How to Motivate Yourself to Keep Fit

Tina Murphy, founder and creator or the popular Run with Tina and Slim with Tina program, helps us find the motivation to keep going with our fitness regime.

1. Accept where you are at today and start there

Forget how fit you used to be or how fit you could or should be and just accept that right now, running for the bus is a challenge or walking up the stairs gets you out of breath.? This is okay. It happens. Start with whatever seems doable for you right now and take it easy for few weeks. If you’ve not done anything for few months, start by going for a walk three times a week. Don’t worry about whether you should be doing more. Just focus on the fact that you’re doing something, which is an awful lot better than nothing! Your first goal should be to learn to enjoy exercise. That way, you’re more likely to keep it up long term. Once you enjoy it, you can start challenging yourself more.

The more simple you keep it, the better, hence walking or a little running is a good one to start with as it’s something you can do anytime, anywhere and you won’t need to spend a lot of money to get started.

2. Enjoy every step

Goals give you something to work towards but what I find better than the traditional way of setting goals is focusing on enjoying life here and now. Aim to find joy in every moment and in every step you take. So when you go for a walk or run, or even a gym session, do not spend the session grinding your teeth thinking ?this will all pay off when I have that killer body?, or ?when I cross that 10k finish line?. Instead, find something to enjoy in that very moment. Notice how strong your legs are, how your body is able for so much more than you ever thought, how good the fresh air feels, how your worries seem to just melt away, how you feel so good about yourself right now.? When you do this, you won’t want to skip your next session.

3. Change your attitude

Most women want to start exercising in order to improve their bodies. You feel your body is not good enough, you’re unhappy, so you need to do something about it. This rarely works as it makes exercise feel like a punishment, something you force yourself to do. If you change your attitude and start seeing it as something you want to do because you love yourself and want to look after yourself the best you can, it will become much easier and more a more positive experience. Exercise is a good thing. It will improve the quality of your life almost instantly and it will keep you healthy and strong for years to come. Try to see it as something good you do for yourself, a way of showing yourself self love and respect. This might seem hard to believe if you generally find exercise unpleasant, but if you follow the first two steps, you will learn to enjoy it and then changing your attitude is easier too!

Slim With Tina: The Easy Way to Lose Weight and Keep It Off is out now. Get it from your local bookshop or order/download from?Amazon.co.uk