Totally burnt out - Complete boredom

First off, this is my first post. I'll just give some info: I'm 18 and at a healthy weight. I like myself the way I am now, love the way I look, so I want to keep it that way. I used to be chubbier but lost the extra stuff.

Now, a year ago I used to run 5-6 times a week. At one point it was fantastic. Then I just did it out of habit.Then came last year of highschool and I concentrated ONLY on school, so I didn't exercise much, just kept a healthy diet.

I tried going back to jogging, but now I can't even LOOK at joggers. I have no will or energy whatsoever for running.

Thing is, I don't know if I'm doing enough to keep fit. My exams and school are over now, and I'm only slightly stressed because I'm sort of in "transition": I still don't know where I'll be accepted for Uni (I live in Portugal, we only know in September). So my holidays have been, on a daily basis:

Wake up, breakfast, 1-2 hours gardening (I have a MASSIVE garden which needs tending to almost 24/7, this includes manually trimming bushes, constant sweeping and raking, occasional digging and weeding). Then I might swim for some 10 minutes. PC, beach, take the dog for a brisk 20-30 minute walk, dinner then bed. Everyday.

I usually don't have any motivation to do any other type of exercise like cycling or full-on swimming or especially jogging now.

I'm afraid that by not jogging I will slowly gain back what I lost. It was jogging that helped me lose it. So I don't know what to do any more!

I'm looking forward to Uni because I will be able to control EVERYTHING I eat (right now my family cooks a lot of meals) AND I might be able to join a sports team or athletics thing (since where I live there are no such facilities).

So I guess my question is, should I just continue with what I'm doing, which maybe isn't that much, until I get to Uni in a few months, and then really crank it up? I'm looking to maintain my weight but I would like to tone up.

I just don't know any more. Everything seems like a drag right now.

Any advice, or even life advice (lol)?

Thanks!

it is really hard to motivate yourself when you are stuck in a funk like that.

is there anybody you could go run with? if you commit to each other to run together every day you cant really cancel on each other.

the only other option really is to just do it. during your brisk walk, add 5 minutes of running at the end. tghen after that comes easy...make it ten and just keep going. 5 minutes shouldnt be so daunting to start with.

good luck!

Thanks for the reply! Yeah I tried running once with someone, but it really doesn't make any difference to me, I usually prefer doing exercise on my own...

Thing is, I'm not trying to make extra excuses lol, but right now it's heat season here in Portugal, and it's hot like most of the day, getting easily to around 35ºC, so exercising is tiring to THINK of let alone DO. I don't know if you've ever lived in a hot climate, but just by doing daily things in this heat you get tired. Maybe it's just a south-Europe thing, I dunno lol. Everyone goes to sleep for a short while here in the early afternoon because basically, you can't really do anything else. That's also another reason why people have dinner at 9 or later at night, it's just too hot earlier.

I heard once that gardening for a long time can have the same health benefits as a short jog, is that true? 

Do you have any other suggestions? I'm probably not making this easy haha

i remember being really depressed and lost after my finals. you are not alone.

keep up your vitamin b12, vitamin c, and eat peanuts and bananas to get l tryptophan. you could look into herbal supplements that reduce cortisol etc.

and maybe go see your doctor and check your bloods, so you can know your levels/ if it's safe for you to take supplements.

i get a lot of stuff from iherb to help me.

how about changing up your routine? ie walking the dog in the morning, and gardening in the evening? check out some exercise videos on youtube? or go to a dance class? i hear zumba and pole dancing burn loads of calories.

try not to worry about what your family cooks. sometimes we can't control everything. a few years ago, i got chronic fatigue and couldn't control almost anything. it's well to learn to control our inner selves. try to enjoy your holiday time. watch some uplifting movies, and listen to fun music. dance and sing.

I can relate. I used to LOVE running: everyday! I just HAD to run and I enjoyed it. 

Then I ran cross country my senior year (class of 2012!) as well as track and got burnt out. 

