I need motivation ideas

[BabbyO]

I need to make some changes as I've managed to slip all the way up to my heaviest pregnancy weight - only I'm not expecting. :(

I know what would work best for me is a local running/workout partner, but I haven't really be able to find anyone. We really don't have the $$ to join a gym right now, but I've run for most of my adult life until I had my 2nd kiddo. Now I've just gotten downright sloth-y. When I had the boys and BFed them I had to cut first Dairy & Soy, then Dairy out of my diet. Now that I can (and do) eat both, I've gained a bunch of weight. There are lots of factors adding to it, but the bottom line is I need to find motivation to get off my butt.

I'm no great at being self accountable for this type of thing. I'm looking for new ideas.

The good news is that I already own all the clothes needed for winter running. I also have an elliptical and weight bench that can be used in our basement.

What are your best tricks/motivators to get you out of bed and working out? Mornings would probably be easiest from a time/childcare perspective....it is just SO hard to leave my warm cozy bed at 5 am.

Hit me with your best ideas, please.

[stinkyfeet]

Do you have a dog? In high school, I used to take my dog running every day, and he loved it. I always managed to take him because he looked forward to it, and it made him so happy.

[ExcitedMamma]

Have you heard of Zombies Run? I'm a very new runner and using their Zombies 5K training app to learn to run. It's an app and there is a story that comes on between your own playlist. It's been fun and like the auditory version of watching tv. Maybe something like that could change up the monotony of running for you if you like running with a partner but don't have one now. My only option for running is to run early in the morning or late at night after the kids are in bed and I've really been enjoying it.

[BabyBearsMom]

I've been working out for 6 months, 5 days a week and have lost 30lbs. This is what has worked for me:

* I work out 5 days a week. I had to make it part of my daily work-week routine to stick with it. Going 3 days a week, wasn't going to cut it. I'm a creature of habit and having a daily routine keeps me on track. Sure there are days that I have to miss the gym but they are few and far between and it feels weird to me to shower right after I wake up now.
* I track everything. I use MyFitnessPal to track my exercise and my weightloss. Weekly, I look at what I am doing and decide on what areas to adjust. For example, this week, I looked at my history and decided I"m not spending enough time strengthening my core, so I just added wall squats to my routine. Last week, I decided it was time to increase the pace for my treadmill running.
* I alternate through several workouts so I don't get bored. 3 days a week I do half cardio and half weights and 2 days a week I do a full session of cardio. But I change up what I do each of the 5 days. In your case, I might run outside one day, do the elliptical another day, do a yoga dvd another day etc. It keeps yor workouts interesting.
* I do something I enjoy while working out. For me it is lisening to podcasts. In your situation, could you DVR your favorite show and only allow yourself to watch it while working out on your elliptical?
* I focus on very small short term goals, because if I fofcused on the long term goal it feels unattainable. My long term goal is to drop 90lbs (!?!?!?!), but my short term goals are all under 10lb increments. For example, right now, I am focusing on getting to my pre-baby weight which I will hit in 1.7lbs (hopefully at my Sunday weigh in). Once I finish that, I want to lose 6 more lbs because then the amount of weight I have lost will be equal to DD1's weight. They are meaningless goals, but it gives me little celebrations and helps me breakdown the big picture.
* I also have little fitness challenges that I do. Monthly I do a fitness test on the treadmill and track the results of that test. I set little goals like "Today, I want to run for X minutes straight" or "I want to run for X # of miles at Y pace". I have a longer term girl (to run a 5K) but I am so far from that right now, I am focusing on the little achievements right now.
* I could not do it with exercise alone. I worked out for 3 months really hard to start with but didn't change my eating. I lost 7lbs. Then I started monitoring my eating and in 3 months, I lost 23 more lbs. I use a reduced calorie diet and follow it in MyFitnessPal.
* If you bite it, write it! I journal all of my food. It really helps me keep myself from binge eating and snacking because it holds you accountable for what you are doing.
* I focus on the non-weight numbers, I track my measurements in MyFitnessPal so I can watch my waist, hips, thighs etc. shrink. It is helpful when the scale is stuck for a week or two to see results elsewhere.
* Get everyone in your family on board with the change. My whole family is impacted by these life changes. It means that the girls go to daycare a little earlier in the morning so I can make it to the gym. It means I get to work a little later too so I bring work home at night often, which means my DH has to pick up more of the evening chore. Everyone has to be committed. For us, I sat down with DH, talked about it and we agreed that my health and well being was much more important than these things. I have also pretty much completely given up TV because I don't have time.
* It really helps that DH is also working out although in a different way (he is doing P90X - workout and the diet) so we can kind of talk about what we are doing together.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

