I do not know how to break my 10 year cycle of not working out. Can you give me some advice please? I have a battle in my head 2-5 times a day about going to exercise and not getting up.

Start small with baby steps.
Set the simplest and smallest thing you can do that will put you one step closer to this goal and monitor your achievement.
Try to keep this new small action daily e.g. start going up and downstairs for a few minutes per day.

Start by a 1min exercise habits every day for 30 days. You can start by just dancing walking or push up. If you manage to build the habits progressively you are more likely to succeed.

I spent my 5-week visit with my daughter planning my first day back to the gym, because I, too, had battles with myself inside my head. In fact, at the airport on my way home, I almost missed my flight, because I was trying to design my own app to motivate myself to vet moving again. It was the action of “Accepting the Challenge,” and clicking that button that has “flipped the switch” in my head. I literally shocked myself when I committed to the 7 minute running (then another 30 seconds each day), because I hate running! So when I got tonmy sub job today, I kept asking myself, “How can I run?” “Where can I run?” I had 20 minutes before I needed to greet students, so I went to the gym, I set my iPhone Timer for 8 minutes and met my “obligation” to myself.

Start by just walking 15 mins – or some yoga stretches every morning. Don't imagine all Excercise is hard work – it doesn't have to be

Pick something fun or something you think with resonate with you personally. Find an exercise pal to plan it with so you’re more likely to do it.
Write down all the benefits of exercise and set short term, long term, specific and achievable goals.

Start small. Sun salutations A is literally five minutes long and pretty easy. You could do that in the morning to get you going. Take a five minute walk to get a break at work or after meals. It's easier to overcome a motivation issue if you're talking about a five minute commitment. Theory of small wins. Once you're regularly doing a couple of five minute sessions a day, you'll be more motivated to extend those sessions. Over time, you'll build into a full workout that feels right.

Hi my friend, I had depression for the past a few years. Before that, I also have 5 years eating disorder caused by anxiety. I am now trying to overcome all these by building up a regular routine and I know the feeling of failing to form a habit that seems to be trivial. My suggestion would be 1) asking yourself if you are under pressure or being anxious. Turn to a doctor if necessary. This is important. Don’t fool yourself or pretend everything is okay. 2) If your answer is NO, congratulations! You are already doing better than me. Things don’t change in one sec, try to be patient and kind to yourself. Asking yourself if you really need doing exercise every single day, maybe twice a week is also acceptable? Especially if you are living a busy life, there is indeed nothing to blame. I mean if you think doing exercise is good but you just don’t like it, you should follow your heart. The correct interpretation is you don’t like to go to a specific gym, but not “I cannot form a regular exercise habit”. You may come up with some alternative way such as walking to shopping mall or alike. 10 year habit doesn’t form in a day and takes time to make changes happen. I find it is useful to try walking 10 min in the morning. I tell myself “if I can do it today, next try will be easier, I can see the habit is forming and my confidence is also slowly growing, just be patient”. All the best!

I had trouble motivating myself to exercise, too – mainly because I was physically, mentally, or emotionally exhausted after a string of busy, stressful days. I found that when I badgered myself to go exercise, it only added to my mental or emotional exhaustion, so of course I didn't exercise. I took a good look at the situation; I knew that if I wanted to carve out a new habit of healthy exercise, it had to be something I would enjoy and think of as fun, or a treat to myself. I also knew that after so many years of old habits, I needed to be gentle and forgiving with myself on the days that I fell back a step. Since I have always enjoyed yoga (even when I wasn't consistent about it), I added the Fabulous habit of "Stretch" to my routines 3 times a day. When my reminder went off, I started with the most simple yoga stretches – like Mountain Pose. If you Google "beginner yoga stretches," I'm sure you can find a couple that fit for you. They take about 10 seconds to one minute, I can do them anywhere, and they feel amazing. It's not much, but it's more than I was doing before! Next, I put together a couple playlists of my favorite bouncy music. I set a Fabulous habit alarm for Exercise (I do mine at 3:30pm to wake me up, or in the evening to unwind after a stressful day); when my alarm goes off, I turn on a playlist and just DANCE! FYI, I don't know any dance moves at all; but the goal is just to bounce and step and move and smile and get my heart rate going. I've been doing that for a long time now, and I can honestly say it is one of my FAVORITE habits! And it's truly become a habit – any time I hear one of the songs from my dance playlists, I immediately start grooving. I can't help it! Whether I'm doing the dishes or shopping for groceries, if I hear one of "my" songs, I get moving. And moving is healthy! After a while of gentle stretches and fun dance moves, I put together a "walking" playlist, and included fast walks in my week. That could mean 30 minutes on a bike path, 15 on a treadmill, or 5 minutes by parking in a space farthest from the entrance of where I want to go. Even purposely pacing back and forth while I'm talking on the phone counts. What I've learned from all these months of doing this is that I feel SO much better; I feel happier; and it's become such a habit that I don't LIKE to be sedentary anymore. I'm still working on taking a daily run or making an hour-long exercise session a part of my routine; but, that's the next level. I know I'll get there someday. Meanwhile, I just get MOVING! You can do it too! Have fun!! 🙂

