Well i am hoping some of you will have some advise for me. I work 3 shifts a week 12 hrs a night.When I am not at work i am sitting on my A$$ or sleeping.I know if i got up and did things i would feel so much better and the weight would come off alot faster.But i can't seem to get myself up to do anything.What is wrong with me?

This may sound harsh, but nobody can make you get up and exercise but you yourself! Why do you think they ever came out with that slogan "just do it"? Get off your tush, start with something easy, probably just walking around the block, a local track or path.....anything! And then as time goes on, a little activity usually makes you feel like doing a little more, and next thing you know, you can't wait to exercise. You can diet all you want, if you do not start adding some activity to your life, the quality of it will definitely deteriorate faster as you age, that is a fact you cannot escape. The only thing that will slow down that deterioration is avoiding the sedentary lifestyle!

And understand that this is coming from one that has walked in your shoes, I started this way of life because I could not get off the sofa for hours upon hours after I had become involuntarily unemployed. Was just too tired, had to nap and nap and nap, or just sit and watch TV....just didn't have energy at all. And started with 3/4 of a mile around a local walking track. You can do it, yes you can!

MOVE IT OR LOSE IT!!!!!!

Sorry about the tough love routine, but it's totally the truth

Thank you.Sometimes the truth is just what i need *LOL* I guess tomorrow i will be walking. Wouldn't it be nice if they had something to make ya want to excrise.

thanks again

Well, why would you be asking if you didn't want to? Isn't the pain of not being able to gather the energy to do something for yourself a catalyst? If you let IT motivate you to make that first step, the feeling of accomplishment will spur you on to more, and that will start to change your body in a way that you will soon come to desire more and more. Once begun, it is truly amazing at the change toward a more youthful energetic you that can take place.

Just promise yourself to give it a little time, say 2 or 3 months, and don't quit at the first sign of a little discomfort and you will see, I guarantee, or I'll refund you your ole' tired a#% self right back, LOL

One help might be to use our tendencies for habits, routines, and addictions to our advantage. Pick a day and time, or if your shifts always change, a pattern that would work.

For me, I am not a great exerciser. But twice a week is a start. So, for me it is now routine to look out of the window Saturday and Sunday mornings right after I wake up, and if it isn't pouring rain, snow or ice, I go walking. If I forget, I feel the guilt of a missed opportunity, a missed appointment. Do whatever you need to do - walk, curves, gym club - but get into a routine.

THink about when you might most easily get into such a routine. If you have 3 shifts, there is always a morning after 24 h break, so pick that morning, for example, as your routine: Whenever I am off 24 h, that morning is my walk/gym day. Or maybe the morning after you have slept and still have the whole day off - whatever works, but then make it your rule. Good luck!

They do, it is called living longer and feeling better.

It only has to be 20/30 minutes out of your day, which is not a lot. This will do you the world of good. Imagine that 20/30 minutes, thats not a lot is it and it could stick years on your life.

Good luck
Mike

How's this for little exercise...

I try to do ten leg lifts or crunches every day. I walk from the subway to work, but I've been doing that for years. I just try to get those lifts in with the thought of this summer...

Will they do anything for the summer? I doubt it. But as long as I get myself into a routine (20-30 seconds!), then maybe, in the future, I'll expand on it.

M

Molly gets me out the door more often than I would on my own, that's for sure.

I generally don't "want" to exercise. But I DO want to look better, feel better, be able to get through a day without dragging or hurting myself, etc. And all of those benefits come from regular exercise.

I'm surrounded by aging women--15 over 80. And the more active they were from 40-60, the better the life they have today. That's some incentive when my own isn't strong enough.

I also work nights and until recently was working part time for several months. I got out of the exercise habit when I moved, but before that, I had gotten very good about it. I started by doing an exercise video, Walk Away the Pounds. It's a series, but the first, simplest one is only 15 minutes. I'd tell myself if I can't even get off my butt for 15 minutes, then I'm REALLY pathetic. Pretty soon I was doing the tape twice a day instead. And then I moved on to the 30-minute tape.

lets assume you work 6PM to 6AM Mon, Tue, Wed. Sleep from 9 to 5. Do you alter your wake/sleep on your days off?
If not, can you work out at 6PM on Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun. If you do shift over - why not work out at 8AM Th,Fr,Sa,Su & Mon.

This might work better than trying to get it in on your 12 hrs off.

Jennifer,

Don't expect to feel like doing it.

The key is to not think about what you feel like doing. Do it because you planned to do it, because you scheduled it, because it is what you are going to do. Turn off your brain, don't think about what you want to do, do not evaluate. Excercise because you decided to, not because you feel like it. It's just the next thing you're (and I'm) going to do. Period.

Now turn the computer off. I am and I'm off to the gym now. Do I feel like it? I don't know. I'm not thinking about it. I am just going because it's on my calendar for 3:30.

Bye!

thanks guys!!!!! I needed all that to get my butt in gear