Here's the most important thing you need to know for getting back into shape!

Martha M. Henze, MPH, MS, RDN - Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Global Public Health Epidemiologist

Are the short-term benefits of healthy exercise more motivating than the long-term benefits? What motivates you? Is it losing weight or the fact that you are in a better mood after exercising?

Pause for a moment and think about why you exercise now or have exercised in the past. If your answer is to lose weight, you are not alone - 75% of people say that they exercise to lose weight. Unfortunately, few people who are motivated by weight loss continue their healthy exercise routine beyond one year.

Why do people fail with healthy exercise habits?

Sustainable behavior change scientist, Dr. Segar, in her book No Sweat, addresses why people fail to continue with healthy habits despite the best of intentions. It's not that people are not trying!. Dr. Segar reasons that people are more motivated to sustain a positive routine because of the short-term benefits. She uses the simple science of motivation to help give people fitness for a lifetime.

What are the long-term benefits of exercise?

• Losing weight
• Decreasing blood cholesterol
• Decreasing blood pressure
• Controling blood sugar

What about the short-term benefits of exercise?

• Connecting with others
• Having more energy
• Improving your mood (endorphins)
• Blowing off your stress
• Being more patient with children and co-workers

Picking an activity you enjoy can help motivate you to exercise!

Immediate and noticeable short term benefits can help you sustain behaviors, continuing them beyond one year. Dr. Seger's research implies that the short-term benefits of healthy exercise are more motivating than the long-term benefits. What do you think?

How to start working out again

Working out does not have to involve a class at the gym, it can be simple activities that you do while you are living your daily life. Find more Opportunities To Move in your day or "More OTM '' as Dr. Segar suggests. Try these OTM ideas from Dr. Segar's book:

• The Phone Moment

  • If you are talking on the phone, use that opportunity to get up and walk around.
  • Use it as an opportunity to walk the dog, put away dishes, or hang up laundry.

• Active Waiting

  • Use "waiting" time to walk or move. This is a great opportunity for parents, who wait and watch while their children are in organized sports

• Coffee Walk

  • Grab a coffee to go and head out for a walk or window shop rather than joining a friend to sit at the coffee shop.

Best motivator - joy in the moment

The best motivator for exercise is joy or happiness right now. Movement does not have to be high intensity and does not mean you have to sweat. Just move and enjoy it!

• It's 8:00 am on a Saturday morning. I am up and excited to play pickleball at our local courts down the street, even after a long work week.
• It's 6:00 pm and my husband is looking forward to taking our dog for an hour run before supper, even after a long and stressful day of teaching and meetings.
• It's 6:00 am and our teenager is ready to go to rowing practice on the lake, watch the sunrise and hang out with her school buddies.

Why do we do these activities? We move because it brings us joy, we connect with friends, and it makes us happy in the moment.

Please share with us healthy exercises that give you joy. We want to hear from you!

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Updated: April 17, 2020

Exercise->Tips Weight Loss->Motivation

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