Hi! It may surprise you but I actually think that there is no reason not to finish a workout no matter how ‘unfit’ a person may be. You can always take short breaks and get right back into it, or do easier versions of the moves.

It sounds very mean and too extreme but as Jillian Michaels puts it: “unless you puke, faint or die, keep going!”. Just do it even if you suck. Just finish the damn workout. It’s all about the attitude, it’s not about being good at it. It’s about bulldozing through the nagging “I can’t” and “I don’t feel like it” thoughts! It’s about being mentally strong and finishing what you just started.

Stop convincing yourself you can’t… It’s exhausting (you say you usually end up upset) and the only person that cares is you. Just going for it, failing, learning and trying again is still a whole lot better than giving up.

It sounds super cliché but motivation has to come from within. I cannot give you motivation. You have to find for yourself why working out and being fit is important for you.

Not sticking with it may be the biggest problem of all. It’s a personal journey of trials and errors to find out which diet and workout program works best for you. The best program in the truest sense is not the most effective program, but rather the program that’ll make you stick with it long term.

Hi! Just like with anything else, a healthy lifestyle has a learning curve. Give yourself a few weeks to get used to eating healthy and moving more. Make it past the curve and you will start to crave your new way of living. I think you used a key word in your message: “habit”. To make it easy for yourself, you have to turn positive behaviors to “autopilot” mode. Here are some simple steps to develop a habit: www.pickthebrain.com/blog/strategies-for-breaking-bad-habits-and-cultivating-good-ones

Reading your message I get the feeling that you don’t believe in yourself (“I’m afraid I’ll stop and go off it”). When you don’t believe something is possible, you act as if it’s impossible. Belief is a key element in reaching any goal. If you are always looking at what could go wrong, your energy is going in the wrong direction.

To help boost belief in yourself, search your past experience. Think of a time when you had a goal you didn’t believe was possible, but you achieved it anyway. It might be an academic achievement, a creative endeavor, a successful relationship, anything. Even if it was far removed from health or fitness goals, it’s proof that you have the ability to achieve things you once thought you weren’t capable of achieving.

About feeling like crap: whatever you do, just don’t sit and dwell on the feeling or a negative thought. You are feeding it and it will consume you. People will usually stay the same until the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing. So it’s actually a good thing that you’ve reached that “enough is enough / I’m not going to take it anymore”-point. When “shoulds” turn into “musts”, you know you have the right mindset to do what it takes.

Hi Vanessa,

Here are a few suggestions to replace the sentence “you’re so fat so go on a diet”: 
- “I make decisions that contribute to 
my well being, rather than take away from it.”
- “I believe that I am worthy of being healthy.”
- “I am open to trying new healthy activities.”
- “I don’t have to be perfect. If I eat healthy, natural foods 80 percent of the time, I’ll be on the right track.”

And here is some great advice from a book that I read recently (“the Body Fat solution” by Tom Venuto): 

“Don’t confuse your desire for improvement with the belief that you’re not good enough the way you are. Disliking your body turns into disliking yourself. Disliking yourself turns into low self-worth, which means you believe you don’t deserve a lean and healthy body. Low self-worth easily leads to apathy, depression or self-sabotage.

Body fat is not a person, it’s temporary condition. The way your body looks today has nothing to do with your intrinsic worth as a person. No price tag can ever be placed on your value.

If you get moving and take some small steps, you’ll immediately feel better about yourself. Even if you don’t notice the small body changes than happen from one workout to the next, you’ll feel better just by taking a step in the right direction. Action cures a lot of problems.”