No Time to Work Out? 9 Ways to Rethink Body Movement (so you can fit it in)
You know it’s important for your health to stay physically active, but there never seems to be enough time to work out. And let’s be honest, even when you try to make time—with all the best intentions of making it happen—exercise is the first thing to go when your day takes an unexpected turn.
Sound familiar?
If so, keep reading because I’m going to share some mindset shifts that can help you reimagine your relationship with exercise and make it easier to get yourself moving. Plus, we’ll talk about what a healthy relationship with movement is (and isn’t) and why it matters!
Tip #1: Don’t make it all about weight
Our society is so steeped in toxic diet culture that nearly all the messages we get about exercise link it to weight management in some way, shape, or form.
There are several problems with this approach. First, researchers have found that people who exercise for primarily appearance-related reasons have higher rates of disordered eating, increased body dissatisfaction, and lowered self-esteem.
In my clinical experience working in the realm of nutrition and behavior change, I find that treating exercise primarily as a form of weight management can negatively impact people’s relationship with food and their bodies and often leads to all-or-nothing behaviors with both healthy eating and exercise, which of course isn’t all that helpful.
Research also shows that while extrinsic motivators—such as appearance, weight loss, or being told to exercise by a doctor or anyone else—may give you an initial burst of willpower and motivation to get started, they’re not as effective at inducing long-term, sustained action-taking.
Intrinsic motivation—wanting to exercise because you enjoy it, get satisfaction from building your skills, or feel accomplished—is a much more effective and powerful motivator over the long haul.
I like to think of exercise in terms of moving for wellbeing versus weight, which leads us right into my next tip for you!
Tip #2: Consider your “why” (in other words, identify your personal intrinsic motivators!)
I know it’s tempting to skip this step because it may feel either difficult or unnecessary, but please don’t. To get yourself moving more—to truly make it a priority—you’ve got to understand WHY you want to exercise in the first place. I suggest asking yourself these three questions:
Why is exercising important to you? (Again, challenge yourself to go deeper than weight loss or physical appearance—I’ve shared some thoughts on how to do this below)
What short-term or immediate benefits will you get from choosing to be active on any given day?
How can movement enhance the quality of your life in the long-term?
To get to the heart of your deep-rooted “why,” consider probing your initial answer on why exercise is important to you further by asking and answering the follow-up question, “and why is that important to me?”
You can keep asking this follow-up question two to three more times, until you feel as though you’ve found your core, heart-centered reason for wanting to move your body more.
I also find it’s helpful to spend some time considering your longer-term, bigger picture reasons for wanting to exercise (such as, your overall health, mobility, or quality of life as you age, for example) in addition to the reasons you might want to choose activity, today. This is key because sometimes those longer-term motivators just feel, well, too far in the future, to get you moving on any given day.
However, if you zero in on the ways that choosing to exercise can enrich your quality of life today, you’ll be far more likely to prioritize fitting it in. For example, if you know exercising will help you sleep better, lower your stress so you can enjoy your evening family time, or boost your mood or confidence, you can transform movement from something you’re “supposed” to do into something you WANT to do.
Tip #3: Reevaluate what “counts” as exercise
It’s so common in diet culture to have rigid rules or ideas around what exercise needs to look like. For example, many people think that to be effective (by which they mean, result in weight loss), exercise must be of a certain intensity, last a certain length of time, or burn a certain number of calories.
Often, this line of thinking pushes folks into an all-or-nothing mindset that sounds like this: “If I can’t meet the ‘ideal’ today, then the exercise won’t ‘count’… so why even bother. I’ll skip it and get back on track tomorrow.”
To push back on this thought pattern, please remember this: anytime you’re moving your body safely, it’s a win. ALL movement counts—even just five minutes of activity is better than no minutes of activity. And all sorts of movement matter, whether it’s stretching, balance work, strength training, cardio, or any other way you’re fitting in physical activity (such as gardening, dancing, or even washing the windows.)
Tip #4: Avoid the all-or-nothing trap
Speaking of breaking out of an all-or-nothing mindset (one of the primary challenges I help people solve in my private and group coaching programs), here are three other examples of how this type of thinking might show up:
Something unexpected comes up at work last minute and you can’t fit in the workout you’d planned for, so you skip exercising altogether
You miss one day of exercise and then, frustrated with not getting it “right,” throw in the towel on the whole week
You don’t feel fit enough to do certain types of activities and it seems easier or more comfortable to just keep putting any type of movement off altogether
To break this type of self-sabotaging pattern, practice noticing all-or-nothing thinking when it arises and then ask yourself, what’s a way that I could fit in any type of movement, even if it’s not the ideal? What’s somethingI could do and feel good about instead of nothing?
