Ways to motivate myself to hit the gym

[EvangelineVincent]

I work five days a week, second shift and sometimes I’ll even do two shifts in a row. Thankfully my job is not physical labor at all. 
 

I don’t have a lot of free time to workout am only free Saturday and Sunday and during the week I guess I could go in the morning. 
 

I’m only 5’1 so really short and tend to gain weight in my lower half of the body, so I need to get back on the horse and start a workout routine. 
 

I can always START a workout routine, I just can never continue it. How to keep myself motivated ? 

[major_merrick]

I've found it is usually easier to starve than exercise.  I'd start by evaluating your calorie needs vs your calorie intake.  It is tough to exercise away a poor diet.  Also, you metabolism changes when you get older.  I'm in my mid-30's.  I can't scarf down pizza and ice cream the way I could 15 years ago.  Learn to "eat your age" and adapt to change, even though it isn't the most pleasant thing. 

Once you begin to move, you'll need to feed that movement.  So more vegetables and protein, and a lot less starch.  Having a high protein diet will tend to give you a more energetic feeling.  Then you can begin whatever workout you desire. 

For me, I dislike exercise for its own sake.  I don't want to run and go nowhere.  I don't want to lift weights because it bores me.  So instead of exercising, I try to have activities that force me to move to get things done.  Pulling weeds in the garden.  Mowing.  Chopping firewood.  Working on cars.  Pouring concrete, and building things.  Not the most efficient in terms of burning calories and building muscle, but I'm creating progress with my movement and that's a motivating thing.  Plus, it is different every day, and that defeats the boredom of a workout routine. 

[EvangelineVincent]

24 minutes ago, major_merrick said:

I've found it is usually easier to starve than exercise.  I'd start by evaluating your calorie needs vs your calorie intake.  It is tough to exercise away a poor diet.  Also, you metabolism changes when you get older.  I'm in my mid-30's.  I can't scarf down pizza and ice cream the way I could 15 years ago.  Learn to "eat your age" and adapt to change, even though it isn't the most pleasant thing. 

Once you begin to move, you'll need to feed that movement.  So more vegetables and protein, and a lot less starch.  Having a high protein diet will tend to give you a more energetic feeling.  Then you can begin whatever workout you desire. 

For me, I dislike exercise for its own sake.  I don't want to run and go nowhere.  I don't want to lift weights because it bores me.  So instead of exercising, I try to have activities that force me to move to get things done.  Pulling weeds in the garden.  Mowing.  Chopping firewood.  Working on cars.  Pouring concrete, and building things.  Not the most efficient in terms of burning calories and building muscle, but I'm creating progress with my movement and that's a motivating thing.  Plus, it is different every day, and that defeats the boredom of a workout routine. 

Interesting that you say traditional forms of exercising is boring to you, because that’s exactly how I feel about it, especially the running thing. Maybe I can do what you do as well and mow the lawn, clean the house more often, etc.

I do eat healthy I have all my life, but I eat all the time, especially when stressed or anxious. I’ll have to find another outlet for my stress. 
 

 

[major_merrick]

40 minutes ago, EvangelineVincent said:

....but I eat all the time, especially when stressed or anxious. I’ll have to find another outlet for my stress.

Stress eating....I know how that goes!  I think it is a holdover from our distant past where stress usually came in the form of food scarcity.  One thing I've found effective (at least, before pregnancy) was to channel that stress into something physical.  Some sort of martial art, sparring, or a semi-controlled combat situation.  Doing this takes advantage of the fight/flight instinct that goes along with stress.  Some people call it "Fight, Flight, or Freeze" but I think it manifests itself in some people as "Fight, Flight, or Feast." 

Perhaps you and a friend could take a martial arts class?  Then practice together outside of class when you're feeling the need to deal with stress.  My husband and I often did this before we married, and before pregnancy meant that he had to handle me gently.  Since we are of similar size, we were evenly matched and fighting each other was good practice.  We burned calories, and it was always interesting.  Gotta have some ground rules with your partner beforehand, but that's similar to other things in life. 

[Ruby Slippers]

Unless you're doing an activity you really enjoy, like a sport, yard work, or whatever, exercise doesn't always seem fun. But there's an inertia about it - objects at rest tend to stay at rest, and objects in motion tend to stay in motion. At first you just have to make yourself do it. Then you'll start to get kind of addicted to how much better you feel (fitter, stronger, more energetic). 

I've stopped going to the gym during the pandemic, but I enjoy running in my neighborhood and doing weightlifting and body weight exercises at home. I listen to music while I run, which really pumps me up, and it's nice to get some fresh air and see the scenery. I also listen to good music when I work out at home. I'm not always super pumped to do the workouts, but I always feel better once I get it going and when it's done.

It's true that about 80% of weight loss happens in the kitchen and 20% happens with exercise. In general, what you eat determines your size, and workouts determine your shape/tone. I think a mistake women tend to make is overemphasizing cardio. Cardio is important, but toning up with heavy(ish) weights and body weight exercise builds muscle, which burns fat even at rest. My fitness and fat burning always takes a little leap once I incorporate more weight training.

[Interstellar]

knowing the difference between motivation and discipline. motivation is like rocket fuel; it burns real hot and real fast, it’s very macho and is necessary for you to jumpstart any goal you want to achieve in life  but once that fuel is gone what’s left? what’s gonna get you through the dark times? when you don’t have any motivation to workout after a long 8-12 hour shift? that’s when grit comes in, that’s when the passion comes in, you workout because you love how it makes you feel after. when you lift heavy weights especially, you love how it makes you stronger and more capable. repetition becomes habit. habit becomes character.

when I’m tired and didn’t get enough sleep the day before, I suck it up and go to the gym and I simply just do my favorite exercise. in my case, it’s deadlifts or bench press . I do either for 60 minutes. before the workout, I warmup for a really easy pace on a rower for 20 minutes, to help me get ready for the work ahead. that’s one of my “secrets”, if you can call it that. those 10-20 mins. of easy warmup I do burns me at least 100 calories. I do that 7 days a week, before and after so that’s 1400 calories a week extra that I burn from practically doing nothing. multiply that in one year and you see how that number adds up? It’s amazing. 

Edited December 9, 2020 by Interstellar

[Wiseman2]

You don't have to go to a gym to be fit.

Make sure you have a healthy eating plan, and are active every single day. Get away from the screens, desk and the sofa often.

You can do socially distanced sports (tennis, golf, horseback riding, etc.) Or walk, jog with or without friends.

You can also do strength training at home with some innovation and/or equipment. Sports (with friends counting on you) may be your best bet if you want motivation.

[Andy_K]

Most people can't handle dramatic changes to their routine. That's why diets always fail, exercise plans always fall by the wayside, and so on. You try too much at once, and for 95% of people, you'll just bounce right back when the initial burst of enthusiasm fails you. 

Start smaller, but with discipline. How about going to the gym once a week. That's easy enough, right? But make sure you do it EVERY week. If you normally go on a Saturday and miss it, do Sunday instead of skipping a week. Get yourself used to committing to something. To the sort of change it wouldn't be hard to accommodate permanently. If you can keep that up for three months, congratulations! It is now more or less a part of your routine. So time to dial things up a notch. Add an extra session. Make a small change to your diet. Whatever you feel you need to do to take the next step. If you keep taking small steps, you'll get to where you want to be.