Getting Motivated to excercise

Chandi Schwab
Motivation isn't something that just happens to you, but something you create for yourself. Exercise may be all about moving the body, but you won't get anywhere until you move your mind first. Getting past your mental roadblocks can open the door for new ideas and new attitudes. Here are some great tips to help you get motivated.
1. Accept the fact that you have to exercise: If you spend most of your time sitting and you want to lose weight and get healthy, exercise is a must. Nothing, no pill or diet or surgical procedure can take the place of being active. Making peace with that fact often makes doing it a little easier. Exercise doesn't have to happen in a gym or take up hours of your time. Knowing you can create your own exercise experience may help you get up and get moving.
2. Acknowledge your lifestyle: In the past, we had more reasons to move. We had to cut our own grass, wash our dishes by hand, walk to public transportation stops. ect... The point is, things are different today and we can't go back to the past. Most of us aren't going to get rid of our computers, TVs, cars and cell phones and that isn't necessarily the answer. After all, these things are useful and important to us. But, these things can contribute to our health problems if we let them take over. Acknowledging your responsibility as well as a need to find balance brings you one step closer to changing how you live.
3. Make exercise mean something to you: For many people, exercise is a means to an end -- a way to lose weight and get that perfect body...or at least a better one than they have now. Future goals are nice, but there's another part to the equation that, when missing, makes exercise hard to stick to: Purpose. In other words, your workouts need to have value, regardless of whether you ever reach your desired goal. Always working for some future, intangible thing isn't enough - we need it to mean something now.
So, what does exercise mean to you besides a way to lose weight? Is there any value, outside of your weight loss goals, to working out? For me, exercise is a way to reduce stress and keep my energy up. For you, exercise might be the only time you get to yourself each day. Find you're own value and meaning and you'll find your motivation.
4. Find your own exercise path: Too often, the mainstream idea of exercise involves things like health clubs, cardio machines, fitness classes, etc. That's unfortunate if the thought of doing those things makes you cringe. Here's some good news -- you have the freedom to do whatever activities you like. If you hate the gym, you don't have to join one to get fit. If you hate the repetition and boredom of machines, you can try more interactive things like basketball or spin class. If you like to keep things simple, you could take several walks throughout the day or add some laps the next time you shop at the mall. Find out what you like and forget the rules.
(About.com)