Lacking gym motivation.. Help ? :(

rose_dawn_

Hey all. I've been doing gym for about 7 months but I'm getting bored and unmotivated, not seeing much results.. Any ideas on how to fix that ?
I'm 22, 5 foot 3 and weigh around 160 pounds... Would love to get some motivation back and tone up more.. Should I look into some supplements or proteins to help me or something.. [Masters student so not much cash to spare for PTs and supplements ] ?
Any help would be really appreciated!

Thanks,
Rose

Alf Veedersane

It's likely nothing to do with supplements or protein. If you're seeing no results, have a look at what you are eating instead of what you're not earing.

Cake Man

What exactly are your goals? You mentioned "toning" which is essentially reducing body fat so I'm guessing that seems to be your objective.


With all due respect, if you're seeing no progress in the gym it kind of means you're not putting in the effort and/or sabotaging any progress with poor eating/drinking choices. What do you do in the gym and how often do you go etc.?
If the gym isn't working for you and you're not enjoying it, then you should look to some other exercise activity/activities you enjoy - running, cycling, martial arts, gymnastics, soccer, GAA, the list is endless tbh....
The best exercise you'll do is the one you're most likely to stick to, however, bear in mind that nearly anything you try to do will mostly come down to your diet so you need to get that right. What does a typical days eating look like?


When it comes to doing exercise and eating well, you need to make it a habit. Habit develops discipline and discipline keeps you going through the hard times. Motivation unfortunately isn't worth a sh!t, it comes and goes (as you've experienced) so you just can't rely on it.


Don't mind supplements, it's not what you need and is not going to make a difference. Supplements aren't some magical things you take to automatically solve all your issues.

rose_dawn_

Cake Man wrote: »

What exactly are your goals? You mentioned "toning" which is essentially reducing body fat so I'm guessing that seems to be your objective.


With all due respect, if you're seeing no progress in the gym it kind of means you're not putting in the effort and/or sabotaging any progress with poor eating/drinking choices. What do you do in the gym and how often do you go etc.?
If the gym isn't working for you and you're not enjoying it, then you should look to some other exercise activity/activities you enjoy - running, cycling, martial arts, gymnastics, soccer, GAA, the list is endless tbh....
The best exercise you'll do is the one you're most likely to stick to, however, bear in mind that nearly anything you try to do will mostly come down to your diet so you need to get that right. What does a typical days eating look like?


When it comes to doing exercise and eating well, you need to make it a habit. Habit develops discipline and discipline keeps you going through the hard times. Motivation unfortunately isn't worth a sh!t, it comes and goes (as you've experienced) so you just can't rely on it.


Don't mind supplements, it's not what you need and is not going to make a difference. Supplements aren't some magical things you take to automatically solve all your issues.

I'm not going to say I want to lose wight, because I know building muscle will not make me weigh less, but it would be ideal to lose the body fat, to look and feel better about myself.
I eat well, barely any junk food like crisps or sweets and had not had any takeaways for about a year, mainly eating fruit, veg, grains, chicken and fish. Dairy is a no-go, and red meats aren't really that prominent in my culture.
As for gym - I do cardio and quite a bit of weights, and I go 3-4 times a week, for about an hour or more, depending on how busy I get with college work.. I'm not one of those girls who goes in to stare at the guys or attempt to be noticed, I really do try my best and come out half - dead at the end so lack of effort isn't really the problem I don't think..

njs030

rose_dawn_ wrote: »

I'm not going to say I want to lose wight, because I know building muscle will not make me weigh less, but it would be ideal to lose the body fat, to look and feel better about myself.
I eat well, barely any junk food like crisps or sweets and had not had any takeaways for about a year, mainly eating fruit, veg, grains, chicken and fish. Dairy is a no-go, and red meats aren't really that prominent in my culture.
As for gym - I do cardio and quite a bit of weights, and I go 3-4 times a week, for about an hour or more, depending on how busy I get with college work.. I'm not one of those girls who goes in to stare at the guys or attempt to be noticed, I really do try my best and come out half - dead at the end so lack of effort isn't really the problem I don't think..

Are you tracking your food and calories and measuring how much you eat?

Cake Man

^^^
As above, do you count your calories by tracking what you eat/drink each day? I know you mentioned you eat well and not much junk food but it's absolutely possible to gain weight only eating healthy/unprocessed foods. If you're eating more calories than your body needs, you'll put on weight no matter what the food is. Likewise, you won't gain or lose weight if you're taking in your maintenance calories each day.


I plugged your stats into a calorie calculator based on your description and going to the gym 3-4 times/week. Your maintenance calories work out to be around 2250 calories/day and to lose weight you'd be looking at around 1800 so take in this amount each day by tracking what you eat/drink. Buy a small scales to weigh out portions if you haven't got one. Use an app like myfitnesspal to track, it's really that simple.