While I do incorporate running every so often into my work outs (maybe as a warm up or an easy run for an "off" day), I have been focussing more on weightlifting. Now I am in love with it, haha. I would choose weightlifting over cardio any day. You can get a great burn from lifting heavy.

Other forms of cardio I use on my "easy" or "rest" days (or for warming up!) include biking and swimming. 

Or you can do things like jump rope, squat jumps, long jumps, jumping jacks, burpees (eek!), crab walks, shuffling etc. 

(I am totally jealous of your garden, btw)

id say try to spice it up. look on youtube for workouts videos, you can find anything, tho i highly recommend bodyrock tv short n effective 12 minute workouts.. but you can all bodyweight, cardio, strength. or try to find classes in your area, such as trx or kickbox or zumba.

Wow thanks for all your replies! As basic as it sounds, I've never really thought of taking the dog for a walk in the morning, then gardening at night, I might actually do that! Stuff here HAS to be done either morning or night since it gets WAY too hot in the daytime (summer) especially here in the Algarve.

I've had other friends telling me to just enjoy summer since it's the last one I'll be living at home with my family.

Fun music yeah, plus dancing is a good exercise, lol!

gardening at night is the bomb! i figured it is summer there now, so in europe you have light, and it's nice outside in the dark if you have a light, some solar ones? i live in sou west australia, and it's like 30 everyday, and up to 40 something revolting degrees, so i know what you are saying. hey some days you could even split between some gardening in the morning (say something you need good light for), a small dog walk, then a dog walk in late afternoon, followed by gardening. sometimes, if you have a swim, and wet/ wash your dog, you can walk your wet selves earlier in the afternoon, just wear board shorts and a long sleeved shirt etc, fully wet. and mind to keep your dog from hot pavement, and go! you could even put dance music on during gardening!

and maybe watch a dvd with friends during the heat of the day, switch between houses. of course you can catch up on your reading now, in the afternoons. i know it is a strangely stressful, and difficult to adjust time. after all the pressure of school, studying for exams, you are suddenly cut loose, and free, but there is actually some need of grieving for loss of childhood. 

there will be good times ahead, try to enjoy these new challenges.

Thanks for that reply, I guess I need that lol!

I know, I feel, WEIRD. Like at school I was one of the best students, but for that I studied everyday for a few hours, because to actually LEARN stuff I needed to study a lot, not like some colleagues who studied 20 minutes before a test and knew everything.

It feels weird not to HAVE to do anything really, but I do value keeping fit and all.

Nice tips though, especially the wet dog walk thing haha, will def try that!

I can definately relate. I'm 17 and lost about 40 pounds on my own and really got into getting to the gym everyday, and of course eating well.

I used to become pumped for the gym, not have to drag myself out of bed to get there, etc. I was so focused on getting the weight off, and thank goodness I had that mindset because I successfully hit my goal weight. But now that I'm maintaining, the day-to-day gym sessions kinda get boring, but I still get myself to go.

I'm also an equestrian..I ride once a week right now..but I'm going to college this fall and am joining the team, so I'll be riding a lot more often. I think that riding is going to become my major form of exercise for me - so even though I'm bored with the gym right now, I'm waiting until college to see how riding takes up my time to see if I need to bust the gym rut. (I'll continue to go to the gym probably, but not as often. )

But in your case...it's ok, don't feel bad about losing interests in something. It happens. I myself get bored running now unless I'm running in a race where the motivation is high! You could get a running buddy...that could help. But really, don't force yourself to do anything that you don't want to do. Take up a new sport - tennis, basketball, whatever...in college on a club team. Club teams are a lot less intense and welcome people of all levels, even beginners.

Use the burn meter calculator on this site under tools/calculators to determine your calorie burn rate. Be honest on your activity, it sounds like you are very active. Then it will estimate how many calories you are burning per day. Eat this amount and you will maintain. You may be eating too few calories with the amount of activity you are doing. This may be causing you to lose your motivation.