Evelyn's Blog

Lifestyle, Health, Fitness, Self-Care, Personal Growth

You are here: Home / Fitness / Seven Tips to Help You Stick with Your Exercise Regimen

Seven Tips to Help You Stick with Your Exercise Regimen

by

running manSticking with an exercise regimen is a big challenge for many, myself included.  I usually start an exercise regimen all pumped up, but as the days go by, I become a slacker.  I slack off so much that I stop exercising all together.  My goal is to have an exercise regimen and stick with it, no matter what.

I hate being a slacker in the exercise department.  A month ago I challenged myself to stick with an exercise regimen for 21 days.  I did well for the first few days and then I found myself slacking.

The result of slacking caused me to abandon my exercise regimen.  No longer can I start something and not follow through.

Are you having a hard time sticking with your exercise regimen?  If so, here are a few tips to get back into the swing of things.

Seven Tips to Help you Stick with Your Exercise Regimen

1.  Set a date and time for exercising.  Sometimes things come up that are out of your hands, which will get you off schedule, but find time within the day to get your exercise for the day, no matter what.

2.  See yourself successfully completing your exercise regimen.  If you can envision yourself exercising, then you are more likely to exercise.  Seeing is doing!

3.  Start off with reasonable expectations.  The first day you start working out, forget being a superman/superwoman.  Take it nice and slow, gradually work your way to your desired goals.

4.  Take one day at a time.  Don’t set a goal for a certain amount of days to exercise, because focusing on the number results in being overwhelmed.  As a result of being overwhelmed you slack off and finally call it quits.  Calling it quits is not something you want.

5.  Learn more about why exercising is important.  I don’t know about you, but when I learn more about why I need to do something that is good for my body, I tend to do it with no problems.  Learning about exercise and fitness, increases your success rate.  As a result you are more likely to stick with your exercise regimen.

6.  Think about how exercising makes you feel.   I can’t explain the science behind it, but I have experienced feeling better and sleeping like a baby after exercising.  It goes to show that exercising is very beneficial for the body.

7.  Maintain your weight.  Exercise alone doesn’t help you drop the pounds.  You also must keep an eye on what you are eating.  Once you get to your ideal weight, exercising regularly, helps you keep your weight under control.

How do you get back on your exercise regimen, when you fall off?

Image: CapemayL / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. This is a grerat article. It can be really hard to stay motivated when trying something new. A good way to do it is to start off just changing a few small things in your routine, then adding others as you adjust to those.

  3. Setting a date for exercising has helped me tremendously. I mark it on my calendar in outlook when I work out at home. When I go the gym, I make sure I go when it opens first thing.

    Distractions during cardio workouts such as watching tv using the elliptical trainer also helps me a lot.

  4. Hi Evelyn,

    I always try to go jogging at least once every two days. It wasn’t easy at first, i could have used your advices at that time. Everything seemed so hard because i wasn’t yet used to it.
    But once i got used to the good parts – more positive thinking, better sleep, loss of weight – it became a cinch.
    Just wish more people would realize the benefits of exercising.

    • Hi Maria,

      Thanks for stopping by and sharing what you do. Very helpful!

      It goes to show us that if we keep on doing what we know is good for us, it will become second nature.

      Take care,

      Evelyn

  5. Hi Evelyn:

    I just evolved into a vegan-eater on 8/1. and hoping to transition into raw vegan. I noticed you are no longer raw vegan- I’ll have to review your old post to learn about the transition. I hope my “ailments” are healed as a result of my dietary change.

    • Hi Vibrant,

      That’s great!

      I no longer label myself as a raw vegan. I had problems sticking with a raw vegan diet, plus I didn’t like the way I looked. I do however take 21-30 days out of the month, every 3/4 months to eat raw. It is my way of cleansing.

      I have been sticking with eating vegan for a year (yay). It was best for me to stick with eating vegan and get the hang of that, before eating raw vegan. I do eat make sure to include a certain percentage of uncooked foods, but I will never label myself as a raw vegan. I’m just a vegan. 😉

      I hope your dietary change helps too. Don’t forget your exercise! 🙂

      Take care,

      Evelyn

      • Hi Evelyn:

        Thank you for your reply. You said “You didn’t
        like the way it made you look? ie being raw vegan. Please elaborate-?????

        • I looked great, but I got too small (weight) which made me look anorexic. A lot of my family and friends, actually asked me if I was okay. They thought I was sick or something. I looked in the mirror one day and did not like what I saw. That’s what I meant, sorry I didn’t express myself better.

          But overall, eating a raw vegan diet is a good thing. It is very cleansing and healing. It does work! But you must make sure you eat enough food to obtain the calories you need for your body.

          • Thank you for the clarification. I need to trim a little (LOL) so it will be a good thing in that area. Made Walnut Meat Tacos today- I liked them.

  6. Get a friend to exercise with you. I always get some friends to go jogging with me on the weekend. it is more fun and can help me to stick with my exercise regime

  7. Thank you so much for your comment, it awakened my eyes to your site. So much fun! We have so many interests! I love this article. I would also like to add that what works for me is when I make ‘reasonable expectations” (which usually I go overboard to push myself), I like to take one step at a time. I break down my runs. I think about the first mile, then the second and so on until I’m finished. It makes the workout go faster and smoother most of the time.

    • Hi Genki,

      Welcome!

      Great way of achieving your exercise goal by breaking down your tasks. Very helpful, indeed!

      Thanks for sharing and for stopping by!

      Evelyn

  8. The only way I get back on track with exercising is to “Just Do It”. I find myself writing out all these elaborate plans and great exercise regimens of how & what I’m going to do but don’t stick to the plan. It’s easier if I just set a time aside and commit to exercising during that time on a regular basis.

    Great tips. Thanks for sharing.

    • Tamra,

      You are so right. “Just do it.” I do the same thing “writing out plans” and I always get sidetracked. Thanks for sharing your way of sticking to your exercise regimen.

      Glad you stopped by too! 😉

  9. Hey Evelyn! This list is awesome! One of the strategies I like to have my weight loss clients use is to make sure they have a goal that they feel passionately enough about achieving. This in and of itself makes you stick to it better then having no special goals in mind.

    Good goals to have might be lose x# pounds, run a 5K, squat x# pounds, etc.

    • Hey Susan,

      Thank you!

      You’re absolutely right. A goal that we are passionate about really helps us stay focused. Thank you for sharing this. I find it very helpful.

  10. Time management is just the number one thing that get people off from not exercising. They don’t plan out their day.

    “Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”

  11. Thanks Evelyn 🙂 Now, I can I get 70 steps on how to START exercising today? lol i have been seriously struggling. I’m walking with a pedometer for now to try and to at least 10,000 steps a day but some days I fall short.