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    Home » Articles » Lifestyle

    How to Stay Motivated to Exercise

    Published: May 21, 2020 by Heather Cooan, MBA, NTP, FDN-P, ONC · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Young women high fiving at the gym - How to Stay Motivated to Exercise
    Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

    Exercise is always a do-it-yourself venture. No other person and no machine can do it for you. Hence, it is important to figure out how to stay motivated to exercise to stick with it!

    This is what people who are overweight should try to understand. However, even if it's easy to set intentions and it's easy to follow through for you, this is not the case for almost 35% of Americans who are unable to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.

    Of course, once we are overweight, we usually want to trim down for a whole lot of reasons, some related to physical condition and fitness, while others would want to enhance their physique and appearance. And it is never too late to be fit.

    In the past 50 to 75 years, physical activity has become the exception rather than the rule, both at home and on the job. People tend to drive where others once walked. People tend to flick a switch and machines do the hauling, lifting, pushing, and pulling for them.

    However, people who try to lose weight tend to believe that weight gain is likely to happen if they will not take intentional steps to stop it.

    The point here is that health experts believe that people lose their way, especially when it comes to dieting. They tend to go back to their old eating habits even after they learn to enjoy low-fat eating. They tend to return to sedentary ways even though they enjoy exercising.

    But despite the momentum toward weight gain, you can stop it from happening, experts say. And there are plenty of good reasons to avoid excess pounds, reasons that go beyond vanity or social appearance. There are many reasons in order to keep you motivated to exercise and stay healthy for the rest of your life. Here's how to lose big!

    Create Goals

    A simple statement like, “I want to lose some weight,” is an ambiguous and an indefinite statement. It will not the least motivate you to start doing exercises right away.

    What is important is to be precise on your goals. It would be better if you will set some detailed amount of pounds that you really want to lose. Envisage yourself what you will look like after reaching your desired weight. Doing this will inspire you to lose weight. In fact, maybe even more than what you have planned in mind. The idea is to use that figure to assist you to remain resilient and dedicated.

    Develop a Strategy

    Strength of will does not work alone! To lose weight and stay with it, your strategy must comprise of both exercise and diet, and not either of the two.

    Try to start motivating yourself by throwing away your clothes that have bigger sizes. This will put you in a situation where you only have your sexy clothes and that you have to make a choice by staying motivated to exercise or not wear any clothes at all. Which do you prefer?

    Don't let access to a gym get you down. Here is a great list of exercises you can do anywhere!

    Plan Action

    Put into practice actions that will suit your lifestyle. This means you have to implement moves that you and you alone will benefit from it and not somebody else.

    The idea here is to opt for a more positive and attainable goal and not just to shun away from being plump and chubby.

    Measure Progress

    It would be better to have somebody willing to take note of your progress or development. This will inspire you to keep on doing what you have started. Having somebody to listen to your achievements is definitely a better prize than just achieving your goal alone.

    Besides, having an extra hand to support you and cheer for you when things start to fall short. It is that simple way of hearing somebody believing on what you do is one of the greatest motivations to keep you exercising for more.

    Create a Reasonable Timeline

    What do you plan to achieve in a year? Try to suit your objectives to your calendar, and do not look forward to see the results in just a snap.

    The bottom line is that in order to stay motivated to exercise entails a lot of hard work, which is contrary to what most people tend to think. The main idea is to let people change their lifestyle because it is only through this way that they will absolutely change their weight…for the better.

    P.S. If you still need motivation, have you hung around the #weightlossjourney hashtag on Instagram lately?

    Let's Get Physical!

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