Finding Motivation to Get Moving

Q. What do i need to do to get my lazy ass of the seat and exercise. And i don't mean just exercising to lose weight, i want to exercise for life, coz i have tried it and it made me feel good. I am as desperate as can ever be.

A. You have to want what exercise will give you more than you want to stay sitting on that seat. Here are ideas to help you get motivated. Ask yourself these questions:

• What will exercise do for you?
• How will things change?
• Who else will be affected?
• What will be better?
• What will be worse?
• Can you see yourself putting exercise into your life?

Next, get more specific:

• What kind of exercise?
• Sports? Hiking? Swimming? Weights? Aerobics, Pilates, Yoga?

If you could choose anything, money is no object, you have equipment, no obstacles; if you could do any physical activity you want, what would it be?

There are a million things you can do to be active including gardening and housework, so don't think you have to do something sports related. I'm not sports minded at all, yet I love weight lifting (that is, weights I can handle, not crazy stuff).

Is that something you absolutely have no way to achieve or is it something you could do, if you really wanted to? Did you pick something like sky diving or ice climbing? Something dangerous or exciting? What about an African Safari, rock climbing, sky diving? Or something less scary like wild kitten taming? Find what interests you and get busy.

First Decide, Second Plan

You say you want to look better, and know exercise can get you there, so Step Two is deciding how you might achieve that goal.

When I'm consistent, my weight falls off easily, and I can still eat pretty much what I want, but I do tend to start to want healthier things and say no a bit more often, or cut back quantities a bit easier when I'm exercising consistently. I guess they just go hand-in-hand.

Motivation Starts With Taking That First Step

So, start there. Get out a piece of paper and a pen and start writing, what you want, why you want it, etc. Write every single crazy thing and scribble your heart out.

Some people just start by jogging to the end of the street and back, and then around the block, and later they're running marathons. You just get started, and start to clock time or distance or how much weight you're moving or how many stairs your climbing, or whatever and you get interested in trying to accomplish a bit more every week, until after a few months you're back in the groove. so I would start by choosing three times a week for instance when you'll do something for as little as 10 minutes, and then you do it. Just follow through, with only that. Don't try to get yourself to do far more because you know you can.

The point is to do far less than you know you can because you're more interested in achieving the success of doing it when you said you would, not how much time you're putting in. That comes later. For now, it's the making a plan and sticking to the plan that counts.

After you've got the three days a week, 10 minutes consistent, and that can be after only one week, if you really liked it, then start to add a few more minutes, maybe up to 15, and see how that goes for a week or more. Keep adding time, and eventually adding an additional day and keep at it, as long as you are consistent, then you'll find it starts to become something you look forward to and our time limit, but you must quit anyway. That way you are going to be really looking forward to the next time, not dreading it, or thinking up excuses why you don't want to do it.

Give this some thought, and see if it helps get you off the couch. Sharing ideas with others is a proven help for long-term weight loss success!