How do you stay motivated?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I’m going to repeat what others have said, because they’re right:

  1. Make sure you’re doing excercise that you enjoy doing – even if you want to lose the weight, you won’t stick with it unless you enjoy doing the excercise. If you’re not having fun, try something else: another sport, a different class, etc.

  2. Get into a routine; make working out one of your habits. If you work out on Tues-Thurs-Sat-Sun, then do that every week. Sure, you can skip a day here or there, but you need to immediately pick the routine back up.

  3. Find somebody to excercise with. If none of your friends will go with you, start talking to people at the gym, or start running where other runners are running. Even if it’s just a casual acquantence, you’ll be more motivated to not skip Sat. because that’s the day you get to chat with Chris, than just because Sat is the day you work out.

22

Pbbth, the best motivator in the world is finding something that you love to do that involves physical activity. In my opinion, exercise should be about having fun. When you are having so much fun, you rarely think about the “exercise” portion of the action. There are so many things out there to try…tennis, running, basketball, cycling, etc.

Try one and see what happens. If you’ve never played tennis, for example, sign up for a clinic or take some classes with a tennis pro. If you decide to run, join a running club and choose some sort of future race as a goal. The positive energy at races is unbelievable. There is so much support and the happy high of all the runners becomes contagious. For anything you want to try, there is a club of people there for the support. The secret is finding something fun that doesn’t feel like work, something that you look forward to doing, something that leaves you feeling good about yourself after you’ve completed the activity. And…when doing something fun like this, you’re bound to meet all kinds of people who share your enthusiasm; this becomes another great motivator.

For me, I personally do not enjoy going to a gym to lift weights just for the sake of getting healthy. It’s boring, I don’t get a lot out of it, and I lose motivation very easily. However, if I’m in the middle of training for a race or preparing for the spring tennis season, I view going to the gym as a way to excel in my chosen sport. The more I am in-shape, the better I will perform in a race or on the courts. I lift or run at the gym for a purpose. Somehow my mindset becomes entirely different. Sometimes I don’t even go to the gym; I just participate in the sport that I love. If you’re already doing something that involves a great deal of exercise, going to the gym is not a necessity.

As you gradually improve in your sport, you will become more and more motivated to eat healthier and lead an overall healthier lifestyle. It will just become natural rather than forced.

“The key is to enjoy the journey. Refusing to feel happy until you reach your destination is the worst possible approach. Waiting to celebrate until the end means missing all the wonderful moments along the way. Get there one step at a time. I realized that every run was a gift.”–John “The Penguin” Bingham (Runner’s World, Jan. 2000)

Good luck to you…

Remember, find something fun!!! :slight_smile:

23

Thanks for the advice guys! I think I will look and see what other classes are available through my local rec center and sign up for something interesting.

24

Depression can really hurt your motivation. You are better off getting angry than getting depressed. Calling her a whore (not out loud) is actually a step in the right direction. Of course the best attitude would be not to lose sleep over that kind of behavior, but I know that is extremely difficult.

If something like that happened to me I would use that as my motivation. I would get really pissed off and then use that anger in my next workout.

I try to remind myself that getting depressed will not get me into shape. If I do get depressed I try to comfort myself with something that has very little side effects. In my case it is reading books or watching movies.

Another thing that helps me get through a depression is by making food perpetration a lot easier for myself. I don’t have the will power to cook the healthy food I need for my workout, so I keep easy to make food available. I also order food a lot more when I’m depressed so that I don’t have to force myself to do it. I know that I will become depressed at some point, so I prepare for it in advance.