Summary : Getting back into lifting weights is far more difficult than starting out for the first time because we know that we have failed in the past to meet our goals, and we are ashamed of it. Getting back into lifting weights, eating healthy and sleeping consistently isn't a matter of flipping a switch on and off. What has worked for me is to lift heavy weights in the morning and in order to make my mind almost addicted to working out(and thus breaking my sedentary lifestyle and make good decisions) , I consistently do one or two sets of smaller exercises every three hours or so, throughout the day, and get a dopamine high and use it as a progressive reinforcement to train myself to take better care of myself.

Body :

I let my 9-5 job get the better of me and used it as an excuse for my increasing obesity for quite a long time. Getting back into lifting weights is unfortunately not as simple as flipping a switch on and off.

In the last two months, after working out for 2-3 days consistently, the excuses started coming up and I spiraled back into the bad habits of eating trash, sleeping less etc.

Eating-Lifting-Sleeping has a cyclic dependency and if one of them isn't fulfilled, all of the rest suffer.

  • If we don't sleep well, we don't want to workout.
  • If we eat trash, we don't have the energy to workout or we feel sick.
  • If we don't workout, we feel lethargic, eat trash and sleep less due to not having discipline.

What I have tried in the past, is to lift heavy in the morning, do my job throughout the day and sleep well at night.

It didn't work for me. And the reason it didn't work for me is because after a whole day of work and standing in a hot-smelly-crowded bus while coming home, I got tired and completely demotivated to do anything else. I ate outside and I ate trash. I went home and saw movies and other garbage to make me feel good. After a few months of this, I packed on serious weight.

Now, instead of going on and on about what didn't work for me, I would like to get into what worked for me and exactly why it worked for me :

  1. Workout hard in the morning and lift heavy weights : This is the portion of the day where I like to get around 30-40 minutes of heavy workout. This workout is meant to make me more healthy--loose weight and gain muscle mass. This gives me a rush of dopamine for the next 3-4 hours and lets me complete my most important things in my life.
  2. Workout THROUGHOUT the day in SMALLER INTERVALS : Now, the thing that helped me, is to do 1-2 sets of the simpler exercises (like pushups, squats, triceps push, bicep curls etc), for just 2-3 minutes, and repeat it EVERY 2-3 hours. This is a game changer for me. Due to this smaller exercises, my brain got flooded with dopamine and other feel-good hormones at a regular interval. This reinforcement, allowed me to remain motivated throughout the day and make proper decisions that would be helpful to me.

Now, I'm eating oatmeal and bananas instead of cookies and sodas. I'm planning my meals. I'm not demotivated anymore. Family members are liking the new me, because I have more energy and I'm taking actions towards a better future.

Conclusions :

If you also have difficulty to getting back into lifting weights and being healthy, it would be good for you, if you also provide this kind of reinforcement to yourself.

Dopamine is released for a lot of things like -- exercise, sex, eating sugar, doing drugs etc.

I selected exercise as my dopamine source and it can be helpful for you to build new habits.