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How To Make Yourself Exercise If You Hate The Mere Idea of Exercising

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My trainers languished, forgotten in a cupboard, until very recently…

I never thought I’d blog about exercise. I’ve been avoiding it for a long time. At school I dreaded PE lessons and felt massively relieved whenever they were done for the week.

However, I’ve come to realise that exercise is a necessary evil and that I really need to strengthen my stomach muscles to help my back. You could say that I’ve been scared into doing it, but to be honest, fear wasn’t enough. I’ve always known that it was something I was supposed to do, but I’d never successfully gotten into the habit, until now.

At the end of the day, guilt isn’t enough. I need to make the exercise itself more tolerable, otherwise I’ll just come up with excuses not to do it.

The following steps explain how I’ve managed to get myself to exercise three times a week. I hope they help anyone who is as reluctant to exercise as I was…er, am!

Step One: Find a tolerable form of exercise

Yes, most exercise is boring. But there are probably some activities that you find less boring than others.

For example, after reading too many blogs about it, I decided that I would try running. Everybody sounded so positive! There was a Couch to 5K podcast! Whoo!

I completely ignored the fact that every time I tried running at school, I hated it passionately. Guess what? I may be in my mid-twenties now, but I still hate running! Running means going outside, wearing clothes I’d never ordinarily wear outside the house, embarrassing myself in front of other people, and getting cold. It also makes me feel terrible. My gums itch in the cold and I get a stitch very quickly.

I also tried Blogilates a couple of times before I decided that I cannot do it because of the shape of my back. I have a particularly curved lower spine and any mat-based exercise will end in tears as my tailbone gets sore from being bashed into the floor. Maybe I’ll try it again when I’m more fit, but for now it’s off the menu.

I decided that I like DVDs. They can be followed inside, whilst standing up! I can wear old clothes, put music on, and pretend I’m dancing in a nightclub. Nobody needs to see me do it. It’s still not really fun – if I were actually in a nightclub I could have a cocktail and would be wearing a nice dress rather than a pair of shorts and a top that I’ve had since I was 14 – but I’m not terrible at it and I’ve gotten results quite quickly.

If there is literally no form of exercise that you enjoy, then just pick one that you can do. There are ways to make it easier to tolerate:

Step Two: Make the Exercise Itself Less Tedious

Some people may find that they can make themselves exercise with the promise of a reward. E.g.: if they exercise three times a week for a month, they can get that dress they’ve been after or they can eat a slice of cake after every session of swimming or something.

This may work for you, but isn’t enough for me. I am Scrooge to myself and hate spending money. When it came time to get the reward I wouldn’t buy it and I know this, which puts me off following the stick. I know myself. I won’t buy the carrot.

So instead I have to make exercising itself less horrible and boring. If you can find a form of exercise you actually like, well done! Personally, I prefer to exercise inside my house so that I can be warm and I won’t feel self-conscious or have to spend time travelling to and from a gym.

I rely on DVDs. I tried a Zumba DVD but I couldn’t follow the moves, so I’m currently using the Davina Body Buff DVD, which is great. None of the presenters, including Davina, are annoying, there is a low-ability version of the main workouts, I can skip the mat sections, and it has SUBTITLES. Subtitles are vital for me because that means that I can turn the sound off and play my own music over the top instead of listening to the bland dance music on the actual DVD. I find being able to hear my own breathing really distracting, so it helps with that too. I have a playlist that I keep adding to whenever I hear a track I like that has the right tempo. Other ideas that might help you:

  • Exercise with a friend so that you can chat and provide each other with moral support
  • Buy yourself nice clothes to wear to exercise so that you feel good
  • Listen to audiobooks or podcasts at the gym or while walking or running
  • Dress up (probably shouldn’t wear makeup, unless you want your skin to hate you) and make some non-alcoholic cocktails and pretend you’re clubbing when you’re actually doing cardio
  • Do stretches or jog on the spot or run (or do a whole cardio routine if you’ve memorised it and can multitask to that extent) whilst watching TV, films, or YouTube videos

 

Step Three: Make It Easy To Keep Doing

My Davina Body Buff DVD allows you to transfer a ‘Digital Copy’ onto your computer so I don’t even have to bother taking it out of the box. I keep my trainers in the same room and my workout clothes in a pile beside them. All I have to do is get changed, put up my hair, and prepare some large glasses of water!

I’ve recently started exercising first thing, before breakfast, so that I don’t have to sit around digesting, and also because when I used to exercise later in the day I’d often find some way to weasel out of it. Getting it over and done with first thing stops the excuses and allows me to spend my day filled with pride!

But you might hate the idea of getting out of bed and doing a workout, and find that you need to exercise straight after work, or before lunch if you work from home. Make it as easy for yourself as possible.

Step Four: Don’t Get Carried Away and Start Thinking That You Like It

If you are a committed exercise-hater, find out the minimum you have to do to make a difference/stay healthy. Don’t get
carried away and try to make yourself do more, unless you actually start
to enjoy it, because if you’re anything like me you’ll just rebel and
end up not doing anything.

Keep adding tracks to your playlist. If your workout buddies stop turning up, find new ones. If you feel the slightest bit bored, try something different. Be relentless in your pursuit of tolerable exercise.

Do you love or hate to exercise? If you’re a fellow exercise-hater, how do you manage to keep fit? Do you have any advice? If you have any DVD recommendations, I’d love to see them!

