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I am a Social Worker, and I work long hours. By the time I get home I am so tired and ready to go to bed. Sometimes I do not even eat dinner. I am not a lazy person and I try to stay active but it is hard. I started to play tennis with my father, and payed for another year at the gym. I also purchased Weight Loss Coach for my Nintendo DS lite system to give myself a little push. I deal with people all day, and at times feel that I am burnt out. I love to dance, but the club scene is not for me anymore. Any suggestions for a 30 something who needs a little help?
Work fewer hours. If work is the root of your issues then I'd start by addressing that.
Or just do it consistently every day for a week, and pretty soon your body will REQUIRE you to work out. It's funny, but hte human body is built for inertia. Get used to not working out, and your body will want to do it. Get used to not working out, you will feel more lazy, drained, etc.
Besides, do you really want to be throwing money down the toilet in this economy by NOT going to the gym you paid for? If money is no object, I envy you ...
Energy drinks and heavy metal. Energy drinks for the most part are crap for ya but I think of a small red bull before a work out as a great energy booster that gets me going. You dont have to listen to heavy metal but seriously find a music that gets you going and makes you want to move. For some people this is techno, some its rock, metal, rap, pop, etc...
Here is a couple youtube links of the kind of music I enjoy when I want to really push myself in the gym. It makes me want to punch holes in the wall.
When I worked (I retired a couple of years ago) my process was to set aside 1/2 hour a night to work out. You can treadmill, take a walk, exercise bike, weight lift or whatever floats your boat. On the weekends, you can set aside a bit more time, since you don't have the work conflict.
Worked out practically every night for over 30 years while working, generally after a 9-10 hour day.
I think jogging/running will give you the biggest bang for your buck. Even just a 10 minute run will make you feel better. In fact, on days that I don't feel like running, I always tell myself that I can at least do 10 minutes. Even when I'm totally exhausted, I can muster up enough energy for 10 minutes. Telling myself that gets me to the treadmill and, once I get started, I usually tell myself it'd be a waste of time to get all decked out in my running clothes and not do at least 20 minutes.
I also bargain with myself a lot. Like, I tell myself if I run as fast as I can for 15 minutes, then I can walk for a little while. And, of course, I always wear my iPod. Music gives me a big energy boost.
I used to work in foster care at the DHS here. It was very stressful. I worked crazy, long hours. I felt like I was going crazy, because every day was emotionally draining and I wasn't getting enough sleep (due to the long hours) to be fully functional. I actually ended up quitting because they wouldn't let me cut back on my hours. But, it all worked out, because I really wasn't happy in that line of work. I agree that it would be helpful to try to cut back, if you can.
Even if you can't cut back, it seems like a little bit of exercise would do you a world of good in helping you cope with work stress. But, then again, it's hard to find the time or energy to do much of anything when you're working late every night. You're in a pickle. Sorry.
I just thought of another thing that helps keep me on track. I go to this website, mapmyrun.com, and log every run that I do. I love logging my runs...it's like my reward for doing what I'm supposed to do. I love being able to look over my running log history and see how much I've improved over the last few months. It also tells you how many calories you burn on each run and keeps a running total. Since I've started using the website, I think I've burned nearly 40,000 calories. And I've ran about 400 miles. Seeing my numbers get bigger makes me happy and keeps me motivated.
This is my "5k" run (actually 3.37 miles) that I usually do.
One of my greatest motivating factors I kiss on the head before heading out to workout - my one year old daughter. I owe it to her to take as much care of myself as possible so that I can in turn, take care of her. I also motivate myself by always challenging myself. I log my runs (on Nike Plus and on spreadsheet) and try to better my score/time each time out.
Even when working out with weights I track everything - the weight I use for each exercise, the number of reps completed, and constantly try to better myself. This is incredibly motivating to me as usually I can see that I get just a bit better each time out. Even if its just one rep more than last time with same weight, I feel like progress is being made.
The best motivating factor is results. The first time you step on that scale and see that you've lost weight or when you add weight/reps to your weight training, it will all just snowball from there.
motivation is the key to seeing and keeping results. it's hard and I know what you're talking about when you say you're so tired after a long, hard day. I'm there with you. you have to dig deep to find the source of inspiration for losing weight. to be healthy, most of all. but also to look and feel good. you have to find a goal outfit that you stare at and tell yourself, I can do this and take it one step at a time. one of the best ways to motivate yourself is to find a partner to tell you when you need to get off your ass or when you're being lazy. and you can do the same for them. make it a competition in some way.
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