I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started new eating and exercise routines only to quit.

Here I am starting over again.

I have no excuses.
I have no family of my own, no pets, no roommates, a low-stress job with a very short commute, a decent social life, and the weather here is great.

What is my problem?
There’s no reason for me being overweight.
None.

I just started a new eating routine and almost every weekend since November, I’ve gone hiking.
That’s great, but how am I gonna stick to what I’ve started and add to it.

How am I gonna stay away from the fast food, chips, & chocolate and stick with the fruits, veggies, and lean meats?
How am I gonna keep hiking when it feels better just to lay in bed?
How am I gonna add to those things when I don’t know if I can keep those two things up?

I need to drop about 50 pounds and add some muscle to get to my long term goal.

What I want to add to my exercise routine:

Bike to work every day.
Hit the gym at least every other day.
In-line skate at the beach at least once a week.

I have a bike in the garage, but I lost the key to the bike lockers at work.
I keep forgetting to email the appropriate person at work to get a new key.

The gym about a quarter mile away.
I could in-line skate there.
Of course, I’ve been too lazy to change the worn wheels on my blades.

See above excuse for why I don’t skate at the beach.

So, there’s where I stand.

No reason to be out of shape.
No great motivation to do what I have to do to get into shape.

What do I do now?

Joe - 12 February 2008 03:00 AM

I can’t tell you how many started new eating and exercise routines only to quit.

Here I am starting over again.

I have no excuses.
I have no family of my own, no pets, no roommates, a low-stress job with a low commute, a decent social life, and the weather here is great.

What is my problem?
There’s no reason for me being overweight.
None.

Sure there’s a reason, Joe.

You haven’t found the WHY that will capture your attention over and over and over again.  The WHY that will get your butt out of bed and to the gym when it feels oh-so-good to stay snuggled under the covers.  The WHY that will help you make a “gooder” rather than a “badder” choice of food to eat.  The WHY that will make you pick up the phone right now and get the key to that locker. 

To start finding the first of your WHYs begin asking yourself “Why do I want to get more fit?” “How would my life improve?” “Is there something I could or would do when I get fitter that I can’t or won’t do now?”

Or, you might try the Quantum Liguistics questions that Scott has talked about to get your deep-down reasons up to the surface:

What would happen if I did ______?
What wouldn’t happen if I did _______?
What would happen if I didn’t ________?
What wouldn’t happen if I didn’t _________?

I hope some of this helps, Joe!  In any case, I’m glad you’re here! 

Welcome Joe!
Judy has some great stuff for you to think about, doesn’t she? All I can really add to it is just the basic mantra that most of us follow here: Get up, take a step and repeat. Make sure you listen to Scott everyday. That helps me a lot. I sure hope you find the answers you are looking for. MTM is a great place to find that extra motivation that keeps us moving. There’s lots of great advice and success stories to read over. I hope you take the time to poke around the forum and start your own 100 Day Challenge. Welcome to the community. Good luck in all you do.

Thanks for the replies.

Here I am on day three of my better eating habits.
There is one thing that keeps coming back to me every time I start over taking better care of myself, and it’s no different this time.
There is no substitute for eating well.

Since I started eating better, I’ve started feeling better.
I have more energy, and I’ve started doing more.

I feel that no matter how much you want to work out and exercise, if you’re eating poorly (fast food, no fruits & vegetables, etc.), eventually, you’ll run out of gas.
You need good eating habits to keep your energy level up.

Garbage in, garbage out.
Good stuff in, good stuff out.

I’m gonna be patient and let my better eating habits take over which will allow me to have the energy to do more things.

I’m gonna feel it rather than try to force it.
I think it’s the way to go.

Joe - 12 February 2008 05:51 PM

I’m gonna be patient and let my better eating habits take over and allow me to have the energy to do more things.

I’m gonna feel it rather than try to force it.
I think it’s the way to go.

Joe, you sound like an excellent self-motivator.  Now you’ve put your words out here in public, so you are making yourself live by them!

I think it’s important to start at a realistic pace, whether it’s diet or exercise or both. I didn’t wake up one day and run a marathon or dramatically change my eating habits. There’s an interesting book called “One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way,” by Robert Maurer, Ph.D. He talks about the Japanese philosophy of kaizen, small, continuous incremental improvements, which made Japanese manufacturers the envy of the world. In the book he applies it to health and lifestyle changes. The truth is, I read the book about two years before I started to actually make the changes, but hey, I was in research mode!

Better eating habits are a great start. Why don’t you tell yourself that by the end of this week you will Email that person about getting the info about the bike lockers? And while I’m at it I’ll make that one call I’ve been putting off.

Welcome!

Peace and joy,

Ann

Joe,
Welcome…

You sound like you have a motivation, but as you said, that has been there before.

The thing that has worked for me, is making goals....(small steps as Ann said)

How many lbs do you want to lose? 50 lbs.....at 2 lbs a week (a safe and easy thing to do) it will take you 6 months.....

In order to do that....you need to have a plan....on total calorie intake, and if you don’t know how much your consuming, then you will not know if your doing good or bad? (I use http://www.fitday.com).  This alone will keep you on track...then if you start doing SOME type of regular exercise....(and keep in mind you have a goal to keep you motivated, like Kick the Couch 5K or something like that.

We ALL can rationalize why we do what we do.  sounds like you know all the excuses.....but sounds like this time....your more serious....

Maybe i can recommend joining the 100 days of exercise challenge...post your daily workouts......good or bad....
Be honest (you’re only lying to yourself if you’re not!)

You’ll find plenty of support here.....and accountability!

Hi Joe,

Welcome to the forum.  You have gotten a lot of great advice and are off to a good start, so there is not much for me to say except,

It is great to have you here!

Hi and welcome, Joe! I’ll have to look for you over in the 100 days, see you there!

Bree