Tips for Making Time to Work Out

Make a contract with yourself: If you’re really serious about making a change, doing something good for yourself, and taking charge of your health, then make a commitment. There’s always time to do the things that are really important to us—so your first step is to decide that your health is important to you. In order to be a success at your fitness program, you need to challenge yourself to make an active, ironclad commitment to it. Once you’ve made this commitment, you’ll be surprised at how much time suddenly becomes available. In fact, we suggest making a formal promise to yourself, in writing (see page 40 toward the end of Chapter 2 for a sample pledge that you can use as a model).

Turn off the phone: There’s nothing that disrupts our lives more consistently and insistently than

the telephone. Don’t let Ma Bell interfere with your workout! Turn off your home phone. Turn

down the volume on your answering machine. And leave your cell phone at home if you

go out for a walk. This is your time, and you have to make that clear both to yourself and

the other people in your life.

Be good to yourself: Honestly, if you haven’t been exercising regularly, you haven’t been very good to yourself. Now is your chance to turn all that around. One way to get started is to stop considering your workout a punishment and start making it a treat. Challenge yourself to find ways that you can make your workout more fun. How about adding music? Would you enjoy rebounding more if you could watch TV or a rebounding DVD/video while you bounced? What if you started each workout by rubbing a little scented lotion over your arms and legs, to remind yourself of how much you love your body and how grateful you are to your muscles for exerting themselves? Have you chosen an exercise outfit whose colors and textures make you happy? Maybe you’d get a little pleasure out of some extra soft socks. Think of something—or a variety of things—you could do to associate pleasure with your workout time.

Encourage yourself: Become your own best friend—and your own toughest coach. Buy products that will motivate you to work out, such as a heart rate monitor to see how fast your heart is beating when you start the Fat Flush Fitness Plan—and then to track how your heart rate falls as you get into shape. (We’ve listed some consumer information in Chapter 10 of this book.) Monitoring your

improvement with a heart rate monitor can be a kind of instant gratification that keeps you

motivated. Keeping a workout journal is also helpful. Something about recording your day’s workout reminds you that you’ve accomplished something, simply by showing up and doing what

you’ve promised yourself to do. Looking back over your journal can also be an exciting way of tracking your progress.

Respect your own rhythms: For this program to work, you need to know what works for you—and

then be 100 percent committed to making sure you’ve got it. Finding the right times and rhythms for

exercise means that you’ve got a no-excuse zero-tolerance exercise program in place that you will definitely fulfill. Some people prefer to exercise first thing in the morning. Others do much better in the late afternoon or early evening, when vigorous exercise can be a terrific way to release all the

accumulated stress of the day. Likewise, some people love a set routine—“I exercise every single

day at 8 A.M. rain or shine”—while other people thrive on variety. Perhaps you already know the approach that works for you, or maybe you’ll need to experiment a little as you start this new regimen. Either way, start from a place of respect for your own rhythms and preferences, and craft your exercise plan accordingly.

Be honest with yourself: Too many of us lie to ourselves, insisting that we’ll start exercising “someday” without ever really taking responsibility for the fact that we haven’t done it—and aren’t likely to do it. If you really don’t want to exercise, put down this book and resign yourself to an unhealthy life and an uncomfortable old age. If you are really ready to get moving, then make a commitment and get started.

Remember, you only get one body—but that body will come through for you it:you let it! Stop waiting for a miracle and start moving! In the time it’s taken you to come up with three reasons you’re too busy to exercise, you could have walked a brisk mile and done a little stretching. As we get older, it’s easy to give in to the myth that aging means becoming less active, less flexible, and ultimately less capable. But it really doesn’t have to be that way. Whether you’re starting the Fat Flush diet and fitness plans at age twenty, forty, sixty, or even older, you can rest assured that this way of eating and working out will generate enormous new reserves of energy and help you to feel flexible, strong, and calm. It’s certain that you will get older with every passing day—but it’s far from a foregone conclusion that your body has to “wear out” or “give in.” Remind yourself that taking care of your body in this way will enable you to come through for yourself—and for your partner, children, and grandchildren!