Maybe it’s the summer heat.
Maybe it’s the busy schedule or the lack of quality sleep or the fact that I don’t have anybody to actually go to the gym with.
But when it comes to motivation to get up off of the couch and actually do something physical in a given day, I’d much rather sink into the cushions and catch up on work or reading than actually leave the house early enough to get a decent sweat in.
This isn’t uncommon for me – I’ve hit the wall so many times in the last six months that I’m surprised there isn’t a hole punched through it by now.
And I’m having the most horrific food cravings I’ve ever had in my entire life.
Early on in this process the changes were easy to make – even though they were incremental. It was easy to cut out the majority of the fast food that I ate, even if I slipped up occasionally with a trip to Taco Bell. It was easy to order the salad or the chicken even though I wanted nothing more than a juicy hamburger.
What hasn’t been easy is finding the motivation every single day to go to the gym. This has to be my wife’s biggest pet peeve, and I realize that with just minimal consistent exercise I’d shed the extra weight I’m carrying around like it’s no big deal.
But why would I go to the gym when I can read up for class and watch nine episodes of Special Victim’s Unit while burning zero calories that I consumed throughout the day?
Makes perfect sense, right?
I’ve been trying to incorporate things that are like working out but are actually a good time – like racquetball – and long walks and hikes to local places that I like to visit to clear my head on the weekends.
When I have to go to Manteca High School anymore I actually walk instead of driving (a step in the right direction) and last week when I had to go downtown to pick something up from the office, I walked from Fremont Street rather than driving the short distance because I knew it was better for me.
And as I’ve said before, all of these little things have paid off immensely. There was a time, not that long ago, that I wouldn’t have been able to make that walk downtown because my lower back would have been absolutely killing me halfway there – leaving me cursing my concept with every single step.
That’s not the case today. I can run father and recuperate faster than I ever did, and my entire physical well-being is far better off than it was before I started. My stomach is never upset. I have much more energy than ever before and I sleep so much better – the nights of lying in bed without being able to turn over and pass out are gone, and those nights of sleeping like a rock are much more consistent when I’m actually going to the gym and doing something athletic.
So therein lays the problem.
I’m open to any motivation suggestions as I’ve been reading up online about ways to make yourself accountable. I had a golden opportunity some time back to work out with a friend every single morning and I never took it as seriously as I should have, and I’m definitely regretting blowing that off right now.
The way I see it if it was possible for me to go to football practice every day from June through November, it shouldn’t be that hard for me to find a way to get into the gym three days a week when I feel like it.
I’m open to suggestions, or a sharp kick in the pants to get me going again.