can't get motivated.

I can't seem to get moving to exercise. I was banded on 4/10 with a weight loss of 31 pounds. Has anyone else put off excersising? I feel like a failure in that department.

I'm sort of in the same boat. Although it's not that I'm particularly unmotivated, I just feel like I'm not doing as much as I should be in the exercise department. I get out for a walk every day, with my two kids (one of whom weighs 18lbs and I wear him in a carrier while we walk), and play around with them as often as possible. I do housework (dishes, laundry, vacuuming, picking up after kids, etc.) every day, and lately I've been getting out to do more yard work (mowing, weed whacking/pulling, etc.) as well. So I suppose those are all good activities, and certainly nothing to sneeze at. But at the end of the day, I'm just wiped out from everything else and feel like I need to have some sort of actual regimen started now.

I have to admit, I cant understand this.

Keeping on track of your food intake, day in, day out, week after week, month after month. That's hard. Getting on the treadmill for 45 minutes at night in front of the telly is not hard. Nor is going out for a run that takes half an hour out of your day. And the more you do it, the less hard it gets.

There's no pussyfooting around this one. Do it. Dont be lazy!

Sorry for the tough love, but its the only answer, you just have to do it. Find something you like, make it as easy as possible on yourself but stop making excuses and get to it.

I waited 6 weeks after my surgery to start exercising and as soon as I did the weight just FELL off. I hated exercising, I was lazy, which was part of the reason why I was fat! Once I saw the results of exercise though, that was motivation enough for me to keep going with it. Now I feel like a junkie without drugs if I don't exercise haha! Try it and see, you may not enjoy the exercise, but you WILL enjoy the weight loss that occurs as a result of it. Give yourself time to start slow and build up as you feel up to it.

I agree, there is no way to do it, other than make yourself. Once you start making a routine of it, it does get easier. And once the weight starts falling off you will be REALLY into it! But starting it SUCKS. I know how you feel. I started out for 15 minutes a day and now I do about 1-1.5 hours, it is worth it. Just get motivated to go one day, take it day by day. That is all it takes, one day makes a difference in your attitude. And the next day, go no matter what. IT does get better. Good luck to you!

It is funny, but I have to play tricks on myself. I hate exercising. I have joined a gym on the way home from work. Because if I go home I will not work out. And I bring my workout clothes to work with me and change before I leave to office. Because if I do not I will talk myself out of it and go home. And, I tell myself I only have to go for five minutes. No matter what I only have to stay for at least five minutes. I get there and start on the tredmill and the next thing I know it I have been there for over an hour. Funny how you have to play games with the innter "fat kid" inside of you. But like the others are say, JUST DO IT!!!

Laura

about once a week i have to "talk" myself in going to exercise but once i'm doing it i love it and afterwards i feel so good! and i feel so proud of what i accomplished! take measurements of different parts of your body and then remeasure in 4 weeks....you'll be amazed at what "falls" off. i lose about 1 lb a week but the amount of inches i lose is amazing and that's enough to keep me going when sometimes i feel my weightloss is less than what i anticipated!

Bottom Line...YOU JUST GOTTA DO IT!

I can really relate to what you are saying. When you are not in shape, exercise doesn't feel that great! I think our bodies are a little sneaky and they complain alot when you first start working out. On top of that our brain tries to tell us that we are too tired, don't want to etc!
You are not a failure! Exercise is just like any new thing. When it is not a habit and you have not yet experienced its rewards- creating a new habit is hard!

The key is just to keep getting back on the horse. Failure would be to say I am never going to exercise, so get off my back- and you are not doing that!

I work as a personal trainer with alot of people in your boat- Heck, I became a trainer because I built your boat! My experience is that if you start to be regularly active at a low intensity at first- you will be more likely to succeed. The regular HABIT is more important than worrying about how hard you are working. That can come later. Still, I think that the first 3 weeks are the hardest. You will feel more tired, not more energetic. After that.... I think it gets easier.


Keep pluggin. You can do it! Think of everything you have already accomplished.

KatW

LauraP - I love how you put it I laughed too hard when I read that.

