What gets you motivated to exercise?

[jshots]

I'm horrible at self motivation. About the only thing I can motivate myself to do go play golf.

I'm 22 years old and pretty average as far as fitness goes (I was starting to get into the overweight category), this summer I tried P90X. I did fantastically for the first month, didn't miss a single day. The second month I did OK, I did about 4 days a week rather than 6-7. The first week of the third month I wasn't able to do it for 3 days due to travel and I never got back on it and now its been almost a month. Over the first 2 months I lost 20 lbs, got wayy more flexible, started gaining some muscle tone, and just felt better overall. I just can't motivate myself to workout for an hour or more in a small room while I stare at a TV.

What motivates you?

[Motown88]

The military...They force me to be in shape.  You should join, you'll be in shape to say the least!!!!!

[fireman1153]

Originally Posted by Motown88

The military...They force me to be in shape.  You should join, you'll be in shape to say the least!!!!!

+1  Just got done with my PT test myself.  66 push ups in 1 minute, 58 sit ups in 1 minute, and ran 1.5 miles in 11:55!  Not great, but decent shape. lol.

[LuciusWooding]

I never exercise except for golf or when I'm with my friends. I play tennis and practice martial arts with a group of 3-4, and it works wonders. If you don't have partners to exercise with, regardless of how you exercise, you'll get bored. Running, cycling, or jogging is really hard to start doing habitually and really boring.

Also, never use a cart again when golfing. Walking 4+ miles with a heavy bag, especially through terrain, is a decent workout even without the swinging and occasional throwing of clubs. If you do nothing else, golf once a week plus a marginally better diet will make you get into reasonably good shape and maintain it.

2 rules:

-Don't stop for more than 3 days. Do something twice or more a week or you'll regret it. It might make you really fatigued and sore during the day, but keep going. You'll feel worse the morning after or the next after a workout, but don't wait until you recover. It's a lot harder to restart a routine than to keep momentum. Every time we get bad weather or weird sleep schedules in my group, it messes everything up, crack the whip with your friends to keep the ball rolling.

Also, you'll hurt the next day no matter what. You might as well do 2-4 hours of exercise rather than 1, I've even forced my friends to keep going and do a second activity because I know I won't get them to work out until a few days later. It's harder to go home early and go out again in a few days than it is to keep going once you're already there. The soreness and aching limbs will be normal and less bothersome if you never recover fully; recovering means you're losing progress unless you're legitimately injured.

-Diet is infinitely more important than workout. I'm skinny no matter what, but my friends are mostly putting on weight because they eat terribly. Unless you train so intensely you burn 4000 calories a day, either from training hard 6 hours a day or having a very physical job, eat better. You'll make yourself more hungry if you train a little, but probably eat the same junk. Salt, simple carbs, fat, and most importantly what you drink will make you fat or hold weight. You can eat what you like during meals within reason, but the battle to maintain weight is lost in the fridge during snack time. You'll burn off a nice juicy steak or burger, maybe even dessert. But convenience foods will kill your diet. That means fast food, but also the stuff in your fridge and pantry that you eat between meals.

...

Learn to cook, buy less junk food, and keep healthy snacks available. If you have a fresh salad, fruit, yogurt, granola, and cheesecake in your fridge, your willpower and common sense might be enough to eat the first few options. If you have to go to the store or cook something to have a healthy snack, that cheesecake, ramen noodles, chips, etc. will win every time. Yet you'll seldom bother to go out to the store to buy a bag of chips at 2AM. Funny how that works.

[Mattplusness]

An expensive multivitamin, a BCAA sports drink, and creatine ethyl ester.

All the motivation I need.

[jshots]

Quote:

Learn to cook, buy less junk food, and keep healthy snacks available. If you have a fresh salad, fruit, yogurt, granola, and cheesecake in your fridge, your willpower and common sense might be enough to eat the first few options. If you have to go to the store or cook something to have a healthy snack, that cheesecake, ramen noodles, chips, etc. will win every time. Yet you'll seldom bother to go out to the store to buy a bag of chips at 2AM. Funny how that works.

This is what I'm also really bad at. I'm currently living with my parents, and they keep the house well stocked with foods. I've learned to eat less from the 2 months of p90x I did (I don't stuff my face all day long), and most of the food my parents have around is decent, and I am able to avoid the junk food. I think living at home this summer with my parents has been a huge part of my weight loss just because I don't eat so much shit.

The real problem is when I'm at school for the large majority of the year. I'm terrible at cooking, or rather I don't know how to cook much, and so usually I go out to get food. I typically go to the places that are quick but not fast food, like burritos, a sub shop, pizza. Occasionally I would even end up eating fast food, usually after drinking (another weight gaining habit).

[LuciusWooding]

Originally Posted by jshots

Quote:

This is what I'm also really bad at. I'm currently living with my parents, and they keep the house well stocked with foods. I've learned to eat less from the 2 months of p90x I did (I don't stuff my face all day long), and most of the food my parents have around is decent, and I am able to avoid the junk food. I think living at home this summer with my parents has been a huge part of my weight loss just because I don't eat so much shit.

The real problem is when I'm at school for the large majority of the year. I'm terrible at cooking, or rather I don't know how to cook much, and so usually I go out to get food. I typically go to the places that are quick but not fast food, like burritos, a sub shop, pizza. Occasionally I would even end up eating fast food, usually after drinking (another weight gaining habit).

Yeah, definitely cut the booze, don't drink a whole lot at once and don't drink large (4+ servings) amounts more than 2-3 times a month. And I love beer, but I enjoy it in moderation.

