How to Stay Motivated to Workout When You Really Don’t Want to
Many people want to start a new exercise program to lose weight or to get their body ready for summer! Those reasons can certainly be good motivators to get in shape, however, what I have found is that those reasons alone usually aren’t enough to make someone actually stick with it to see any results! When desserts are sitting right in front of you and your busy lifestyle is tempting you to just pick up fast food for dinner and skip the workout, how is it possible to see any results at all???
In this article, I have outlined the best way to stay motivated to workout so that you can get those long lasting results you are looking for without super restrictive dieting or spending hours in the gym! Keep reading for more tips on how to create healthy habits that become a lifestyle and never go on a diet again!
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Can you imagine a life where you never have to go on a diet or “get ready for summer” again? Can you picture staying in shape all year long and even surviving the holidays without 10 pounds of weight gain? For some of us this just seems impossible! But I’m here to tell you that it is absolutely possible and even a reasonable goal to have, so let’s get started!
Define Your Goals
It would be almost impossible to achieve anything without defining what your end goal is. To give you a perfect example: most people don’t sign up for college with their only goal being to have a degree and a job one day. It’s just too broad. So instead, most students decide on a major that will put them through the specific classes they need, in just the right order to prepare them for the degree that will lead them to a job or the first step in their career path.
It would be crazy to assume that you can stay motivated to workout and live a healthy lifestyle when your only goal is to lose weight. It’s just too broad. So figure out exactly what it is that you are wanting. Are you wanting to lose 10 lbs? 20 lbs? Fit into a certain pair of jeans? Gain confidence? Only you can decide that one for yourself!
Once you decide on a specific goal, you have to figure out what it actually takes to meet that goal.
Create a Plan
If your goal is to lose weight, or simply just stay active and live a healthy lifestyle, we all know that a healthy diet and exercise routine is going to be a part of that. BUT, what are the distractions or setbacks that keep you from showing up to the gym or choosing healthier options? Is stress eating sabotaging your efforts in the gym? Is lack of sleep and fatigue a reason for skipping the gym frequently?
Narrow down where your biggest pitfall is. If stress is a major concern for you, then some stress management techniques may need to take priority before you can address your diet and exercise routine. Try talking to a counselor or a close friend and give yourself some time off to recover. Check out this article for more info on stress and weight loss. If you are constantly fatigued, prioritize getting more sleep and eating a cleaner diet with healthier complex carbs (sweet potato, fruit, whole grains, oatmeal, etc.) to energize your workouts so you are less likely to skip.
Once you address your common pitfalls, make a diet and exercise plan. The goal isn’t to have a perfect diet and work out seven days a week! The goal is to eat healthy 80% of the time and eat whatever you want 20% to create balance. Three to four workouts per week is plenty but you will never see results in your workouts if you don’t support those efforts with nourishing foods.
Get your friends or significant other on board and find foods that are nourishing but taste really good! Don’t force yourself to eat broccoli if you hate it, but find some other vegetables that you do enjoy and add them into a meal that has sufficient protein and healthy carbs. A balanced meal that has protein, fat, and carbs, will satisfy you and will not leave you craving. If you try to go low carb or low fat, then you are asking for dessert cravings after dinner! Desserts typically are high carb and high fat so it makes sense why your brain starts to bring those to mind!
As mentioned, simply working out 3-4 times a week is enough. You don’t have to kill yourself by spending hours exercising to see results. If anything, working out too much can have the opposite effect because your body won’t be able to heal and recover. So, exercise becomes a “stressor” and prevents weight loss creating issues with your metabolism.
Be Consistent
This is the MOST IMPORTANT! I can tell you with certainty that you will not completely achieve the results you want in the first 4-6 weeks of any exercise program. You WILL start to notice improvements in your strength and fitness level but that won’t instantly make all of the weight fall off. Most likely, it will take several months before you start noticing your clothes fit better and you can see a visible difference in the mirror.
I promise if you can stick it out and get to this point where you start noticing changes, this will be the biggest motivator to keep going! Once you see that what you are doing is actually working, you will definitely have motivation to keep going!
Would you quit college after a few weeks because you didn’t have the degree yet? Of course not, because we all know it takes longer than that! So stop expecting total weight loss and results in a few weeks and give it time! All of the clickbait articles that talk about weight loss in one month are a total lie and are simply just to get you to click on it!
When you can consistently workout, make better food choices, and stop weighing yourself everyday, you take out a lot of the stress and disappointment! Trust the process and you WILL see results! That is the secret to staying motivated to workout when you really don’t want to!
If you enjoyed this article, let me know in the comments below what your biggest pitfalls are and what tricks you use to stay on track! If you want a more tailored program to fit your needs, check our my program: Sculpting Secrets, for all the best nutrition advice and personalized workouts you need!
