If exercise never used to be an integral part of your life, but now is....what changed?

[Twerking9to5]

Sorry for slightly clunky thread title.

I grew up in a household where exercise really wasn't part of life. It was something you did an hour a week at school and when you needed to lose a bit of weight. I really, really want to try changing my mindset as I want exercise to be a non negotiable part of my life.

I want to be fit, strong and healthy but scared of just giving up after a few weeks like always

So....if you used to be like this but now are a regular happy exerciser, what changed? How did you do it? Did you find something you loved? Did you just force yourself until it became habit?!

I have only just started to get into regulary running, pumping (gym class) & swimming, so maybe I am not qualified to comment but what has helped me:

1. Realising that only I can prioristise my health - no-one will do it for me.

2. Planning ahead - the gym classes need to be booked ahead etc. Or if I was to go for an early swim then getting my kit out will help. I generally know the times of the classes/swimming opening times and sometimes I go at 6am or 9pm.

3. Being realistic that some activity each week is better than nothing - if I manage between 2 - 4 sessions I have done well.

4)Not being perfectionist about what I do. If I only have 20 mins, the some of a DVD or a quick run is better than nothing.

5. Getting DH onboard so he is about to have the kids if it isn't during the working day - I work for myself.

6. Doing it with a friend if I can. I joined a gym with a friend.

7. Having the right equipment. I am overweight, so have bought a couple of sets of oversize black tshirt and leggings and a legged costume, so I feel as comfortable as I can be.

With a 5mo be kind to yourself..your body is still recovering etc.

Those of you who cycle or run to work, how do you manage the sweating/shower issues/carrying work clothes(suits?) while running-cycling?

Another here who grew up in a household where no-one did any organised exercise. I did learn to swim as a child so have done that on and off for years but when the kids were tiny didn't do anything for years. I read something on the BBC website all about female exercise and some celebrity said she never does any exercise and thinks 'well, I wish i hadn't bothered to do that'. It sounds spectacularly pathetic but it has helped motivate me, I no longer think 'I can't be bothered to go for a swim' because I know I'll feel great at the end. I now swim 3 times a week before work which I love, I come out of the swimming pool at 8am and feel so virtuous and can justify a piece of homemade cake at 10am . I have a swim card so the more I swim the cheaper each swim becomes which appeals to the scrooge in me. I also do a yoga class once a week which is a real stress buster for me, I often have stressful meetings on that day and come home, go to my class and by the end feel completely zoned out in a positive way. Bliss.

Finding the right exercise is really important, I swam for a while with a friend but she wasn't keen, we then did zumba together for a bit but I didn't like that, she teases me because I don't like exercise that makes me sweaty (whereas I feel clean and glowing after swimming). TBH I really like exercise that gets me into a zen state which swimming and yoga do but zumba did not.

These days I also feel motivated to exercise to set a good example to the kids since I didn't grow up with good exercise role models. DD1 (8) already very much identifies herself as someone who does a lot of exercise; she swims very well, does football and gymnastics classes, she's on the cross country running team at school and goes to a fantastic sports club every holidays where she can try out lots of different sports. I hope by building it into her life this early it will become a habit she can't give up.

CMOT, you may have hit on a plan of genius there; I should bring the 8yo on Parkrun and then I have to go super slowly because of her.
Not because I start to wheeze at anything faster than a trot, oh no.

Well I'm currently sat on the sofa feeling like a beached whale and I have only been on one run in the past month die to illness so I'm not sure I can comment but, for me, it is all to do with the DC. I want to be fit & healthy so I am here for them, can chase them etc but also to provide a positive role model for DD. She's 6 and I try not to talk about fat & thin but about strong, healthy etc. I think that (like me) she has a sweet tooth and some of the effects of that are mitigated if you exercise on a regular basis. I have also realised it is good for my mental health & think it will be for the DC too.

Nodowntime - I cycle to work. I wear trousers with good trouser clips and only cycle slowly, so no need to change when I get there. It's only about a mile though!

I play tennis. I love it, I would play more often than than the 3 times a week I do already. It really helps if you can find something you love.

I also run at lunchtime. I hate it mostly, but enjoy the chat. I wouldn't do it if my friend at work didn't drag me along.

If you can afford it a personal trainer coming to your house will make you exercise. Again this s is a love/hate one for me, but very good for me.

So in summary you either have to find something you really love, find a friend to make you do it or pay someone to make you do it!

I was completely sedentary for 38 years (until last year, basically - unless dancing all night while grossly inebriated in my youth counts? ).