Drinks, alcoholic or otherwise, are a huge part of your diet. Drinking 2 cans of soda, or like 1/3 of a fast food cup is like a damn cheeseburger a day. Soda and other sugary drinks will kill you since they don't fill you up and have no nutrition. Plus they're so easy to grab instead of milk, fruit juice, unsweetened tea or water. Diet drinks are just as bad. Stick to a cup of coffee as your only sugary drink per day most of the time, and you're fine.

My buddy had the opposite problem as you; he had healthy snacks like granola bars and trail mix at college, a meal plan with decent food, and played intramural sports. He comes home in the summer each year, and gains 15 pounds in like 3 weeks. His parents are Filipino, and they have a bit of an unhealthy culture food wise. Lots of carbs, lots of red meat, not a whole lot of veggies, and seldom skip dessert. Plus as the firstborn son he's nourished thoroughly. He's stocky in build, so unless he works like a horse to burn it off, carbs stick to him like glue. So the white rice isn't doing him much good, nor the fatty red meat every meal.

Learn to cook fajitas or burritos. Cut some veggies like peppers and onions and pan fry them with a cover and a little oil, saute some chicken breasts in a couple tsp of oil, and add some rice and maybe beans, cheese, sour cream or plain yogurt, toss them in a tortilla with the gnarliest hot sauce you can handle. If you can master this simple recipe, which is pretty cheap and doesn't require a lot of ingredients, you'll be better off. Plus there should be leftovers, leaving you with a convenient and filling food later. The most unhealthy thing in the recipe is probably the cheese which isn't bad at all, and it has a lot of protein and nutrients but low fat. 15 minutes, easy. Imagine what you can make with a bit more work; really tasty salads, a roast chicken dinner with vegetables, pork tenderloins on the grill, fish, etc.

Protip: Cooking ability will not only make you have an easier time losing weight, it will get you laid . No joke, think of how many single guys can cook remotely well, even including grilling. Plus you'll be all buff with your good diet, and you can invite her over (while you cook dinner, it's essential that she see/smell the cooking and not just show up when it's ready) or even cook at her place. Chicks dig a talented man, it will put you in great position as a charming host, and a lot cheaper than taking her out to eat as well as allowing you to remain a few short steps from the bedroom.

How's that for motivation?

[jshots]

Originally Posted by LuciusWooding

Protip: Cooking ability will not only make you have an easier time losing weight, it will get you laid. No joke, think of how many single guys can cook remotely well, even including grilling. Plus you'll be all buff with your good diet, and you can invite her over (while you cook dinner, it's essential that she see/smell the cooking and not just show up when it's ready) or even cook at her place. Chicks dig a talented man, it will put you in great position as a charming host, and a lot cheaper than taking her out to eat as well as allowing you to remain a few short steps from the bedroom.

How's that for motivation?

That is one of my biggest motivations for anything! haha

[GaijinGolfer]

I just look at some of my coworkers in their early 40s who are fat, out of shape and can barely get around because all they want to do is sit around watching TV and drinking beer.  Thats all the motivation that I need.

[saevel25]

I believe cooking is key, we have such a disconnect from our food that we lost sight of what we should be eating. Imagine if you were in your kitchen, and you pull out a list of chemicals and dump them into your food before you eat them. That is just nuts, but that is what you are doing when you eat processed foods.

[darkhunter139]

I am the same age and have the same problem! I keep telling myself I am going to start eating better and working out more and just never do. I think I just need to man up and start forcing myself to go to the gym and figure out some kind of healthy diet.  I don't feel like spending the time researching what I should and shouldn't eat  which is half the battle.  Any good sites out there that I can figure out a good diet on? I don't really need to lose weight just want to eat healthier.

[lumpuckeroo]

To exercise, nothing, absolutely nothing.  I have things that motivate me, just not to exercise.  If anything, I like to use golf as my exercise, walk 18 in the morning and then spend an hour in the pool, that's about the extent of my exercise.

[RonTheSavage]

I just look at people around me my age fat and out of shape. I also watch food documentaries (strange I know) but it's good information about all the BS thats in our food.

[saevel25]

I love the one were this woman carries around a 5 year old order of Mcdonald's fries and there is no mold on it at all. That is just SCARY!!!

Its insane what we eat and people wonder why were all getting Cancer, diseases, heart disease, ect..

[RonTheSavage]

Originally Posted by saevel25

I love the one were this woman carries around a 5 year old order of Mcdonald's fries and there is no mold on it at all. That is just SCARY!!!

Its insane what we eat and people wonder why were all getting Cancer, diseases, heart disease, ect..

Exactly!

[TourSpoon]

To have motivation I really need a goal. I have found that with a goal I have something to work towards, without a goal, the task becomes less important. The more specific a goal, the better.

[saevel25]

That can be true, but also a to specific goal and you miss opportunities to adjust to a given situation that would enhance what your doing

[LuciusWooding]

For me, meeting goals is easy. The only thing is, I hate setting things up so that all I have to do is buckle down and tackle something. That's 90% of the work for me. Running 5 miles on a treadmill is easy, but getting up and going to the gym and starting to run is where the battle is won and lost.

Same deal with dieting, though I don't need to diet. You need to pull out all/most of your junk food and go shopping and do some prep and cooking once a week. Eating the healthy food isn't a problem, it's not physically painful. Even a bit of cooking on a daily basis can be no big deal, you can often make a few things in advance for days you're too lazy to cook.

The motivation is all about starting to exercise. To keep going once you start takes less effort than quitting when it comes to the actual workout. Don't think about the exercise and try to steel yourself to run 3 miles; motivate yourself to get up and drive to the gym.