motivation to exercise

Hello,

I remember how hard it was to get moving after treatment finally ended. The secret for me was to aim very small. I had been pretty fit before diagnosis and even managed to exercise through the first 9 weeks of chemo but then I ended up in hospital and never really got to exercise during the next 3 months of treatment.

So to get myself off the couch I started extremely small - just 10 minute walk. What I found was once I started my fitness came back pretty quickly. Often I would start my 10 minute walk and end up doing 20 or even 30 minutes. The important thing for me was to just get back to a regular, every day routine.

I started an exercise diary and wrote down anything that could even remotely be considered exercise. That helped with motivation. I also found it helped to understand that exercise has been shown in research studies to have a significant impact on your chance of recurrence. I never wanted to have to go through this again, so that was also very motivating.

The main thing was to not compare what I could do before with what I could do at first.  I had to remind myself that my body had been through a traumatic few months and I needed to go gently but consistently. Before I knew it I was feeling so much better. It really does help with the mental side of recovery. One little step at a time.

Take care and let us know how you go.

Deanne xxx