How do you regain self control?

Question

Lately I have become really lazy and cant seem to stick to my diet and exercise for the life of me!!! I don't know what my problem is... I was always in sports and active, NOW I'm just this fat lazy piece of c**p!!! I will go over and over things getting myself all siked out to exercise and start my diet again but once I get home from work its like the couch and tv over power all the work I have done through the day!!

This is no joke people I'm serious... I don't know what to do to re gain my self control! Its something weird that has never happened to me before and I'm not sure how to over come this.....

Please Help me!!

I just cant make myself get the energy or motivation to exercise and I'm afraid if I don't I will become seriously ill (due to health issues). You would think that that would be motivation in itself but for some reason I STILL CANT MAKE MYSELF EXERCISE!!!! Not even walk around the block! I always find a way to justify my lazyness!

Answer 1

Studies are proving that self control is a limited resource -- it runs out during the day.  The more choices you have to make all day long, the weaker your self control will be by the time your work day is over.  So when you get home, you're tired and need to rest, to renew your supply of self control, which apparently gets used up the next day again at work.

Yesterday, I was doing some research on self control for myself, in fact, and found this out.  Here are some of the sites I found:

http://www.minddisorders.com/Py-Z/Self-c...

http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/psp...

Some of the interesting things I discovered about self control are 1) you need some kind of carbohydrates in your body to help maintain self control (slow carbohydrates like wheat bread will give longer lasting results than a candy bar, but both work).

2) The mind prefers the easier decisions (what tv show to watch, for instance) over the harder decisions (should I exercise now that I'm home from work), especially after you've already been making decisions at work.  That's why, given the choice to study or play a video game in the evening, we're more likely to choose the video game.

3) Self control can be weaker in people who have bossy parents or employers and thus don't have to do much thinking on their own or have the chance to develop their own self control.

So in there is what your problem is--you can probably figure it out for yourself now.  What the answer is, though, depends on when your self control is the strongest--maybe you should try exercising in the morning before work, for example, or give yourself an hour to relax after work, then exercise.  Having a plan for the day (work 8 hours, rest 1 hour, exercise 20 minutes, watch tv 2 hours, bedtime) will also help relieve having to make more decisions when you're already tired out.

I hope this helps! :)

Answer 2

I would say it's more then just being lazy, you know what you have to do to feel better and you don't do it. I was going through that myself not to long ago and found out it was something else stoping me I was fat and sad yes but i had things in my head stopping me i did some soul searching to be able to get out there again and do something about it. find out what else is bothering you and work on that along with trying to get at least a little exersize everyday and you could use a diet buddy to keep u motivated or just someone to talk to about it why you go through this, good luck to you.

Answer 3

HEH...I dunno the answer to that one ..because I've got the same problem, and dunno what to do bout it.  I'mma check back to this ? tho...To see if there are any good answers!

Answer 4

Set smaller goals.  Don't tell yourself that you're going to go to the gym 3 times a week from now on.  Just tell yourself that you're going to go tonight.  And promise yourself that, if after 10 minutes, you feel like going home, you can.

Once you get there, you'll get into it and you'll want to stay for the full work out.  And then you'll want to go back again tomorrow.

The hard part is to start.  Following through is easy.