I can't get motivated either. I atlk myself into it and then just don't do it. I have to get off my Fat lazy butt and just do it as you all say. I know that but knowing and doing are two different things.

I am sure my weight would just drop if I did it.

I am setting a goal for my birthday. so I am going to have to do something different if I want to meet that goal. My goal is to be in onederland by August. That will be my birthday present to me. I have to DO IT.

My son, who works in the health care field, says he sometimes has to talk people into just going to the gym every day. He said sometimes they just go there, change into work out clothes and leave. After a while the habit of going is established. Then he talks them into doing the treadmill for five minutes a day . . . etc.

Habit, sometimes they save you and some times they'll kill you.

Lol I love that!! So true too!

I was banded on 1-31-08 and honestly just REALLY started exercising last week...I HATE to exercise....but after last week its become part of my routine and I just do it....it seems to be getting better everyday!!!

I was unmotivated but now I'm motivated and I have been trying to understand WHY I'm feeling different so I can do more of what works! I suppose everyone is different and what works for 1 person doesn't work for everyone. I guess sometimes - we do need a kick in the butt but I have to say that I don't find it helpful for me to call myself "lazy" or any other name. Picking on myself just makes me feel worse and more ashamed of myself.

So I've been wondering why I drove myself to the gym this AM and enrolled in classes (something I have never done in my life before). I think there are several reasons. First, I lost 41 lbs pre/post op and I feel much better---more energetic--more inspired--more hopeful. Second, because although I'm still in pain (arthritis and degenerative disc disease) I'm not in the kind of pain I was 41lbs ago. I decided to get the band because I am 56 years old and could feel my health breaking down because of my weight. I didn't have energy--and couldn't do many of the things I once loved. I thought about all the dreams I had that weren't going to happen--not because I COULDN'T have more years to make them happen but because I was killing myself and ruining my health by my own behavior. I felt my life and the quality of my life slipping away.

I have been struggling with all of this a lot the last several weeks because I haven't lost weight in the last 4 weeks. I knew I needed to do something or I was going to go back to that slow death. (I work hard. I'm too busy. I don't have the energy etc. --which was all true). But lecturing myself didn't work either. Finally, I had an idea that I thought just might work. ---- For the last 2 weekends --- I drove myself to a place on the ocean where I used to go when I was young. I walked and walked. I stared out to the sea. I felt the wind and listened to the waves as they crashed it. I felt such joy---not only because I was in that beautiful place again -- but becasue I was able to do something that I have not been able to do for YEARS. Becasue I was 41lbs lighter I was actually able to walk through the sand and along the ocean again. I had to give that up a long time ago. I felt like I was claiming my life again and I LOVED every precious second of it.

On my drive back home yesterday -- I thought about all of this. I promised myself that I was going to join a gym --let someone else help me---work hard---and that 1 day a week --I'm going to take the long drive back to the ocean and treat myself to another long walk there. I intend to walk futher and futher as I get stronger and stronger. Then I'm going to treat myself to a fish and cole slaw dinner before I drive home.

On that long walk I also started remembering things-----things that made me gain weight to make me feel safer. So I talked with someone about those memories today. It helped to "lighten" me emotionally and it helped me to be more determined to go to the gym. I'm still not really looking forward to going off to the gym everyday. I'm not looking forward to hurting joints or muscles. I have never liked sweating. I like working hard with my mind--not with my body. But now I KNOW I CAN do it and I have a vision of walking that ocean again in just a few more days. I know now that I can have my dreams and I CAN be safe in the world without killing myself with fat.

Now I don't have a crystal ball so I don't know how this plan of mine will play out---but I have to say that so far -- I seem to be breaking through my tiredness and motivation problem.

I'm saying all of this because I'm thinking that it might help someone else to really think carefullly about what is holding them back (physical pain? depression? fear? etc. What might be the personal little steps that YOU can take to get to the other side. I wish you the very best and I urge to love yourself and your life very very much.

Excellent post, Penny. I, too, am 56. What works for one might not work for another, but every idea is a chance someone might grab it for their own!

Keep on, keepin' on.

WOW..that was a great post. I hope the motivation can for me....even if I had just half of what you had I would be doing awesome ;)