When my life was liken to a hot fudge syrup of mania covering a vanilla ice cream cone, I did not have any trouble with my overall health because of no motivation to exercise. I got on my Raleigh bike and rode for miles on hot summer days along busy streets and highways. I joined a gym and took spin classes where I spun away the stress and pounds. One of my favorite exercises was lifting weights. I did this on a regular basis and enjoyed watching the growing results.

Soon my hot fudge syrup cracked and the vanilla ice cream started melting. I had hit a brick wall and I hit it hard. A dark depression came over me. Darker than I had ever seen. Forget having no motivation to exercise — I had no motivation to live or do anything that required energy! This started a trend for the next nine years that I would have to fight.

I would wake up in the morning. My exercise clothes were laid out ready to go. However, the energy from the night before had evaporated. Now I have no motivation to exercise…again.

My Efforts to Break the No Motivation to Exercise Cycle

I have tried working out in the morning, walking on my lunch break, and in the evening. Anything from not feeling loved to paranoia, kept me from finding the perfect time. My preferred time is to exercise in the morning. Even though I am hard-wired to exercise in the morning, I am often extremely tired when I wake up. In the morning, it is all too easy to feel no motivation to exercise for countless excuses such as wanting to sleep in and to snuggle with my dogs on the couch.

What Could Help Give us Motivation

There have been moments where I have been able to exercise. It just so happened that I was able to find the motivation to exercise. But, was it luck? A good night’s sleep? Being hopeful? A full moon? I felt loved?

It was none of those. On one particular Thursday, I was up in time that morning to be able to exercise. I crashed on my couch and had an internal dialog.

“Come on, you can do this.”

“You are so tired.”

“You are going to feel better.”

“The couch looks so inviting. Besides, I can snuggle with Jake.”

“Lord, help me to be strong and actually exercise. I really need to exercise.”

Then the words of my psychologist resounded in my ears:

“If you can’t exercise for 30 minutes, exercise for 20 or even just 10.”

“Yes! I can do this.”

I reached for the remote as I turned to stand. I pushed the power button on for the TV remote and set up the channel for my workout videos. I selected a video and got right to it. I was only able to work out 20 minutes, but that was a VICTORY for God!

That morning I had no motivation to exercise. I had a discussion just like I do every other morning when I try to exercise. Trust me, arguing with yourself does NOT work! I said a quick and simple prayer. And at 6:30 a.m., God heard my prayer! He spoke truth to me and gave me the strength to get me up off the couch. I WAS SO EXCITED! NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM!

Going from No Motivation to Exercise to Reaching your Health Goals

1. Determine what time is best for you to exercise. You might want to try all possible times out like I did.
2. Just wake up/show up. Set your alarm. Go to your workout location. Have your workout gear ready. If you have the motivation to start, then good for you! Go for it! If at this stage, you still have no motivation to exercise. Just get into the habit of showing up at that time.
3. Pray. Take this time to pray. Pray about your motivation, ask Him to give you the motivation. As well as improve stamina, decrease distractions and hone in on your goals. I encourage you to talk to Him about the future “you” and how “you” can benefit the Kingdom.
4. Let God work. Meet Him every day to see if it is time to exercise or still time to pray. When it is time to exercise, still keep praying with thanksgiving.

This may take a day, a week, several weeks, a month or a couple months to help you break through the depression and feel motivated to exercise. God will move when He is ready. You may even have times when you become depressed again and again and again. Be prepared to have no motivation to exercise. If and when this does happen, I encourage you to go back to praying to God. He will hear you.

Check out this website for more great ideas of how to increase your motivation with God’s help:

http://www.gaiam.com/discover/197/article/5-ways-stay-motivated-exercise-regularly/

The post No Motivation to Exercise appeared first on Life Conquering Bipolar Blog.

From day one of my bipolar disorder diagnosis, I have been strongly urged to exercise.  Whether it was to counteract the weight-gaining side effects of the medicines that I was on, or to help boost my mood during dark depressions, or to help channel my energy during a manic episode.  In the end, exercise is important whether I hate to exercise or not.

My Experiences

I have to be honest with you that even to this day I think my endorphins are not working when I exercise.  The endorphins are the feel-good chemicals in your brain that are jolted awake when you exercise.  There have been so many times in the middle of an exercise session where I felt like crap.  This feeling would stay with me to the end of the workout session.  It had nothing to do with the attitude of “I hate to exercise”.  I simply felt awful all over.  I thought no amount of exercise could get me past this.  I have even cried after I worked out.  But after all that, I still believe there are benefits to exercising.

I like to exercise in the morning.  When I exercise before I go to work at 9:00 a.m., I feel a sense of accomplishment.  It feels as if the whole day is ahead of me and I am better prepared to face the ups and downs of the work day.  I am in need of losing a lot of weight due to depression and medications.  When I exercise, I feel better about myself and can see myself achieving my weight goals in the future.  It becomes less “I hate to exercise” and more “what can exercise do for me”.

From “I Hate to Exercise” to “I Enjoy Exercising”

The key to turning that phrase “I hate to exercise” to “I enjoy exercising” is to find something you like to do.  Do you like organized sports, aerobic classes, martial arts, having a personal trainer, going solo, or maybe a DVD?  If you do not know, try them all to find what works for you.  I have tried just about everything and have finally found some DVD’s that fit my preferences.

How much do you sit?

The thing is not about just getting 20, 30, 45 or even 60 minutes of exercise a day.  That is great if you do!  However, you must look at what you do with your entire day.  How much of your day is spent sitting or being in one spot versus being active and moving around? Do you have a mainly sedentary job?  Do you come home from work and plop down on the couch until you go to bed?  Are you behind the wheel of a vehicle most of the day? Do you lie around reading all day or playing video or computer games? If this describes you, you need to move more even though you are carving out time to exercise.

Ways to Get Moving

To get a couple more footsteps in for the day do the following:

1. Park in the back part of the parking lot at work, the grocery store, the movie theatre, the coffee shop, etc.

2. Get up from your desk throughout the day and walk around the office or go outside to get some exercise.

3. Take the stairs instead of the elevator.

4. Walk to lunch.

5. Walk the dog.

6. Clean the house and vacuum.

7. Work in your garden.

8. Dance around the house.

9. Mow your own lawn.

10. During TV commercials do squats, leg lunges, sit-ups, push-ups, jump-n-jacks, walk in place, etc.

11. Stand up and walk while on the phone.

12. While watching your favorite movie, take breaks from sitting through the movie. (Don’t worry, the movie hasn’t changed since the last 30 times you have watched it.)

Just Get Moving!

Whatever you do, just get moving!  If your attitude is “I hate to exercise”, then try just one of the suggestions mentioned above, at a time.  Do it for a day, week or month.  Then gradually add another suggestion.  You can do this.  You can get moving.  Your body is worth it!

The post I Hate to Exercise appeared first on Life Conquering Bipolar Blog.