* Get everyone in your family on board with the change. My whole family is impacted by these life changes. It means that the girls go to daycare a little earlier in the morning so I can make it to the gym. It means I get to work a little later too so I bring work home at night often, which means my DH has to pick up more of the evening chore. Everyone has to be committed. For us, I sat down with DH, talked about it and we agreed that my health and well being was much more important than these things.
:yeahthat: Yes, this is important. This is why when DH was traveling nearly everyday these past couple months i could not really work out as much as i wanted..bc of my long commute and how i can't really work from home..i could only go once during the weekend and once during the week when the sitter stayed late. Sucked bc for me, not exercising affects my mood. Now that DH is finally back am eager to get the swing of things. There is no way, no way i could exercise as much as i wanted (3-4x a week) without DH's cooperation. He works out as well and i take the kids then, so it's only fair.

what we do when dh is here would be i work out maybe one morning at 6am, then two days i'd go 6:30pm straight after work (DH picks up the kids and gives them dinner). then on another work day DH would go to yoga class in the evenings (i'd take care of the kids). and we would switch on weekends too.

and yes, any mommy guilt over kids needing to be at daycare earlier or staying there longer so mama can exercise (or do whatever for her own health) needs to die a gruesome death. LOL. over the past year i've finally come to realize that if my DC are the last ones to be picked up at daycare, it's not a big deal (often times they don't want to leave). with me working out i am a happier healthier mama and i swear the kids pick up on that.

and yes, tracking things in Myfitness pal helps. i lost 30 lbs but it took me 2 years to do it. i lost the first 10 lbs (when i first started) just tracking my eating, no exercise.

[BabyBearsMom]

[QUOTE=♥ms.pacman♥;3903354]

and yes, any mommy guilt over kids needing to be at daycare earlier or staying there longer so mama can exercise (or do whatever for her own health) needs to die a gruesome death. LOL. over the past year i've finally come to realize that if my DC are the last ones to be picked up at daycare, it's not a big deal (often times they don't want to leave). with me working out i am a happier healthier mama and i swear the kids pick up on that.
[QUOTE]

Yup, mommy guilt needs to be D.E.A.D. What really helped me put it to rest was DD1 and I were playing outside and I was chasing her and she stopped and said "Mommy, I like that you can run fast now. It makes playing really fun." I think of exercising as a way to enhance the quality of the time that I do spend with my kids not as something that takes away time with them because the time that is taken away wasn't quality time.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

Yup, mommy guilt needs to be D.E.A.D. What really helped me put it to rest was DD1 and I were playing outside and I was chasing her and she stopped and said "Mommy, I like that you can run fast now. It makes playing really fun." I think of exercising as a way to enhance the quality of the time that I do spend with my kids not as something that takes away time with them because the time that is taken away wasn't quality time.

that is so sweet. with my kiddos, they like to jump on ride on my back as if i'm a horse. it is a major destressor for them to be able to just run around, climb on mama and just horse around...makes sense, i guess it's like exercise for them :) no way i could do that before i started exercising, i was in rotten shape and would have had a sore neck/back for a week.

and love the last line, great way to think about it!!

