Patron Saint of Motivation/Exercise

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I need a saint to help me get motivated for my ownself. I’m a SAHM and I homeschool 2 children. I do not have any problems getting the schoolwork done, paying bills, cleaning, laundry & cooking, but when it comes to trying to get a little exercise for myself (I feel out of shape and flumpie), I find all kinds of excuses and can’t walk on the treadmill longer than 10 minutes. Just want to start feeling better about myself.
 
I can’t help you with the patron saint, but I have an idea.
Walking on a treadmill can be a challenge for even the most dedicated fitness buff. It can be BORING!!! So, can you make it more interesting? What about walking on the treadmill while watching your favorite show on TV? Make a promise to yourself that you will only watch it if you are moving, lol.
What about prying the Rosary? That takes about 20 minutes and would be a good way to make time for two things at once.
** Offer up your “suffering” for all of those people who wish they could walk on a treadmill (old, disabled, sick etc).**
If the treadmill workout just isn’t for you, find something else! Go for a bike ride with your kiddos. Play outside with them. Something with lots of running, lol.
Exercise is one of the toughest things to self-motivate. Enlist a partner. Make a commitment to that person and stick with it.
These are just random ideas…take 'em or leave 'em, lol.
Malia
 
St. Sebastian is the patron saint of athletes/athletics and is the closest to a patron saint of exercise.
 
Feanaro_s_Wife said:
I can’t help you with the patron saint, but I have an idea.
Walking on a treadmill can be a challenge for even the most dedicated fitness buff. It can be BORING!!! So, can you make it more interesting? What about walking on the treadmill while watching your favorite show on TV? Make a promise to yourself that you will only watch it if you are moving, lol.
What about prying the Rosary? That takes about 20 minutes and would be a good way to make time for two things at once.
** Offer up your “suffering” for all of those people who wish they could walk on a treadmill (old, disabled, sick etc).**
If the treadmill workout just isn’t for you, find something else! Go for a bike ride with your kiddos. Play outside with them. Something with lots of running, lol.
Exercise is one of the toughest things to self-motivate. Enlist a partner. Make a commitment to that person and stick with it.
These are just random ideas…take 'em or leave 'em, lol.
Malia
Click to expand...
This is good advice. The main thing to remember is that to be able to stick with something long-term when it comes to working out, you have to enjoy it. Dont feel bad if you are averse to the treadmill - I know quite a few fitness buffs who cant stand them.

Also try to emphasise to yourself the health benefits rather than the weight loss benefits when trying to find motivation. Why?
  1. Nothing can beat the numerous short and long term health benefits of regular exercise. As I ve heard doctors and trainers say, ‘One can’t afford *not *to exercise.’
  2. Focusing on the weight loss aspect might lead to focusing too much on how your body looks and make you feel bad if you dont see results soon enough.
Hope this helps.
 
prolly Mary and Joseph…they had to walk a long way to Bethlehem…

Walk outside, there is more to see…bring the kids, find the birds and come up with something to do with school. Give yourself a reason to move. Walk to the store with a backpack and get a few things.

🙂
 
I know a lot of people (women especially) might balk at this suggestion, but why not take up weight training? While walking has benefits for those who are very out of shape, becoming stronger affects your quality of life in many more useful ways. You are able to do more, hard tasks become easier, and there are numerous health benefits. You can do it in 1 hour a day, 3 days a week.

Any questions, let me know, I’d love to help anyone who is interested in strength training
 
A PRAYER FOR SELF-MOTIVATION

Omnipotent God, vitality of life, Your strength supplies my motivation. I am stirred in the path of Your Will. Maintain my self-motivation to always Search, find, examine, will and act Upon the truths placed before me. May I become a driving force for others, Encouraging them to pick up their crosses And follow the virtuous road of life. I thank You for Your continued vigour That coexists in my whole being, My soul, my spirit and by body!
 
Feanaro_s_Wife said:
I can’t help you with the patron saint, but I have an idea.
Walking on a treadmill can be a challenge for even the most dedicated fitness buff. It can be BORING!!! So, can you make it more interesting? What about walking on the treadmill while watching your favorite show on TV? Make a promise to yourself that you will only watch it if you are moving, lol.
What about prying the Rosary? That takes about 20 minutes and would be a good way to make time for two things at once.
** Offer up your “suffering” for all of those people who wish they could walk on a treadmill (old, disabled, sick etc).**
If the treadmill workout just isn’t for you, find something else! Go for a bike ride with your kiddos. Play outside with them. Something with lots of running, lol.
Exercise is one of the toughest things to self-motivate. Enlist a partner. Make a commitment to that person and stick with it.
These are just random ideas…take 'em or leave 'em, lol.
Malia
Click to expand...
I pray my rosary while I’m on my elliptical. I also have a Game Boy, and I reward myself for any time I put in after my rosary by playing that. The key is to make it less boring, or you’ll never get through it. I also have a “workout buddy” and I will chat with her while I work out (Sometimes she even comes over to my apartment). It’s been very helpful!

Good luck!
 
There was a thread awhile back showing that St. Paul trained Pankration in his youth. Its like modern day Mixed Martial Arts
 
I have often wondered if there was a patron saint or even a prayer for someone who wants to lose weight, eat healthy, and for motivation to do so. I really would like to make these lifestyle changes, but I find it very difficult to do so. I always find a reason to not work out, or eat unhealthy. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!
 
I don’t know of a patron saint, but there are inspirational stories of many athletes. There are also the wounded warriors who struggle in overcoming their handicaps. Who would give a great deal to be able to do the things they could do before their injuries. Many of those folks are truly amazing in the way they can have such a positive attitude and zest for life- still doing physical things.

