how do you motivate yourself to work out?

[mumofone2818]

I used to go to the gym 5 times a week & attend a pole fitness class once a week and was in really good shape (partly the reason i didnt know about DD untill I was 5 months pregnant as no bump!).

DD is now nearly 2 and I just cant get myself motivated to exercise anymore :( I loved it before as it made me feel great and was good for my mental health aswell, i am a SAHM and cannot attend a gym as noone to watch DD. I do walk most places with her but thats it, i've bought weights and a bench and fitness cards you name it for in the house.

My problem is I cant seem to get myself off of the couch to the floor to do anything lol but I constantly moan about how I look. Does anyone else have this problem? Or know ways to help me get past it, I desperately want to get into shape again but my motivation is so low I dont know how to start.

I have this problem! I have weights and a treadmill which I don’t use. It sounds ridiculous but I want to exercise before I have my shower (I hate showering in the middle of the day) but I don’t want to wake the rest of the house up so I stay in bed. Then in the evening by the time I have put the kids to bed, tidied up and done my work I just want to crash on the sofa!

I hear good things about the Lucy wydenham-read YouTube videos - she has 7 minute workouts. My current plan is to stop paying for the LesMills on demand that I don’t use and delete the FIIT app from my iPad that I don’t use and try these instead. Surely I can motivate myself to do 7 minutes?!

If I don’t I’ll lose muscle mass, that’s enough to make me do it.

Do you think changing to a different type of exercise may help?

Tbh I think most people have this problem, which is why most people don't get enough exercise! I'm as prone to putting it off as the next person, but some things do help- get in your workout gear straight away, tell yourself you'll only do 10 mins. Starting is the hardest part. Once you're into it you'll be happy to do more than 10 mins. Oh and watch/listen to something you really live while you're working out.

Saturday morning Park Run cancels out Friday night pizza. Wednesday lunchtime cancels out mid-week glass of wine. Sunday lunch lemon meringue pie cancelled out by an hour's martial arts class.

If I don't do the exercise, I don't get to eat treats the following week.

I do the gym six days a week, half the time I drag my arse in there rather than rush in joyfully. I have a home gym and work from home.

My trick is I put my gym gear on as soon as I get up. It mentally forces me to do it. I don't want to take if off again later not having went and feel like I "failed"

I also recognise when I'm mentally talking myself out of it. So I just shove my trainers on and go, and not put it off.

My other motivation is I fundamentally know it changes how my body looks. I look like I work out, I'm toned, as you'd expect. If I don't do it I don't look that way. So vanity plays a big part. If I want to look fit and toned then I need to put the work in. It's that simple.

So basically grab hold of your vanity, get your gym gear on, recognise when you're talking your self out of it, and just get off your arse and do it.

I prioritise exercise due to a MH issue, it really helps.

Ideas: gym with a creche. Childminder willing to have DC for ad-hoc hours and jog or do a class. DH comes home early on evening and you do a class. Do exercise at weekends.

I found exercising at home with DC there almost impossible and am a morning person so dislike evening exercise once DC in bed.

I changed my thinking from 'i have to workout/go for a run' to 'I get to workout/go for a run makes all the difference adjusting how you see it.

I have a couple of methods:

• I get out the house and go somewhere other than the gym. I find if I’m already out before going to the gym, I’m more likely to go to the gym because it’s the leaving home bit that takes the most motivation!
• I go on Instagram and look at all the beautiful women on there whose bodies I admire! This might make you feel worse though so if this will upset you, avoid it!
• I have a little treat for after the gym like a few chocolates

Thank you for all uour idea's!

I dont live near any gyms and sadly don't drive yet so wouldnt be able to go once dp is in from work! He does offer to watch dd so I can go into the room to exercise but I just cant find the motivation.

I am changing my diet to cut out alot of rubbish, i've too much of a sweet tooth lol. I know for the sale of my mental health I should prioritise it but they motivation to get up sometimes is ridiculous, then as soon as i'm in bed half asleep I get so angry at myself for not exercising when i've had the time to do it

Find the exercise that you live for. I started rollerskating this year and I can't stop. Very little on earth makes me happier than putting wheels on my feet and taking off. (Apart from putting blades on my feet which I learned a couple of weeks ago, but we only get ice-rinks at Christmas where I live.) I rink skate, park skate (ramps), inline skate for distance, cross-country skate for winter outdoors. And I'm like a kid at Christmas about it. I wake up in the morning and if it's a skate day, I'm grinning all day. If it's not a skate day, I count down to when it's a skate day.

