I'd like to share a bit on my struggle, in case it helps others here.
I used to be in pretty decent shape. I could jog 3 to 4 miles and at the end feel good, instead of dead tired and exhausted. But my life situation changed and I ended up no longer commuting to a job and having less money on hand where I didn't feel like blowing it on a gym membership (most of the fitness clubs near me are pricey, and would only be worth it if I could get myself to really utilize it and stick to it). In time, very gradually, I began to gain weight. Now I'm 25 lbs over my "norm". I wear it fairly well, so it looks more like 10 lbs. But I should get rid of 25lbs. Trouble is that I'm finding it difficult to shed.
In retrospect, I should have taken up a new fitness club membership, presuming I'd make the effort to go. When you work from home, you really have to muster up your self-discipline. When you commute, you can then plan around that. It's ironic, because without a commute, you have more time. But I'd find myself drawn to various on-line distractions and at times get behind in work, then working late to catch up. Having a fitness club membership would help serve as an impetus to plan -- it's money being spent, so try to utilize it. The advantage of a fitness club is that it forces you to concentrate. You make a deliberate trip to this specialized place for exercising, so you better do it. What else is there to do? Also, if you partake in a class, it helps encourage you to be regular.
But if you exercise alone, at home, there are some pitfalls. What I've come to discover is that setting weight or waistline goals is counter productive. For example, I have a 25lb weight loss goal. I started trying to get myself into a routine of walking/jogging daily, and doing some light weight training. At the end of 2 weeks, I weigh myself, and I see myself 2lbs less. Great, right? But the next day it's up 1lb. That's because of water weight fluctuation. I do eat healthy and generally modest portions. Yet, the weight goal would start feeling too difficult to accomplish.
Then something occurred to me that I hadn't thought of before. What about a fitness goal instead of a weight goal?
I saw this video:
Now, it's important to realize that there are some real problems with this. First, 100 pushups in a single day is a Herculean goal for someone not in shape. And you'll very likely injure yourself. One of these guys strained himself badly enough that he had to back off and work up to it. I do think these guys overdid it at first. You can also set yourself a different goal, for example, 50 pushups daily for 30 days. But most importantly, work up to it. Try 10 pushups the first day. And do that for a week until you feel like you can increase. If you need to, do the pushups from your knees. Lastly, buy a cheap pair of pushup bars. These are special "S" shaped bars that raise you up so that your wrists don't have all that angular stress.
I've started doing this and I'm making progress. When I first started, I found 10 pushups from my toes very difficult. Now I can do 25 easily.
The concept here is to set yourself fitness goals. If it's jogging, start with a mile. Don't knock yourself if you need to take quick rest breaks along the way. Work yourself up to going a full mile without stopping. Then up it to 2 miles. And so on.
The key with fitness goals is that you get feedback sooner rather than later. Plus, they're malleable. The side benefit will be increased physical fitness, stamina, and gradual fat loss. Weight isn't as important as fat. And once you've achieved enough fitness goals, you'll start to see measurable results in fat (weight) reduction. Once you're over that hurdle, then you can try aiming towards a weight goal. The trick is getting to that place where it's possible. Setting a weight goal from the onset has been a recipe for failure in my case. I'm expecting that with increased attainment of fitness goals, I'll make some good inroads on shedding the fat.