I joined the gym in January 2015, like i had done many other new years. Only this time I decided I was going to stick to 3-4 times a week not to be slimmer or look better or whatever, but simply for my mental health. I'd had a shit year and something needed to change. From Jan-Mar I just did a 15 minute fast walk on the running machine, then some simple exercises on the mats in a little 30 minute routine that I cobbled together from the internet (and that didn't look too hard). I also got some really good playlists on my phone and some headphones so i could drown out the shit gym music and other people (who i was convinced were looking at me huffing and puffing and looking like a red faced mess).

In March I discovered weights and tentative began to weight train. I found 'my thing'. I love it. Slacked off a bit in the winter, but am back on it next week with a vengeance. It makes me feel strong and really mentally strong... and just good about myself.

You need to find your 'thing'. I fucking hat classes, which some people love, and get bored if I work out for more than 45 minutes, so weights suits me perfectly, but your 'thing' may be running, swimming, team sports, martial arts, dance, rambling etc...

Oh, and I discovered as well as needing to find your 'thing', you need to find your TIME. I have to work out first thing in the morning, or I make a million excuses not to.

Went to a circuits class in July 2014 as my friend wanted someone to ogle the instructor with.
I was that non exercise I had on a pair of converse for the first class.
Loved it, hooked.
Now I train 5x a week.
Circuits 3x a week, metafit 1x a week & gym or a run 1x a week.

Watching fat disappear & muscle build is bloody ace

Wish I got into fitness years ago but saying that don't think I would ever have taken to it pre kid but I love my hours here & there where I switch off.

Made a load of new friends as well.

Loving that I've found an addiction that's actually good for me.

Mental & physical health just keeps improving !

If you plan to do some 'organised' sport or classes, it helps to put them down in the diary. I'm ususally ok during term times when the day is 'mine', but once the holidays begin, I tend to write down in my diary when I'm out at the gym. Then, I can't get de-railed by a DC asking to be taxied somewhere!

dh started running, and I felt more and more fat and unfit.

So I downloaded an app on my phone with couch to 5km. I started doing it, and gradually worked through it until I got to run 2km non stop. I was blown away by the feeling of success and kept going. It meant running 2-3 times per week.
Then I got to 5km, and dh does parkrun every Saturday, which is 5km. So one Saturday I joined him, and did the 5km race.

It took such a lot of effort to get there that I had to keep going. Now I run 2-3 times per week, one of which is the Saturday parkrun. The feeling I get from running is great, it gives my mind a chance to freewheel, and de-stress.

The things that made me change were finding a slot in the week which worked. dh runs at lunchtime, but I run first thing in the morning, after school drop off. If I miss my time slot it doesn't happen.

For me, exercise also has to fit in with hair washing. Which sounds stupid, but I hate it when I have clean hair, then exercise, then have to wash and style hair again. So I never exercise 2 days running!

and I run because it is cheap and I can do it at a time I want, not a class time.

and I bought shoes and clothes so I feel comfortable.

Nodowntime we have lockers at work so I keep clothes at work and one day a week I don't cycle in so bring fresh clothes in. Tend to take ones that need washing in my backpack home throughout the week.

We have showers at work so basically I get up in the morning brush my teeth and just chuck on my cycling gear and helmet and ride to work and shower at work - so the time I would of spent showering at home is then just spent at work. When I ride home I then shower so ergo when I wake up in the morning I still feel fresh enough to just chuck on cycling gear.

I also keep in my locker at work a make-up kit, my own shampoo and conditioner, shower gel and towels. Work has a hairdryer and straightener so that really helps. Also keep shoes in my locker too.

Fof OP I just decided to change my mindset in terms of how I want to live and decided that in my version of attaining to a 'high standard of living' it means making sure I do not have more than two days away from the gym or any form of rigorous exercise (unless on holiday). I find if I don't go to the gym for more than two days its too easy not to continue to not go and days then turn into weeks and months of non-attendance. So by choosing to say this is the life I will lead, it makes me feel more motivated to stick with it, plus I don't feel like I have a good stint of going every day for a week and feel my fitness improving followed by 2 weeks of not going and finding my fitness is almost back to square 1 again.

So many great tips, thank you. I do like swimming for the same reason as a pp said (sorry, on phone and now I'm typing can't scroll back to find out who!). I find I switch off and get into the zone. I've seen my local leisure centre is doing a deal on 6 week swim memberships so I think I'll do that to kick start.

I definitely agree about finding the right time. By the time I've got the kids to bed and DH is home, I just want to eat and go to bed . Thinking the days I go swimming I could eat with my toddler and then be ready to go as soon as DH is back.

Very keen to try weights as I want to feel strong. Looking at possibility of personal training, maybe with a friend to lower costs a bit.

nodowntime I carry all my clothes etc in panniers. We have showers, shampoo, towels and a hair dryer provided by work so I do all my getting ready there and stagger out of the house in my cycle gear. When I was marathon training I ran home a couple of nights and would leave my clothes there and then take back the next day.
OP don't be too hard on yourself, your kids are still really small and it is so hard when you're sleep deprived and knackered. If personal training is too expensive there are boot camps here ran by trainers, so smaller groups, which may be a possibility? Good luck!

