You've got to start somewhere...

Hi Diane,
Like you i have also just found this website!i dont know why i haven't found it before! it looks like it has great potential for motivation! Good luck with your excercise program - you will do fabulous!

Lauren

One way to stay motivated is to keep your eye on the prize or the pay-off; a new you. Remind yourself that moving will not only improve your health, but will improve your appearance, energy and (dare I say it -- sex!!) Also, look forward to benefits such as relief from depression, anxiety and stress.

My other big tip is to set goals. You can't get to your destination without a road map. Set short-term goals (only eat chocolate once a week) to longer-term ones, like run a half-marathon in 2007.

Once you see results, you will become even more motivated. Action creates motivation!

Good luck!

Nancy Tipton Albuquerque, N.M. PodRunner since February2006

I consider myself a "beginner" too - I keep starting and starting and starting over. I've had the most success with doing things that make me happy. Walking makes me happy. Especially when I'm walking on a nice day to the library or the bakery (I would have gone to the bakery anyway, so it all works out) or Farmer's Market. I've been doing little things to fit some more walking in, too. I ride the bus to and from work, and suck at working out once I'm home in the evenings. So on nice-ish days, when I don't have three other errands to rush off to do, I walk as far as I can down the bus line, sometimes as much as a mile. I discovered hula hooping this spring. Not just around my waist, but also around my arms. Between that and filling a gallon milk jug maybe 1/4 full of water and using that for lifting about 8 minutes a day, I actually started getting some muscle definition in my upper arms!

One trick I saw for walking was to add up your daily distances, and plot them out on a map - add up Monday through Sunday, get maybe 12 miles. Okay, that's 12 miles towards Disneyland. Add next week's onto that - that's another 10 miles to Disneyland! This was really helpful for me when I was doing lots of walking this spring, and I'm going to try it again for the new year. I'd set a bunch of increasing "total" goals, with the idea of seeing if I could "walk across the country".

One woman I know simply puts gold star stickers on her calendar for every day she works out. Silly maybe, reminiscent of kindergarten perhaps, but it works for her.

If you're looking for someone to chat with, let me know. I could use it too :)