I am 38 years old. I'm 6'3" and grew up an athlete. In my 20s I gained a bunch of weight and lost it all and got down to about 225 from 315. I had two kids and got lazy during covid. I am currently at 330 and want to get back down.
I know that a caloric deficit is my answer and I'm going to start counting calories every day. My problem is that I can't motivate myself to exercise in a routine. I play ice hockey on Fridays, and I want to work out 3 or so other times a week. I have a membership to LifeTime fitness for free through work, but it's 30 minutes away. I have a Peloton that I really love riding and doing HIIT. I also have dumbbells, a bench, and resistance bands for strength.
I try to wake up at 5:30 to work out. I tell myself that I'm too tired and go back to bed and that I'll work out in the evening. The evening comes and I want to hang out with my kids and then when they go to bed I want to be with my wife. So, I tell myself I'll workout in the morning. I'm full of excuses.
I know what you are going to say. You just have to do it and it if you want it so bad, you'll find a way. I've been telling myself this same thing for 6 years. I'm 4 weeks into sobriety and thought this would all fall into place, but it's not. It's too cold and snowy here to walk in the evenings.
Do you have any books that will help me figure this out? Advice?
There's some really good advice here, so I just wanted to add a few things that help me. To wake up early to work out I lay my clothes out the night before. If my alarm starts yelling at me at 5:30 AM and I have to get up, find my shorts, find a shirt, find two matching socks, there's just no way it's happening. But if I did that the night before and put it in clear view of my bed there's no excuse in the morning (well, less of one, anyway). Maybe mix up your electrolyte drink the night before and have it waiting on your bike.
I also find that I have better results if I take a couple minutes to tell myself what I'm going to do in the morning the night before. Tell your wife verbally, "I'm going to wake up at 5:30, ride for 30 minutes, lift for 30 minutes, then have coffee waiting for you when you get up." Tell yourself aloud or in your head, "I'm going to wake up, change into my workout clothes, then get on the bike." When I can visualize how I'm going to go about it I find it a lot easier.
You mentioned Ring Fit Adventure and I also enjoy that game. I've found it gets a little repetitive but it helped me stay sane through the earlier parts of COVID. And just when I think "these workouts are kind of dumb," well wouldn't you know it, I'm sore afterwards - so maybe they aren't so dumb. Depending on the age of your kids, maybe they would want to watch or play as well. They have mini-games that only take a few minutes and you can piece a few together. If you jump into adventure mode you can do a level in about 15 minutes. You've got 15 minutes. Maybe you could work out while your wife is finishing prepping dinner, then you can clean up and do dishes.
As the weather warms up look for a running club or a partner or few for hiking. You may be able to make excuses for not going for that run but you don't want to let your partners down. Where you are in the world or the country may impact how easy it is to find people, but they're out there. And yes, team sports are perfect for this as well.
Lastly, congratulations on looking at yourself, seeing something that you would like to change, and deciding that you're going to do it. Be gentle with yourself. If you skip a workout for whatever reason you can either beat yourself up or you can say "oh well, that didn't work out, I'll make a plan to improve the outcome next time." Create a community with similar goals and work to motivate each other. Stay positive. You've got this!