Keep exercise motivation during your diet.
Most of us have the same goals as Ben Franklin did in that we also want to be “healthy, wealthy and wise”.
Unfortunately too many of us focus on the wealthy part and end up too busy to live healthy.
The wise comes in when we find a balance between the healthy and wealthy. Exercise, during your diet, is a very important part of being healthy that we find gets crowded out in our endless search for the wealthy.
I don't have time to exercise.
“I don't have time to exercise” is the most common excuse given by people when they go on a diet. Our daily schedules are so busy today with juggling careers and children and everything else that we need to fit into our day and many find the easiest thing to skip is exercise. The problem is that waiting until things slow down can mean that we end up overweight and unhealthy as we get older. Once some of these health issues (like heart disease and diabetes) are acquired, there isn't any way to get rid of them by exercising later.
Exercise is boring.
The other most common excuse is that “exercise is boring”. This is usually given by people who hate the idea of doing repetitive sets of scheduled exercises like sit-ups, push-ups or jumping jacks. The boredom of these types of exercise is somewhat alleviated by doing them in a group but there are few people who actually enjoy this type of exercise activity. Those who do stick with these type of activities are people who really are focused on losing weight, not necessarily those who want to be in good shape otherwise.
What people need to learn or perhaps remember is that exercise doesn't have to take a lot of time or be boring. Guess what? Anything that gets you moving is exercise! Even doing housework has some benefit if it gets you up off the couch. Exercise can even be fun if you choose activities that you can enjoy during your diet while moving such as dancing, walking, swimming and even playing active games like basketball and tennis.
Find activities you enjoy.
Ultimately, the no time excuse comes down to meet the boredom excuse. If you enjoy the type of exercise you do, you will always find a way to have time to do it.
The key is to find activities that you enjoy. This can be the same thing every day if you want or you can be creative and change things around.
Although you will gain some health benefits from even a few minutes of activity each day, the most benefit will be derived when you exercise in ways that get your heart rate up for a sustained period of time like 30-60 minutes.
When you think outside the box and outside the gym, there are many ways to fit this into your schedule daily and still make it an enjoyable experience.
