The past few days have been a struggle and I did not exercise AT ALL for 2 of those 3 days. (Yesterday I managed to take a quick 20 minute walk outside).

I am feeling better today though and just completed a 5k walk with Leslie Sansone. It includes three 2 minute "bursts" of quicker activity...and today I ramped it up a bit. Instead of Leslie's bursts of light jogging and bouncing kicks, I changed it to jumping jacks and high knees. Definitely felt it in my calves, and got a nice sweat going! Not sure if I've posted this video before but just in case, here it is again:

Happy exercising!

[Blue_Bird]

Haven't checked in here in awhile. the weather was crappy for the past several weeks but now it's nice and sunny I walked to college today. I may even walk home, not sure yet.

I am gonna try to get to the gym this weekend. Have my fitbit on me, I've walked 26 miles over the past several weeks.

Keep up the great work Blue_Bird!

Today I did a 2 mile walk with Leslie Sansone and a 15 minute pilates workout with FitnessBlender. Yesterday I did a quick 20 minute walk outdoors. Feels good to get the body moving.

I have been a bit busy with my job, but get good amounts of walking done on days that I work (the job is stocking various items at a large store, so I'm constantly walking).

Today I began a 5 day challenge from FitnessBlender, it's intense! Today was Day 1...about 45 minutes long. It included HIIT (high intensity interval training) that targets the lower body, followed by strength training that targets the lower body. I imagine I will feel very sore tomorrow! Here are links to the five day challenge workouts if anyone is interested:

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Day 5:

Anyone can feel free to join me, I'd love the company.

I want to motivate myself to do this so bad but I have trouble because it takes so long to get into shape

I'm not overweight but I'm still a bit on the chubby side and I have a lot of stretch marks on my body from back when I was overweight as a child which make me feel worthless and ugly lol. I want to do something about it but I don't know how to motivate myself because I find most of the physical exercises that I've done so freaking boring.

How do you motivate yourself to put the work in for this among all of your other issues? Because I always end up either putting in 1-2 weeks worth of exercise and giving up when I don't see any noticeable changes in my body or outright put it off all together.

Originally Posted by DarknessIsMyFriend

I want to motivate myself to do this so bad but I have trouble because it takes so long to get into shape

I'm not overweight but I'm still a bit on the chubby side and I have a lot of stretch marks on my body from back when I was overweight as a child which make me feel worthless and ugly lol. I want to do something about it but I don't know how to motivate myself because I find most of the physical exercises that I've done so freaking boring.

How do you motivate yourself to put the work in for this among all of your other issues? Because I always end up either putting in 1-2 weeks worth of exercise and giving up when I don't see any noticeable changes in my body or outright put it off all together.

What helps me stay motivated is that exercise is a fantastic antidepressant. I do it mainly for my mental health. Sure, I'd like to tone up (particularly around the belly area), but that is secondary. Maybe if you think of it as something to benefit your mind first and foremost, that would be helpful? Also, it may help to start out with shorter workouts and build up over time. On fitnessblender.com, you can search through their workouts and specifically look for shorter ones. They even have several 5 minute long workout videos. Any amount of exercise is better than no exercise!

Just finished Day 2 of the challenge. It was a combo of cardio and upper body. Thank goodness, because my lower body is still sore from yesterday.

Originally Posted by scaredandconfused

What helps me stay motivated is that exercise is a fantastic antidepressant. I do it mainly for my mental health. Sure, I'd like to tone up (particularly around the belly area), but that is secondary. Maybe if you think of it as something to benefit your mind first and foremost, that would be helpful? Also, it may help to start out with shorter workouts and build up over time. On fitnessblender.com, you can search through their workouts and specifically look for shorter ones. They even have several 5 minute long workout videos. Any amount of exercise is better than no exercise!

Just finished Day 2 of the challenge. It was a combo of cardio and upper body. Thank goodness, because my lower body is still sore from yesterday.

I guess that's my problem. The only reason why I've really desired to get into shape is because I want to look attractive so people would finally pay attention to me and women would finally desire me; vain I know but I have self image issues.

I will look at some of the links you submitted on this thread and go from there.

Today will be a break day from intense exercise, because my legs are still quite sore from the Day 1 workout a couple days ago. Ouch! I will be doing Day 3 tomorrow.

I have gotten in quite a bit of walking though, thanks to my new job. I have done about 13.5k steps so far, and I may do an easy Leslie Sansone walk later to loosen up my legs a bit more. Intense exercise is good for you...but the post workout muscle soreness. Yikes! Climbing stairs hurts...sitting on the toilet hurts.