I have been there. I always loved working out but I just could not bring myself to do it. And even when I did i felt quite stressed. So then I realised probably I don’t like the form of working out I am focusing on. There are great many varieties of exercise – like yoga, Jumba, running. I switched to running and yoga and felt so relaxed. So much so I look forward to waking up everyday and doing yoga.its a highlight of my day. So take time to find your groove. And start small- like 5 min. If you are extremely busy do 5 min but do it everyday. You will love it by the end of 10 days trust me

Start with baby steps …
in the begining you can make some simple stretching and yoga posture in bed for few minute, after you wake up and before get down

First question. Why do you want to work out? Why bother? If you can determine a motivation then you need to keep sneakers in your car or at work or next to the. Door at home. You need to make it easy to move. Pretend you are Mr. Rogers. Put on your sneakers slowly, carefully and then walk

I had trouble motivating myself to exercise, too – mainly because I was physically, mentally, or emotionally exhausted after a string of busy, stressful days. I found that when I badgered myself to go exercise, it only added to my mental ot emotional exhaustion, so of course I didn't exercise. I took a good look at the situation; I knew that if I wanted to carve out a new habit of healthy exercise, it had to be something I would enjoy and think of as fun, or a treat to myself. I also knew that after so many years of old habits, I needed to be gentle and forgiving with myself on the days that I fell back a step. Since I have always enjoyed yoga (even when I wasn't consistent about it), I added the Fabulous habit of "Stretch" to my routines 3 times a day. When my reminder went off, I started with the most simple yoga stretches – like Mountain Pose. If you Google "beginner yoga stretches," I'm sure you can find a couple that fit for you. They take about 10 seconds to one minute, I can do them anywhere, and they feel amazing. It's not much, but it's more than I was doing before! Next, I put together a couple playlists of my favorite bouncy music. I set a Fabulous habit alarm for Exercise (I do mine at 3:30pm to wake me up, or in the evening to unwind after a stressful day); when my alarm goes off, I turn on a playlist and just DANCE! FYI, I don't know any dance moves at all; but the goal is just to bounce and step and move and smile and get my heart rate going. I've been doing that for a long time now, and I can honestly say it is one of my FAVORITE habits! And it's truly become a habit – any time I hear one of the songs from my dance playlists, I immediately start grooving. I can't help it! Whether I'm doing the dishes or shopping for groceries, if I hear one of "my" songs, I get moving. And moving is healthy! After a while of gentle stretches and fun dance moves, I put together a "walking" playlist, and included fast walks in my week. That could mean 30 minutes on a bike path, 15 on a treadmill, or 5 minutes by parking in a space farthest from the entrance of where I want to go. Even purposely pacing back and forth while I'm talking on the phone counts. What I've learned from all these months of doing this is that I feel SO much better; I feel happier; and it's become such a habit that I don't LIKE to be sedentary anymore. I'm still working on taking a daily run or making an hour-long exercise session a part of my routine; but, that's the next level. I know I'll get there someday. Meanwhile, I just get MOVING! You can do it too! Have fun!! 🙂

Start small. Do 5 star jumps on the first day. Do 10 on the 2nd. Do 15 on the 3rd. On the 4th day you might do a push up. On the 5th day do all of the above. On the 6th day reward yourself with a walk through the park. On the 7th day….. ect.