25 ways to remain active even when life gets in the way to stay in shape forever

We consider how to "become" fit when it comes to exercising. However, beginning off is often not the issue. Falko Sniehotta, a professor of behavioral medicine and health psychology at Newcastle University, claims that sustaining it is the key challenge. Adults should engage in strength training in addition to 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of intense activity per week, according to the official UK recommendations. According to the Health Survey for England in 2016, 34% of men and 42% of women do not meet their recommended levels of aerobic exercise, and even more do not engage in adequate strengthening activity (69% and 77%, respectively). According to a World Health Organization survey released last week, 32% of men and 40% of women in the UK reported being inactive, ranking them among the least active people in the world. In the meanwhile, Public Health England's report, which demonstrates that women in the UK are dying younger than in other EU nations, cites obesity as an addition to the chronic long-term disorders.

We all know we need to be working more, but how can we keep going when our drive wanes, the weather becomes bad, or real life interferes? To stay motivated, try these 25 suggestions from professionals and Guardian readers.

1. Work out the why not simply the how.

According to Michelle Segar, director of the Sport, Health and Activity Research and Policy Center at the University of Michigan, our motivations for starting an exercise regimen are crucial to determining whether we will continue it. Society encourages physical activity and health much too often by latching onto transient motivation, guilt, and shame. She claims that there is some evidence that younger individuals will work out more if their motivation is based on beauty, but beyond our early 20s, this doesn't really motivate us very much. Indefinite objectives (such as "I want to become healthy and reduce weight") are also ineffective. We will be more successful, according to Segar, author of No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness, if we put our attention on instant good sensations like stress relief, greater energy, and meeting new friends. We won't prioritize exercise unless it offers some kind of advantage that is actually appealing and important to our everyday lives, according to her.

2 Take your time getting going.

According to personal trainer Matt Roberts, the risk of the conventional New Year's goals approach to fitness is that individuals "jump in and do everything - alter their diet, start exercising, quit drinking and smoking - and within a couple of weeks they have lost interest or been too fatigued." It will take time if you haven't been physically fit. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a trend he loves and advises people to include, but "most people won't be able to handle doing it every day." Combine it with slow jogs, swimming, rapid walks, and two or three rest days once (or twice, at most) a week, at least for the first month. That will allow a person to combine recuperation periods with high-intensity training.

No need to be in love with it

According to Segar, who suggests considering the kinds of activities - roller-skating? - it is important to avoid trying to force yourself to do something you genuinely despise. You used to like riding a bike. Don't feel as if you have to really like working out. Many folks who consistently exercise report feeling better afterward. The physical reaction of your body, the sensation of growing stronger, and the satisfaction that comes from being an expert in a sport are all likely to be pleasurable aspects.

According to Sniehotta, who is also the head of the policy research section for behavioral science at the National Institute for Health Research, "many individuals need to seek beyond them since the apparent options aren't always the ones they would prefer. Different sports or straightforward hobbies like socializing with others might be on the list.

4. Take care of yourself.

Individual motivation, or lack thereof, is merely one aspect of the whole picture. According to Sniehotta, obstacles might come in the form of money, parental obligations, or even where you reside. Physical activity may be impacted by a variety of factors, including fatigue, depression, job stress, and sick family members. He says, "You will find it simpler to sustain physical exercise if there is a lot of support around you. You may feel more at ease engaging in outdoor physical exercise in certain regions of the nation than in others. It would be difficult to assume that persons who don't exercise sufficiently lack motivation.

Segar advises being practical. "Ditch the goal of visiting the gym five times each week. When you first start out, be very thoughtful about your requirements for job and family obligations because if you set yourself up with ambitions that are too great, you will fail and you will feel like a failure. I usually encourage my clients to consider what worked and what didn't over the previous week. You may have managed to squeeze in a stroll at lunch, but you didn't have the stamina to continue it after work.

Don't depend just on willpower.

Segar claims that if anything requires willpower on your part, you don't truly want to do it. Instead, consider exercise in terms of our motivations and the benefits we hope to get from physical activity. How can I profit right now? When I move, how do I feel? How do I feel now that I've moved?

6. Establish a goal

According to Sniehotta, anything that enables you to workout while achieving other objectives would be beneficial. The price of not doing it are greater, and it gives you more satisfaction. For instance, establishing friends through joining a sports club, riding a bike or walking to work, or jogging with a pal. Or maybe the objective is to spend more time outside, which running facilitates.

Try to do anything else while engaging in physical exercise. For instance, Sniehotta explains, "I try to limit email at work and don't use the elevator, so when I can, I go over to people. "I walk to work, I move around a lot within the office, and I really take approximately 15,000 steps during the day. Make an effort to achieve as many important goals via exercise.

7 Make it a routine.

It might be exhausting to merely step outside the door when you start jogging. Where are your shoes? Your drink container? Which path are you going to follow? Sniehotta reminds out that eventually, "the activity has no longer any expenses attached to it." Regular physical exercise and preparation "helps make it a sustainable habit." Sessions that are missed don't.

8 Establish priorities.

What if you are too busy to work out? This may surely be true for many individuals who have two jobs or have significant care duties, but is it really true for you? According to Sniehotta, it can be a matter of priorities. He suggests "action planning," which is determining where, when, and how to carry out a task and attempting to keep to it. The second kind is "coping planning," which involves "foreseeing potential obstacles and putting a strategy in place for how to regain motivation." Most individuals don't allow themselves to prioritize self-care behaviors like exercise, Segar continues.

9 Keep it succinct and direct.

According to Roberts, an exercise need not last an hour. "If you're truly strapped for time, a well-planned 15-minute exercise may be incredibly beneficial." If you want to have more frequent, longer sessions, you convince yourself you'll create time and adjust your schedule, he explains.

10 Change it if it doesn't work.

You feel bad after missing only one run after a week of rain. "Emotion and lack of confidence combine to the point where individuals believe that if they fail a few times, the project as a whole has failed," explains Sniehotta. Keep in mind that getting back on track is doable.

Don't beat yourself up or attempt the same workout program again if it didn't work the first time, he advises. Instead, try something new. "We often hold the belief that if you can't reduce weight, you should put the responsibility on yourself. If you could convert it to "This way doesn't work for me, let's try something else," there's a chance it would work out better for you and it will save you from blaming yourself, which is not helpful.