As of Saturday I am officially down 33.8 lbs. At this point you would think that I have it down pat, made in the shade, etc. for continued weight loss. But what worked for me at 237 doesn't necessarily work for me at 204, and what worked in the summer doesn't often work in the winter. Think about your personal barriers to moving enough every day to maintain your health and to reach your fitness goals. What are they? Here are some of the barriers that I commonly face:
Being tired
Having something unusual crop up in my work schedule that makes working out in the morning difficult
Having company
Going out of town
Being sick
Not wanting to leave the house (due to bad weather or any number of issues)
Not being able the leave Little Runner home alone when Round Hiker is out and about
Having something better to do (like read a great book)
Just plain old not feeling like it
Here are my solutions:
Being tired - this is okay once in a while but not on a regular basis. Suck it up and workout anyway if you have already "been tired" once this week.
Having something unusual crop up in my work schedule that makes working out in the morning difficult - this one can be hard to fade. Sometimes life happens. If I can't shift my schedule around to incorporate exercise before work I might be able to do it after work. If not, roll with it and workout the next day.
Having company - sometimes I can exercise with company present, sometimes I can't - it depends on the situation. When in doubt, exercise.
Going out of town - I relax and enjoy myself. If it's not more than a week, take the time off and have some fun.
Being sick - Relax and get well. Working out while sick is not the best use of your body's energy; getting well is.
Being injured - Work around the injury as best you can. If you must lay off exercise for an extended time period (more than a week) be extra careful of your diet to not gain weight while lame.
Not wanting to leave the house (due to bad weather or any number of issues) - find a way to workout indoors. Get home exercise equipment (treadmill, elliptical, kettle ball, weights, workout DVDs, whatever) so that bad weather doesn't become an excuse to no move.
Not being able the leave Little Runner home alone when Round Hiker is out and about - see the solution above. Being house-bound for non-illness related reasons doesn't mean that you should not exercise.
Having something better to do (like read a great book) - Taking occasional, unplanned breaks from exercise is good for you. Have at it once every few weeks or so, just not every day.
Just plain old not feeling like it - This is a major symptom that something in your workout/exercise plan is not working. You may be bored, so try changing your routine up. Or you may be over trained and need some time for your body to recuperate. A change of pace activity may help, or just taking a rest day may do the trick. If it doesn't, you may need to rethink your whole exercise plan. I have a high need for one of two kinds of exercise - novel and different, or completely mindless. Highly repetitive exercise that isn't mindless is difficult for me to sustain for more than a week or two.
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