I love that i found this site!

My fitness dilemma is that I was a ballet and modern dancer from the age of 5 through college. I kept dancing when I entered the work force in NYC, but (sadly) not with the same intensity. Then, i discovered yoga, which has sort of taken the place of dance. In fact, I even completed a 200-hour teacher's certification recently, which was amazing. However, I'm still not at the point where I'm doing something physical/exercise-like every day, and I feel less than great about my body. And i feel like my motivation is inconsistent...

I'm 32 and about a year ago, I started working for a marketing consulting firm that has me working out of my home most days. A devoted worker who used to catch dance/yoga classes or workouts at the gym on my way home from the office, I now find myself never leaving my home office desk. I belong to a nice gym nearby and I know what I "have" to do, but finding the discipline and day-to-day motivation is hard all by myself. I'm joining this site with the hope that I will meet and be inspired by the daily success of other fit-minded people.

Occasionally, I find it easy to go in spurts or on a whim, but I don't have any kind of routine that makes me really excited or able to commit to doing something every day--that seems like such a foreign concept now!

Since I've made the effort to join this site and make an introduction, I'm going to commit to starting tomorrow (thursday) with a trip to the gym for a 30-minute cardio workout and/or a yoga class.

Here's to daily renewal of my commitment. thanks for your support!
N

Nicole,

You can do it if I can do it.

I was an avid runner and was in excellent shape during my school years. I have not done anything since and was up to almost 260 lbs.... and kinda short!

Three months ago I decided that since I was nearing my 40th birthday (OK - it is still a few years off) that I had better do something, and do it now. I have lost 29 lbs to date, because I just flat out committed.

It sounds like you are committed to doing something about it - just think you are only in your early 30's..... so if I can do it, you can surely do it!

Get up and go!

Oh, indeed!
Part of the key is to look at it as adding a good habit in place of a 'not-so-good' habit. Give it 30 days and you're hooked (so to speak <g>).

If I, the lazy of lazies, the queen of enjoying nothing more than spending every ounce of free time in front of my computer, can sacrifice said time to slave away in the gym (sometimes even twice) most days, I am confident that you can find a way to make it work as well.

For me, it turned out to be a matter of routine. Once it became firmly ingrained in me that my normal daily schedule included the gym, and that that block of time was reserved for working out and nothing else, it just clicked. Now I can't stand it when anything gets in the way of me and my workout time, just as I used to be if anything interupted my morning blogging time. Just get the ball rolling as you plan too, and you may find after a while that it becomes second nature again, like it probobly was when you were dancing intensely. Good luck!

Ditto to Josephine! If you would have said a year ago that I would become a gym rat, I would have said you were CRAZY! But once it is just part of your routine, every day, something you have to do, it is much easier than you think to just make it happen.

Good luck--if I can do it, anyone can!

Sarah

Nice to meet you all. Thanks for the warm welcome and support. So I did make it to the gym yesterday. I was extremely tired after a long day of work, but knowing i had promised, I couldn't not go!

So to make it more palitable i decided i was not going to push myself too hard, but just do a little cardio for at least 30 minutes. So i got on the eliptical with a book (i know not the most "active" way to work out...) but put it on a high resistance level, got my heart rate up and managed to stay on that thing for 50 minutes (partly thanks to the good book)! I spent another 20 minutes cooling down and stretching.

Today, i have that "good sore" feeling in my legs. Counting on working out today too. Maybe I'll finish with a few minutes in the steam room at my gym. It's one of my favorite ways to pamper myself without going to the spa.

Thanks, again, sharing your stories.

Best,
Nicole

Way to rock.

The jacuzzi/sauna is my motivation to go to the gym on the weekends, because I don't have time to indulge in those amenities durring the week. It usually does the trick.

Another idea which may help with your motivation would be to sign up for an event. Like a run or triathlon. It doesn't have to be a marathon or an ironman just an event that you know you can attend in the future which is realistic for your fitness level and you think might be fun. I'm doing the 'Bay to Breakers' this year.

Once you've picked your event work out a training schedule. Again depending on your fitness level there are a variety of programs that you can find online with a Google search even a 'couch to 5K'. A training schedule should give you hard short term objectives like running X miles a week. Seek out the community for this event. There are really great communities out there for pretty much every sport. By the time the event rolls around you should have a good idea if your lifestyle over the preceding weeks was one you can and want to maintain.

If you're naturally a competitive person then the event will provide a lot of motivation for you to continue and improve. But at very least if you enjoyed yourself you can plan on making this an annual event and work on improving your personal time.