[YouAreTheFocus]

I agree it is all about figuring out how to keep yourself accountable. For me the answer was using MyFitnessPal and DietBet. I've been doing it for nearly 8 mos, and these programs have kept me on track. The DietBets run for 4 wks and I usually enter 2 at a time. Then as soon as they end I sign up again. Once I sign myself up, I am all in--I refuse to lose!! I have done 15 so far. Same with MFP. I set my calorie goal, and weigh/measure/log everything. I guess I look at that as a challenge too--I refuse to lose by going over my limit.

It definitely made a big difference that DH did it with me most of the time (he's finished now, I have a couple more months). He cooks most of the time and was on board with the food changes that needed to happen. The fact that you have exercise eqpt at home is also awesome. We have an elliptical and have both used it nearly everyday for the past 8 mos. We couldn't have done this w/o the elliptical, as we both need to be able to exercise w/o leaving the house.

Good luck getting started!! That is definitely the hardest part for me. I put it off for years. But now honestly I can't believe how long we've been going for, and it really hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be.

[marinkitty]

With running here are things that work for me:

1. Make a great new running mix
2. Sign up for a race (or races, escalating in distance)
3. Put a running app on your phone that has a journal function so you can track your history. I use Bridge to 10K just because that is the last training program I did and just use the distance run function and journal each run and then I can really see when I'm slacking in number of days running or distance.

Good luck!

[specialp]

DH's big tip to tell people if you don't have a run buddy is to sign up for a run or event - a 5 or 10 k, a mud run, whatever - and then make sure you tell people you are training for it. It holds you accountable if someone is always asking you how it is going. Or do a couch to whatever program and you will meet potential run buddies there.

Me... I am not a runner so I just have it as a routine part of my day 5 days a week and do change it up week-to-week. I always do cardio, but I change up the other stuff. I do need to get better at journaling my food and love the "bite it you write it" BBM said above.

[BabbyO]

Thanks for the ideas everyone. I signed up for MyFitnessPal - which I hate and don't mind at the same time. I haven't figured out how to copy a food from say lunch to dinner. I get how to copy from one lunch to another....but what if I have my eggs for dinner one night. They're the same eggs. It would be nice to copy it from yesterdays breakfast.

Anyway - It has helped motivate me to exercise, because my normal daily intake is just a bit over what my goal should be. If I exercise daily I end up with around 100 extra calories.

I also found a running group that meets on Tuesdays. I didn't go yesterday because I spend the afternoon wading in the water (mind you it is only 27 degrees outside) so I really needed to warm up. I'm going to try to meet up next Tuesday.

Signing up for events/runs doesn't really keep me on track because I can complete pretty much any distance up to a 1/2 marathon with barely any training. Probably not advisable....but reality.

I need to get the work out to being routine. So far I haven't really found a consistent time to work out, but I'm doing better than I was 1 week ago...so hopefully it will continue.

BTW - I HATE the "you bite it you write it" because I feel like it takes FOREVER and figuring out how many ounces, tablespoons, etc it a giant PITA. Especially for our homemade food (which is most of what we eat). How many servings is a particular recipe....depends on how hungry the kids and DH are. Sometimes we make something and it will last for 1 dinner, another time the same exact thing will last for 3 day's dinners.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I used to do MFP and had put in most of my recipes. Tedious but worth it

Sounds to me like you should do something besides run. Do you weight train? How about boot camp? I like weight lifting bc it's so tangible. Get fitter and stronger, you can go up weight amounts. Very satisfying to see progress.

[BabyBearsMom]

BTW - I HATE the "you bite it you write it" because I feel like it takes FOREVER and figuring out how many ounces, tablespoons, etc it a giant PITA. Especially for our homemade food (which is most of what we eat). How many servings is a particular recipe....depends on how hungry the kids and DH are. Sometimes we make something and it will last for 1 dinner, another time the same exact thing will last for 3 day's dinners.

But that is the key. I will often not eat something because I don't feel like going through the effort of entering it. My laziness can be a bonus.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Oh, and I know MFP let's you earn extra calories by exercising but I don't really agree with that strategy. Probably bc I'm terrible and would say that I earned something like a cookie. ;)