Ten Ways To Keep Your Cosmetic Collection Under Control

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As much as I love watching videos and reading posts about other bloggers’ enormous cosmetic collections, I want to avoid acquiring similarly massive stashes of make-up, hair and body products myself. My reasons:

1. Space – I live with my parents and most of my stuff has to fit into one room. Even when I move out, I’m unlikely to have the space for chests of drawers entirely devoted to cosmetics. I have a large collection of books and plenty of clothes, and a desktop computer and keyboard (as in musical) to make room for.

2. Money – I don’t want to acquire loads of stuff that I will never use, simply because I’d rather spend the money elsewhere. Five lipsticks could be the difference between a weekend spent indoors and one one spent going out.

I’ve been in love with the colourful world of make-up since my teens, and am easily tempted by sparkly things, so I’ve tried and tested various techniques to stop myself from going overboard. If you too want to restrict your cosmetic collection, read on for my advice!

Take stock


Get out all your cosmetics and look at them. Make a list of what you’ve got, if you want to. I have a list of all my bath and body products, because I keep them in different places – some under my bed, some in my cupboard, some under the desk and others in the bathroom. Without the list, I would forget what I have, and buy more. Having a list also gives me the satisfaction of crossing products off when I use them up.

I don’t have a full list for my make-up because it’s all in one place and I like to get it out every now and then to visually remind myself of how much I have. I have counted everything though, so that I can easily remind myself that I don’t need any more lilac nail varnishes, as I already have 10. It’s also good to know that I have three unopened mascaras, and two unopened black kohl pencils, as new versions of these products come out all the time and as I use them a lot, I can think that I can justify getting new ones. Knowing exactly how many I have – enough to last me the next two years – gives me no excuse for new purchases.

Use what you have/Shop your stash

If you read a lot of beauty blogs, you’ve probably heard about shopping your stash before. I have no idea who gave this concept its name, as so many people have written about the idea. There are lots of different methods to use, but I like to get everything out and look for items that I haven’t used recently or have never used. I pick out one of each type – one eye pencil, one lipstick, one eyeshadow, et cetera – and put them into a box. Next time I’m getting ready to go out, my challenge is to look in this box, and if I can find a way to use one or more of those items. I’m not allowed to change the selection until I’ve used all of the items. Often I discover new favourites this way, so it can definitely be worth doing.

Notice what you use

The best way to do this is to keep a cosmetic diary, and/or take photos of your make-up every day. I know that I wear lilac eyeshadow a lot. It’s easy to wear and appropriate for almost every occasion. I can buy more lilac eyeshadows if I want – though at the moment I won’t because I have taken stock and know that I already have about eight or nine. However, as much as I love admiring sparkly dark green eyeshadows, I just don’t get that much use out of them, and I’m not allowing myself to buy any more unless I hit pan on one of the three I already have. If you’ve never or barely used a product, and you’ve had it for a year or more, it’s probably time to:

Give it away

If you don’t use it, and don’t like it, stop hoarding it and pass it on to a relative or friend who will. Alternatively, donate it to an organisation like Give and Makeup.


Sell or swap it on


If you could use some extra cash, or want something in return, host a blog sale, or find someone who has their own pile of unwanted make-up and set up an exchange.

Avoid temptation

Just don’t go to the shops. This is a technique I employ successfully to stop myself buying piles of clothes, books, and basically everything else. I don’t shop recreationally, or even to fill in time between activities. If I’m meeting somebody in town and they’re late, I go to the library or a museum instead.  But what about the internet? How do I cope with all those recommendations I get from friends, blogs, Twitter and YouTube? Well, I…

Have a wishlist instead of a shopping list

Whenever I see a review for a product that sounds great, I bookmark it in a folder I’ve made for my make-up wishlist. I have subfolders for different types of product.  Then, when I have the space and the money for that product, I can find it again. For example, mascara. When I’ve used up all the mascaras that I have at the moment, and want to buy a new one, I can open all the reviews in my mascara folder and decide which one sounds best. I usually pick the one with the most positive reviews. It’s much better than getting carried away by one particularly glowing review and rushing out to get something now, just because it’s new.

No-Buys

I have regular no-buy periods, during which I am not allowed to buy anything at all. It takes a lot of willpower to stop myself from taking advantage of sales, but the strict no-buy helps. It’s all too easy to decide to buy one product and then find myself adding extra products to my basket to take advantage of free postage or other special offers.

Shop smart

Google everything. This isn’t a flawless plan, as sometimes good reviews can convince me to buy something I hadn’t planned on purchasing before. But if you’re on the fence about an eyeshadow, for example, seeing swatches can help you decide that it’s not quite the colour you’re after, or that it’s too similar to something you’ve already got. And it’s better to find out that it creases horribly on oily eyelids before you’ve wasted a fiver on it.

If you also know what you have already, you can avoid duplicating products. For example, I love Sleek’s iDivine eyeshadow palettes. I think they’re fantastic value for money. I have eight. But the last one I bought was the Glory palette last summer. Every other colourful palette that they’ve brought out recently has contained eyeshadows that I’m pretty sure I’ve already got in other palettes. Looking at the swatches posted by other bloggers confirmed this impression.

Project 10 Pan

This is another way of making a game out of using what you already have. You pick ten items and decide that you aren’t allowed to buy any more make-up (within reason, most people have exceptions for foundation or mascara or other everyday products) until you have hit pan (got to the bottom of the packaging) on all of them or used them up completely. I’ll admit that I’ve tried this a few times but have always given up – time to try again? Possibly with some of my 18 lilac eyeshadows?

Have you set limits on how big you’re going to allow your cosmetic collection to grow? How do you stick to them?