I like the idea of running/ cycling to work. In theory the 6 miles is a viable distance, and there's a decent bus route in the vicinity. The reality is that it just wouldn't work around the nursery/ school drop offs :(

I'm hoping that the return of lighter mornings in the not so distant future will help me get up earlier for runs/ work outs. Waking up in what feels like the middle of the night is currently quashing my motivation. I managed last summer.

Keeping a record means I can look back and recognise patterns of my lulls, and accepting that my enthusiasm ebbs and flows helps me restore my motivation long term. My records also mean that every little workout adds up.

OP - I didn't get into exercise until kids were older. It really was hard when they were pre-school.

Exercise was very much part of my social circle's lives throughout my 20s in London, everyone went to the gym, and then started doing charity 5 & 10ks, so it was a bit of peer pressure. Then had my first child, and for the first time in my life (lucky, I know), I was overweight. I did some Davina DVDs, started a bit of running, but the best thing was seeing a PT. initially, I saw him once a month, but knowing I was seeing him kept me doing stuff in the meantime. My youngest is now 8, and I've been exercising regularly for a long time. The best way for me is definitely having a PTnin my diary. I currently see my PT fortnightly, and he beasts me. If I do nothing in between, I feel like crying when I see him it's so hard.

Over the long term, it's definitely been about investing in my own body and health. I find all the current weights and HIIT stuff really interesting too, and much more me than running. I rarely run at all now, and generally work out at home (using a combination of stuff I do with my PT, Fitness Blender, or occasionally a DVD). DH bought me a kettle bell for Xmas .

Up to a couple of years ago, I thought that you found an exercise routine that suited you - in my case swimming and brisk walks - and did just that for ever more.

What changed? Well, in short, I was inspired by Mumsnet's own Intermittent Fasting and exercise guru!

2 years ago I could not do a single press up - never thought about doing one. But, after reading online about how well IF and weight-bearing exercises go together, I thought I'd have a go.

Thanks to the encouragement and support I received on that thread, I now do 100 p-ups every other day, and swing a 9kg kettle bell around - shortly graduating to a 12kg kb - on alternate days.

I can't run and I'm not fond of gyms, so these home-based exercises (and others) are just right for me. For the first time in my life, I've put on muscle - and I've never been so fit!

I have been very inconsistent in exercising throughout my life. Was sporty at school, did nothing at 6th form, and then rowed at University which was a massive commitment (and once you'd committed to a crew, that was it for the next 8 wks- no swaps back!). In my twenties I went through short lived phases of gyming and running (would train for a race, do race, stop running). Had a couple of good PTs over the next few years and got back into it and got good results, then had kids so it didn't really happen for a few years. When DD was a year old I started trail running and then took up Crossfit and have been consistent for 2.5 years now. What's the difference? Tbh, a combination of things- more time, fewer hangovers and, critically, a sense of community in trail running and at my "box" which makes it harder to fall off the wagon- i used to go to chain gyms which were so impersonal, but now I know all the staff and most of the clients. I also think the popularisation of heavy lifting for women has made it more accessible and easier to get into and stick at. Also, I'm reasonably competitive at trail running (can pick up a few podiums in the veterans) and we all like doing things we're good at.

What changed it for me was fear.

I wasn't feeling in the best of health, and in recent years a relative of mine died of cancer, so it sprung me into action.

I have to say I can't imagine life without exercise now. Not many things beat the feeling of being fit.

Thanks OP and everyone who has contributed to this thread. It inspired me to get back into pilates again as I have a chronic back condition. Went to a place that also does physiotherapy and I've now had 3 appointments with them. Woke up this morning and about 90% of the pain in my back has gone! Feel so much more energised and ready to get back into fitness again. Am always a bit wary of exercise as it often makes my back worse but am feeling a bit more hopeful now. Am doing my daily stretches, lying on the floor watching TV which is helping too. So a big thanks to all!

Joined a running club to train for a 10k. After a few years I got a marathon place. After training for the marathon which meant running 5-6 days a week, I never stopped a regime of regular training.
However I have since become addicted to triathlon ...
For me belonging to a club and having loads of friends with the same healthy positive and energetic mindset has been great as my training is also my social life. There is not really time for training and a totally separate social life!

I started running - I liked it because it felt good but also because I didn't feel I was being compared to other people - I could see the progress I was making and that was very motivating, I want to be around for my kids so I did it to improve my health - Have been a regular exerciser now for nearly 10 years. Dh has a personal trainer otherwise he'd struggle to find the motivation.