Zen tips to STAY MOTIVATED every time YOU EXERCISE!

With the rise of non-communicable illnesses like obesity, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes mellitus, exercise is an integral part of the fight against these diseases. These diseases have similar symptoms and risk  factors and it's important to have a regular check up at your local clinic because these conditions usually present silently. In this post we see how you can get motivated to exercise. You can couple exercises with a dietary plan to help you lose weight.

There are certain techniques you should employ so that you are able to start and maintain your exercise regimen. This allows you to set realistic goals and you know exactly what to expect as you start exercises. I have outline the techniques below to get motivated to exercise.

1. Understand the benefits of exercise

This alone motivates you to start exercising. Some of the major benefits of exercise are described below:

• Helps with weight loss


• Helps in having a good sleep


• Improves confidence levels and energy levels


• It's also good for the skin


• Bones become stronger


• There is reduction of chronic inflammation

2. You have to put in the work.

A lot of people want to leave a healthy life, lose weight and eat right but they are not willing to exercise. To reap those benefits, you have to burn fat and it requires you to be active. Unfortunately, the media has corrupted the message by projecting lose-weight-fast regimens, some of them which include magic pills to 'burn away' fat. That doesn't work most of the time and is expensive. A change in mindset is needed so that you realise it takes physical effort on your part.

3. Be realistic about the goals.

Exercises vary in intensity but when you are a beginner, it's more difficult to do the strenuous drills first. You have to start with a light routine like this:

• Allocating some time everyday to do your exercises. It doesn't have to be long, just 30 minutes each day is enough


• Start by walking a certain distance


• Progress to jogging


• Aim to finish the 30 minute period doing your exercises. The feeling of completing a process is rewarding and you will feel more motivated


• After a while you can then include sessions on DVD, TV etc

Keep in mind that on average, it takes about 66 days for a new habit to form. If you keep on doing the routine for that long, it becomes automatic. Resultantly, it becomes easy to get motivated to exercise.

4. Involve your friends/family members.

They help you stay motivated. During sessions you may have days when a dark cloud is above your head and you feel like staying in bed. Have someone to jog so that you are kept accountable.

5. Don't abuse the scale.

When you exercise to lose weight, there is a temptation to check the weight very frequently. This causes disappointments because you have to realize that water content in humans varies. If you drink a litre of water that's a kg you have administered. If you sweat a lot you lose water in sweat. Therefore, you focus mainly on dry weight (total weight minus water) and this means measuring weight less frequently. It's easier and more objective to measure weight once a month, hence you see the true progress of your exercises.

6. Couple the exercises with another routine activity

You must have a routine activity that you carry out before, during or after exercises so that once you think of that activity, exercise becomes part of the process automatically. You can listen to your favorite audio music while jogging or read a book before skipping rope. The body becomes conditioned to associate that activity with exercise.

You need to get motivated to exercise in order for the process to be effective. It has a lot of benefits so it's never too late to start. You definitely want to couple exercises with weight loss programme which is described another post.

To calculate you BMI go to this page.