🎀How to Start Working Out and Actually Stick With It

I'm so glad you made it to my first article in this section. Welcome to "How to Start Working Out (And Actually Stick With It)," where I'll do my best to help you with your fitness journey.

Whether your goal is to lose some weight or build a healthier relationship with your body overall, you came to the right place.

Working out and staying active in general are some of the best habits you can adopt. 

Everybody knows how important regular sweat sessions are, and yet plenty of people can't include them in their routines to save their lives. Some claim they're way too busy and simply don't have the time. 

Others confidently say that if gym memberships were cheaper, they'd be working out all the time. 

Others admit they're just lazy at the moment, but they've been considering joining some group activities in the near future. 

I don't mean to offend anyone, but I know an excuse when I see one.

You know what they say—it takes one to know one. Of course, some of these scenarios genuinely reflect a lack of time, disabilities, or financial challenges, but most of the time, working out simply isn't a priority.

Imagine if a baby just stood up one day and started running out of nowhere. Before learning how to crawl or even sit up, it just looked you straight in the eyes and disappeared into the other room. It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?

So how come you decided to start running six miles every single day after working a 9-to-5 office job where you barely hit 5,000 steps on average?

The body isn't something we can just decide to push into overdrive whenever we feel like it. Even if we really want to.

I remember when I first started working out after gaining a couple of pounds, I'd do my best to reach my limit. Every bit of energy I had had to be spent on that machine or that workout.

I was constantly in pain because I wouldn't take a rest day for two or three weeks straight, and getting up in the morning to go to the gym was a nightmare.

Yeah, don't do that.

Like, every beginning is hard and all, but don't make it harder than it already is. For the first couple of weeks, try to go at least twice. 

Pick two days. Prepare your gym bag the night before if you're working out in the mornings. That way, you have no excuse not to get up and just go.

Before you start, take into consideration how flexible your work schedule is, as well as any other hobbies you may have. Choose days when you're available most of the time so you can begin building a habit and training your body to adapt to it.

The first week or two may feel a bit off as you get used to your new routine, but after a few weeks you'll notice that your body starts expecting those workouts. If you choose to work out early in the morning, make sure you also go to bed early. Your body is stressed enough when it's sleep-deprived. 

Adding a tough workout on top of that won't get you faster results or bring you any closer to your goal.

Adjust your sleep schedule and aim for at least seven hours of sleep every night.

By now, you should have a workout schedule.

Now comes the hard part—actually sticking to it. Make sure you really invest yourself in those first couple of workouts because it'll become much harder once you've run out of the motivation carrot juice.

I suggest making a vision board to help keep your eyes on the prize. Remember what you're doing all of this for. You have a goal to reach and one person to impress—yourself.

Don't disappoint her.

Once you start going to the gym—or you've found your own way to stay active—you'll have to accept from the very beginning that you won't achieve the perfect workout every single day.

And that's okay.

You don't have to.

All you have to do is keep going. There is no bad workout, but there is a missed one, and I know which is worse.

Stay humble. Some days you'll be more tired than others. Some days you'll feel like quitting. 

Take a rest day, gather your strength, think about how far you've come, and then make a comeback.

This is one of those things we all do when we start working out. We look around at all those people who have been working on themselves, and it shows. 

Sometimes, that can make us feel a little embarrassed. Especially when we're in the locker room and an elderly woman who could be our grandmother walks in looking like a million dollars.

Like, lady, please... I'm really trying not to leave here crying.

The best thing you can do is avoid comparing yourself to other people. At the end of the day, everyone is there for the same reason—to focus on themselves and become a better version of the person they see in the mirror.

Don't race people who don't even know they're in the race. The only person you're competing with is your past self. Just make sure today's version of you is a little better than yesterday's.

This is probably the most important part of the list so far. Working out keeps our bodies healthy and strong, but what happens when we force ourselves to do something we absolutely despise? 

In a way, we're acting against our own wishes.

I tried going to the gym so many times just to get that summer body, when in reality I simply don't enjoy the gym. I don't get excited about being surrounded by sweaty people or waiting for machines to become available.

Chloe, for example, mainly uses the treadmill and StairMaster while watching reality shows on Netflix. She says she'd rather pair something productive with a guilty pleasure than spend hours bed-rotting and binge-watching series. In a way, she hacked her own brain.

Meanwhile, I'd stick with the gym for a couple of weeks before quitting because it made me feel worse than before I started. Luckily, I'd already built the habit of staying active, so doing nothing wasn't an option anymore.

Then I discovered swimming and Pilates.

And let me tell you... life was pink again.

Now I can't wait to go. I go swimming every Monday and Wednesday around 4 or 5 p.m., and there's honestly nothing better after a stressful day at work. The worse my day was, the faster I'd swim.

I had finally found my therapy.

And Pilates? Now that's my kind of workout. Cute outfits, calming studios, matching water bottles... it's basically made for the girlies.

I'd promised Ruby ages ago that I'd give it a try with her, but in the end she went back to yoga and belly dance classes while I walked away with a brand-new hobby.

I'd call that a win-win.

The point is, you don't have to love the gym to love moving your body. 

Try different activities. You never know—you might accidentally stumble upon your thing too.