you fall asleep. You’ll will your body into the rhythm, as it were…
CanvasShoes - I am totally willing to give it a try. I made it this morning, but it was pretty harsh. I am coming down with a cold and was snorting and coughing the whole way (which was more of a walk in the end, just felt like poop).
But I got up.
YAY ME!
I don’t have YIM, I have MSN, but would consider using YIM.
Yay, virtual workout buddy!
I went ahead and bought a stationary bike and I’ve been using it regularly. I’ve already seen improvement after just a couple of weeks and I don’t have to leave the house - plus I can exercise rain or shine, day or night - and I have no excuse not to. 
Would that be an option? It set me back about $85.
Congrats on your current streak of one day in a row!
I agree with those who say it is all up to you. If you allow yourself to think of it as optional, then you will predictably slip back into whatever you consider easiest/most comfortable.
I know I’m a lazy fuck, which is why I never allow myself to use snooze. I hate waking up, so if I set my alarm, it is for a good reason. And when it goes off, I’m out of bed. Hell, I feel like crap and hate waking up at 6. If I set the alarm for 5, I still hate it and feel like crap - no more, no less.
The toughest thing is getting vertical. Once you hit the head, splash some water on your face, and move around a bit it is no different. So long as you don’t keep thinking “I could still be in bed.” For me, the feeling of accomplishment after having worked out far surpasses the minutes of pleasure from hitting the snooze.
It is all up to you. Just don’t think of it as a choice in the morning. You made that choice last night when you set the alarm.