Today I did about 50 minutes of walking total, plus Day 3 of the FitnessBlender challenge. Today's focus was on HIIT and abs - I got a very good sweat going!

Today I got another 13.5k steps total, thanks to work. I also did Day 4 of the challenge, which was a combination of upper body exercises, kickboxing, and yoga. It was the easiest day of the challenge thus far but I would not call it easy by any means - got a nice sweat going.

Just completed Day 5 of the challenge. Woop woop! The focus today was on HIIT and lower body. It was shorter than the previous 4 challenge days but still made me sweat big time. I know it took me 6 days total to complete the 5 day challenge, but I am still proud of myself. I will definitely do this challenge in the future. The next couple of days will probably be lighter on workouts in order to recover properly from this intense challenge.

Yesterday I took a complete break from exercise and gave my body a rest.

Today I've started another 5 day challenge from FitnessBlender. It is a challenge for busy people (similar to the previous 5 day challenge I completed, except these workouts are closer to 30 minutes long rather than closer to an hour). I am not a busy person, I'll be honest. But these are still very effective workouts in a short period of time. I worked up a BIG sweat and my face looked like a tomato! Today's focus was on HIIT and lower body. I'll post the links to the 5 day challenge for busy people in case anyone is interested - it is 100% free:

Day 1 -

Day 2 -

Day 3 -

Day 4 -

Day 5 -

Just finished Day 2, which focused on cardio and upper body. It was definitely easier than yesterday, but my arms are nice and sore. Didn't sweat nearly as much though and didn't look like a tomato at the end.

[TheDragon]

You're doing awesome! Keep it up! You've even inspired me to start exercising more

Yesterday I didn't do an actual workout, but I did manage around 12k steps total.

Today I took a 20 minute walk outdoors and also did Day 3 of the 5 day challenge for busy people. This workout focused on HIIT and abs. It was definitely harder than Day 2 and I got a better sweat from it, but Day 1 has still been the hardest of this challenge.

[Snap66]

You beat my step count

End of the day I reached 9,298 steps 8.37kms.

Today I got 11.6k steps total, plus did Day 4 of the FitnessBlender challenge for busy people. Day 4 was definitely the easiest one of this challenge thus far, it was a combination of upper body strength and yoga. I got a bit of a sweat but not much, although I felt tired before working out and now I feel more energized. Looks like I won't be taking that nap after all.

Today I did Day 5 of the challenge. The focus was on HIIT and lower body. It was a good workout but I barely broke a sweat which is odd to me. There were so many lunge varieties, ouch! D: My legs will feel this tomorrow, that's for sure.

On Friday I didn't do any working out aside from walking steps at work, which was over 10k steps for sure.

Saturday and Sunday were a struggle for me emotionally - I didn't do any exercise. Trying not to beat myself up about it.

Today was a much better day, and I reached 15k steps total. No additional workouts...but I'd like to get back to working out tomorrow. I always feel better after I get moving.

I have been quite lazy lately and neglecting exercise aside from walking at work. Today I hit over 12k steps.

Today I bought a 4 week workout program from FitnessBlender called FBSweat. All of their workouts are free on youtube but I like them so much that I don't mind buying a program once in a while, especially since they are quite affordable (this one was $10...or $14 Canadian).

The program is interesting in that they give you options each day (5 days a week, optional workout on the 6th day, rest day on the 7th) to either workout for around 30 minutes, or tackle an extra workout to add up to around 50 minutes. I'm glad this is an option because on some days I feel lazier than others.

I start this program tomorrow morning, looking forward to it!

Completed Day 1 of the program today, with the focus being largely on the lower body. I was definitely pooped afterwards! I'll try to remember to post my step count later today, since I always get a good amount of steps in on work days.

Almost up to 16k steps so far today.

Today I walked outdoors about 45 minutes total (walking to an appointment and then back home). It felt nice to be moving again. Aside from work, I have been quite lazy with exercise these past few days. I intend to do a workout early tomorrow morning before work.

I went to the clinic today and got weighed...129lbs. That's pretty good for a height of 5'7, I was worried that I had perhaps gained weight but I actually lost a pound since last time so that's good.

Just completed a 3 mile walk/dance workout from superherofitnesstv. They have a lot of cool looking dance workouts but since I have 2 left feet I haven't done any of the advanced ones...but despite this just being a "walk" it was still quite challenging! I had my ceiling fan on the whole time and it is quite difficult for me to break a sweat when it's going...and I managed to get in a good sweat regardless. And it was fun! Here's the link to the workout in case anyone is interested:

I'll probably post my step count later today as well. Since it's a work day I'll get a good number of steps in.