When life allows, I skate every day, sometimes a couple of times a day. When I'm busier, I still do what I can to get in 3 sessions a week. And when I skate, I usually skate for hours and hours. It would be rare to do less than 2 hours but if I can, I'll skate for 5+ with very little breaks. It doesn't feel like exercise though, it feels like going out playing the best game of my childhood. It's flying.

It is exercise though. One of the best aerobic and anaerobic exercises there is, while also super easy on the joints. I wasn't over-weight when I started exercising but I was 40, out of shape, flabby and untoned with a badly damaged stomach and lumpy c-section pooch. Within 6 months I was lean, muscular all over, had started to form visible abs, had lost a stone. Nearly a year on I'm fitting in size 4 jeans (for context, I'm only 5'1" so not crazy skinny), my lower stomach is nearly completely flat, with only the tiniest pooch (millimetres) on one side over c-section scar tissue. My upper stomach has 4-pack abs. My endurance and general fitness is better than it's ever been in my life. My butt is back where it was when I was 21!!! I'm fitter, happier, better able to handle just about everything.

I never have to talk myself into going exercising. I never look at my body and think I better keep exercising if I want to maintain it. I never have to push myself through a work out telling myself to stick with it for just 15 minutes more. I never reward myself for a good exercise session. Skating is my reward. I literally have to pull myself away from it because other responsibilities are making me stop. I pretty much never get to point where I'm stopping because I don't want to skate or I'm shattered from it. That's not to say I don't work out to near breaking point, I do, I just don't know it until after I've stopped because I'm so happy.

So honestly, find that thing for you and you'll never have to motivate yourself to exercise. It's motivating yourself to stop that will be more of a problem.

I had the same problem and decided that instead of telling myself I was exercising to lose weight I was doing it to have a healthy body and mind, the mind bit being much more important than the body.

Once I changed the focus so did my attitude.

During term time I get up at 5.15 and do a Hiit (Joe wicks) or run before I have to take DD to her bus-stop at 6.45. I can exercise, shower, makeup and get the children up and out before 7.

If I don't do it first thing, it doesn't happen. I can't exercise after eating and I am always starving for breakfast.

When children were small I used to go out at 6am and run every other day before husband left for work.

And when they were very small I put them in the creche at the gym.

There are ways around it if you want it to work.

You will also find that if you are quiet, no-one will wake up when you get up to exercise, I had to do that when I went out running. Gym kit by the bed, trainers in the downstairs loo, let myself out the back door, head torch on and I was off.

Would an online personal trainer give you the motivation you need? Or even a real one that comes to the house?

Join a class/ club/ arrange with others.
It's harder to cancel than it is to just not bother on your own.

For me, it's paying for a monthly gym membership. If I do one class a week I'm not wasting my money. Two classes a week and I'm beating the system. Three classes and I'm sticking it to The Man!!

Also I found a class I love and that doesn't feel like exercise. (Yes, it's Zumba.)

I have to do it first thing after school run or I just loose motivation and end up not doing any.

I've been using fiit and have stuck to it since August which is a record for me! It's an app that you use with a tracker so you are far more accountable. You can do live classes competing with others, and theres plans to follow and a very supportive fb group.

I tend to do it whilst Dd naps. 25 min classes so very achievable.

Agree with the being tied in with others so you don't let them down. My biggest motivator (not cheap unfortunately) is seeing a personal trainer. The first time I did it, I signed up for a course of 4 sessions, 1 a month, at a council gym close to my parents, and they'd look after my DD while I went. It kept me accountable in between: if I didn't do anything myself in between, I was wasting my money, and both our time (plus it would make sessions REALY HARD).

My children are now older, but I've been seeing a different PT for about 5 years. At the moment, I see him fortnightly, do a yoga class weekly, a circuits class weekly, and then maybe some weights at home or a run, plus a bit of walking (definitely easier in the summer when days are longer) . I also have an Apple Watch which nudges me to keep fit and sets me challenges, plus my medical insurance is tied to my activity levels - the more I do, the more free stuff I get.

I was a 5 day a week gym goer but due to financial constraints ive had to cancel membership. Ive been doing daily workouts 15/20 mins a day instead with Betty Rocker app. Very effective, mix of different work outs, tabata, power yoga, barre etc. Very good i can recommend.

You can subscribe but she does a few different free challenges which is what ive been doing. Just done the 30 day make fat cry challenge, then a 5 say one and a 12 day one. Im going to subscribe as its cheaper than gym membership