If your exercise program isn't balanced, you also may need to educate yourself about what a complete exercise program looks like. You may be stuck in a cycle of low energy where you feel tired and, therefore, skip your workouts.
If this sounds like you, don't worry! The resources below will help you get on the right track by learning more about exercise. You'll also get some ideas on how to change your perception of exercise to make it more enjoyable for you.
Educate Yourself
The first step in making exercise a healthy part of your life is to learn more about it. The resources below will teach you what you should be doing and why, the basics of weight loss and more.
- Beginner's Corner
- How to Lose Weight
- Couch Potatoes - Learn How to Generate Your Own Energy
- More Resources for Beginners
Attitude Adjustment
Your next step is figuring out what you think about your body and exercise. Making decisions out of shame or fear means your decision is based on emotion, which can change from day to day (sometimes even from minute to minute). Learning how to make decisions on objective criteria (such as reaching a goal), makes exercise something you will do rather than something you'll only do if you feel like it.
To do this, you'll need to brush up on Setting Reaslistic Fitness Goals as well as determine what your mind and body are ready to do. Exercise guidelines state you should be doing 30-60 minutes of cardio a day. Your body may not be ready for all that exercise and, more importantly, your mind might not be either. Going from being sedentary to exercising for an hour is a huge jump. Start small by focusing on the following ideas:
- Start where you are, not where you want to be. If you can only exercise for 5 or 10 minutes, that's where you start. Add more time each week to allow your body time to get conditioned for exercise.
- Keep it simple. It's easy to get overwhelmed by too much information. Keep it simple: Pick 2 or 3 days and schedule your cardio (walking, running, whatever you enjoy). Pick 2 other days (separate from cardio, if you can) for strength training choosing 1 exercise per body part. Here's a Beginner Strength Training workout you can try
- Set simple goals. Set goals you KNOW you'll reach--walking for 10 minutes every other day or drinking one extra glass of water.
- Reward yourself for all your successes. It may not seem like getting in your 10 minute walk is much, but it's more than you did before. Each time you reach a small goal, give yourself a little something--an extra 10 minutes in the shower, a few minutes to watch the sunset...things you truly enjoy but don't give yourself time to do.
For more about motivating yourself to get started, try my free 12 Week Program for Weight Loss or visit my Motivation Resources. Most of all, don't give up on yourself! It takes time to make exercise a habit--for some of us it takes years of trying different things. Don't give up!
