It certainly can be difficult to find time in the schedule for exercise. Things improved for me when I stopped thinking about where I was going to find enough time to achieve loftier goals like 30 minutes/5 days a week or 10,000 steps per day. Inevitably, something would come up, and I would get discouraged and lose my motivation when I couldn't achieve the overall goal. What I've tried that has worked is building upon shorter units of time--the opportunity to take a longer walk some evenings or weekends combined with shorter walks at lunch or time on the treadmill at home, visits to the gym while my son is in music lessons, combining trips to the gym with commute from work or other places. I also bought and started using a pedometer--not religiously--but as a an opportunity to see how these units of time could build toward 10,000 steps a day. I rarely achieve that unless on vacation, but I have a much better idea of how much activity I am getting each day. I don't think that most people know how much or little activity they get, just like most don't realize how many calories they are taking in.
The other thing that has been important to me is to keep consistently challenging myself at the gym and in walking. What I tended to do in the past was to go through the motions repetitively, and I enjoyed that as a mental break from the day. However, I now start ratcheting up the resistance on cardio machines at least every 3rd visit, as well as trying to increase the weights. This, I hope, will make the time more effective.
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12-30-2007, 01:38 PM
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