Everybody is different so what motivates me, may not motivate you at all. Your goals seem realistic, you’re not expecting to immediately lose 70 pounds and become a world class sprinter. Just getting yourself to move a bit, get in better shape and stay healthy. A modest, workable goal in the short term.

Here are some thoughts which might help.
  • The most important. Make it a habit. Set aside a time, make sure it is a time likely to be free of conflicts, set your alarm clock, make sure DH/father of kids is on board and will cover the emergent kid requirements. Every want they have is not an emergency. You have to stick with this at least 3 months for it to start to become a habit and part of your routine. It has to be like taking a shower, it’s just something you do every day.
  • Be realistic. Fat has ~3500 calories per pound. You have to take in less calories than you burn to lose weight. To lose a pound you have to have run a deficit of 3500 calories. So, if you run a 500 calorie deficit per day you’ll lose a pound a week. Do not weigh yourself frequently. Once every couple of weeks is fine. Weight varies too much in short term to be very motivating or to reveal how you’re trending. (I can lose 7 pounds in a one hour run or workout just from sweat. Obviously I gain that right back drinking afterwards.)
  • Don’t crash diet. Get a book on nutrition, get some good cookbooks, the grill can be your friend for fast nutritious meals. Dr. Dean Ornish’s cut, and I agree, if you feel like you’re sacrificing all the time, that it’s arduous- than you won’t stick with it. No one wants to live in misery their whole life- even if its a longer life than its just longer in misery. Also, severe calorie deficits lead to the loss of muscle tissue (my sister had her heart monitored every week when put on such a diet by her Dr.s- danger of loss of heart tissue).
  • Do things you enjoy. As other posters said- treadmills can be boring and hard to stick with. So can any activity. Variety helps some folks run/jog one day/ treadmill another/ elliptical another/ swim/ another bike ride/ another tennis/ another lift weights. You know, a day at an amusement park can burn a lot of calories just in walking around, and its a lot more fun than a seven mile run.
  • Push yourself. Once you’ve gotten in the habit than lengthen the time of activity or the intensity. Some folks are motivated by seeing improvement, if that’s you, than you’ll need to chart or record those improvements.
  • Balanced workouts. You need both aerobic and anaerobic exercise for optimal health. (Well, whatever that is, a marathon runner is willing to trade-off to optimize long distance running). If you do nothing but aerobics you’ll have exceptional cardio-vascular health but poor skeletal; similarly doing nothing but strength training will give you great skeletal but relatively poor cardio (better than if you didn’t work out but not as good as working both).
  • If you decide to join a gym, here’s a tip- Everyone feels out of place there and as if they are on display and being judged at first. Everyone. Everyone starts not knowing what they’re doing, and wondering if others are critical. Even that guy on the bench press pushing 400+ pounds, or the woman in fabulous shape on the stationary bike going at 20+ mph for an hour. They all started just like you and the folks who are there to work out actually respect you for being there. They don’t care what shape you are in, or what routine you are doing, just that you’re trying. Because their workout isn’t about you, it’s about them. It’s about personal improvement, not how they stack up against others. They are actually hoping they’ll be seeing you there in 6 months, because most only go a few times and quit. They don’t make it a habit. Regulars won’t talk to you because really, we don’t talk much to anybody. I’ve been going to a gym for 5 years and just the other day said a few words with a woman I’ve seen in there for the last 4 yrs. Neither of us are in the gym to visit, we be there to exercise.
  • If you do join a gym. Take advantage of the trainers on staff. Get them to show you a weight lifting routine if you’re unfamiliar with weights. You’ll hear pluses and minuses about machine vs free weights etc. But really, as a beginner it doesn’t matter. Doing a routine is better than avoiding/not doing lifting.
  • I use the time to pray. Rosaries etc. Offer up the effort, time and prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Say prayers of thanksgiving for the ability and health God has granted me.
  • Don’t make it your religion. It’s to improve your life, don’t make it run your life. You can choose to occasionally eat less healthy without feeling guilty, or change intensity of workouts or the order etc. Stressing/guilt over workouts is counter-productive as stress can be harmful to your health. Exercising for me is hopefully going to result in my being able to run around with my grandkids when I finally have some. It is an enabler, not a goal in itself.
ETA: Don’t knock getting on the treadmill for 10 minutes. If you make that a habit, it becomes easier to lengthen it into 15, than 20 etc. etc. A busy SAHM setting aside 10 minutes routinely is a fantastic start!!!
 
Thanks for the (name removed by moderator)ut/suggestions. I’m by myself, so I don’t have to worry about finding a babysitter or getting husband to watch kids. I think my main thing is just staying motivated to make those changes and overcoming the mental blocks. I did belong to a gym and it just cost too much and the staff was very stuck up. It was very hard to find help with the machines and it cost awhole lot of extra money to work with a trainer 1 on 1. I think I’m going to start walking at the park with my dog.
 
SEAL412 said:
St. Sebastian is the patron saint of athletes/athletics and is the closest to a patron saint of exercise.
Click to expand...
This is because of his great physical endurance and the energetic way in which he spread and defended the faith. It took the Emperor Maximian two tries to martyr him. He was left for dead after his first execution (by arrows), and then after being nursed back to health he denounced the Emperor to his face for his cruelty to Christians, and was then executed by beating. When you think it was going to kill you yesterday and now you have to get out of bed and do it all over again, you can’t beat inspiration from St. Sebastian!! 👍
 
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