Tip #5: Choose activities you enjoy, even if it doesn’t feel like the type of exercise you’re “supposed” to do
Making it fun may sound obvious but consider this. How many times have you forced yourself to do an exercise you really don’t like (ahem, I’m looking at you, elliptical machine!) because it felt like something you “should” do.
If you don’t like it, you’re unlikely to stick with it or make time for it, plain and simple. So, choose activities you actually WANT to do, or at least things you think you could like.
Keep experimenting until you find things that are genuinely enjoyable for you. If you can’t find any exercises you like, but being active is one of your values, then choose the activities you’ll dislike the least and start there.
Tip #6: Link movement with other activities you enjoy doing
Think about things you enjoy doing, maybe even wish you could do more of, and then brainstorm ways you can incorporate movement into those activities. For example, if you enjoy listening to audiobooks or podcasts, try listening while you go for a walk, ride a bike, or do yardwork.
Choose friends you enjoy spending time with and ask them to meet you for a walking date, play a round of pickleball or tennis, or meet you for a fitness class you’ve been wanting to try.
If you’ve got kids, consider ways you can be active and spend quality time with them—such as playing a game of tag, going for a bike ride, or throwing a dance party. Likewise, perhaps you and your partner can take up a new hobby that enables you to spend more fun time together, like hiking, ballroom dancing, skiing, golfing, or whatever other enjoyable-sounding activities your brain can dream up.
Tip #7: Weave more activity into things you already do
Remember, anytime you’re moving your body safely is a win. So, consider things you do throughout your day and look for ways to “unbudget” your activity, as I like to call it. Here are some examples of what that could look like:
Take the stairs instead of the elevator
Park further away from your destination
Instead of piling things up at the bottom of the stairs to carry up all at once, make separate trips
Walk over and talk to your colleague or family member in a different room instead of calling out to them or sending an email
Vacuum instead of turning on the robot vacuum
Do some squats, stretches, or counter pushups or planks while you’re cooking dinner or waiting for your coffee to brew
Get creative and know that it’s ok to start super small. If walking up four flights of stairs feels out of reach, walk up one flight and then hop in the elevator until you’re ready to add in another flight. Take a 5-minute walk or start with just 5 lunges—every little bit matters and it’s ok to start exactly where you’re at!
Tip #8: Schedule it
My friend and leadership coach, AliceAnne Loftus, likes to say that if it’s not on your calendar, it’s not a priority. For those of us who live and die by our calendars, there’s a good bit of truth in this!
Consider looking at the week ahead and scheduling in the days and times you plan to fit in movement. Maybe even make a note of what type of activity you plan to do so your brain is really visualizing it. If there are activities you can make a regular part of your weekly schedule (such as a specific, reoccurring exercise class, date with a personal trainer, or walking date with a friend), that will make it even easier to get in a regular routine.
Then—and this is the important part—treat these plans as you would a very important work meeting or doctor’s appointment for your kiddo. If you wouldn’t cancel on others, commit to not cancelling on yourself either unless it’s absolutely unavoidable.
Remind yourself that your self-care is equally as, if not more, important than your other responsibilities and priorities. After all, taking care of yourself is what enables you to show up effectively, as your best self, for everyone and everything else! Plus, your needs matter. Full stop.
Tip #9: Recruit support or accountability
You’ll probably find it easier to stick with your movement goals if you build in support and accountability.
Consider finding a movement buddy who will get active with you, an accountability buddy whom you can check in with for progress updates (or when you need some motivational support) or ask your partner for positive encouragement and support to meet your movement goals.
Of course, you can also consider hiring a wellness coach or a personal trainer who can help you challenge your limiting beliefs and offer you professional support and guidance to achieve your goals.
What if your relationship with exercise needs additional healing?
As humans living in a toxic diet culture, many people have complicated relationships with exercise. It’s become normalized to view exercise primarily as a means to an end—a method for weight loss and manipulating body shape or size rather than joyful activity or a meaningful form of self-love and care.
If you tend to view exercise primarily as:
a way of “earning” your calories
a vehicle for weight loss
something that’s rigid or good versus bad
a way to “make up” for something you’ve eaten
a form of self-punishment for how your body looks
something you obsess over or think you must do even when you’re sick or injured
something you dread doing
something you do only when you’re dieting
These all may be signs that you have an unhealthy mindset or disordered patterns around exercise—and possibly food or your body image too. That may be part of the reason you’re experiencing resistance to exercise.
If so, I would highly recommend getting support to opt out of diet culture and heal and reimagine your relationships with food, movement, and your body. When you learn to eat and move for wellbeing, not weight, your priorities tend to shift.
Eating and moving in ways that enrich and enhance the quality of your life become easier and so much more natural. And your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing—what I like to think of as your Whole Health—is improved.