Once you start on Phentermine and your appetite begins to decrease your doctor will probably also ask you to begin an exercise routine. When Phentermine is combined with an appropriate exercise routine it can turn a minor weight loss campaign into a highly successful pound slashing initiative. Starting an exercise program isn't easy though, but once you've found the right motivation, exercise can be much more enjoyable and following through will be easier and more realistic.

How Motivation Works

Let's look at the following scenario. If someone were to offer you $10,000 dollars for every ten minutes of exercise you did how quickly do you think you'd have your tennis shoes on? Now, that's a major motivational force! You'd be losing pounds quicker than you could spend that money. Doesn't happen in real life though, you may say? Well, you're right BUT if you can make your mind believe something is just as important -- as a big fat check for only 10 minutes of your time -- then that will be a major driving force which will allow you to happily get off your couch and just exercise. The pounds will start to drop and that will give you further motivation to keep going.

So where do you get that motivation in the first place? The following 4 tips can help you overcome your biggest enemy (your lack of motivation):

Key motivational factor 1:

Create Multiple Mini-Goals

Don't just set up one big goal such as loosing 10 pounds in 2 months. It doesn't matter what your goals are or how realistic they may be, if they are far off you won't see immediate results and your motivation will start to decrease. Creating minor milestones and several mini rewards will push your mind into keeping your body moving. And since you're already taking Phentermine, you'll be eating much less and those exercise goals will be easier to meet.

A possible rewards scenario can work as follows: Let's say you love Harry Potter (Hey! A lot of us do.). How about giving yourself a Harry Potter action figure after every three to five exercise sessions you've completed. But don't cheat! If you skip a day then you'll have to start over from scratch. Completing 3 or 5 exercise sessions isn't that difficult and if you've got a collectors heart then you'll be trying to finish your collection faster than you can exercise. You'll actually begin looking forward to your next exercise sessions because you know that you can only buy the next action figure once you've completed them.

Some people use the piggy bank method whereby they place a set dollar amount into their piggy banks after every "successful" exercise session. At the end of the week they simply take out the money from the piggy bank and buy themselves the rewards they've established.

Key motivational factor 2:

Working on a Positive Attitude

The attitude with which you approach an exercise routine (or any aspect of your Phentermine based or non Phentermine based weight loss program for that matter) will be a determining factor in your success or failure. The power of positive thinking is amazing! In fact, research has demonstrated that people who consciously try to modify their inner thoughts and the attitudes they have towards themselves -- including the beliefs they have concerning their ability to lose weight -- begin to see an almost immediate improvement. For some reason the attitude shift increases a person's energy and things simply start to get better.

Many successful have been launched on the premise that you are what you believe you are and that you feel the way you want to feel. Additionally, positive thinking will not only aid your weight loss initiatives and exercise endeavors but it will also attract more happiness and success to your life.

Key motivational factor 3:

Keep Track of Your Progress

Keeping written records of your exercise routine is very important. Every time you finish exercising write down how much time you spent at the gym or sweating in your house, what your weight was before or after each session, how you felt, etc. You can possibly put this information into a spreadsheet program and come up with averages of the time spent and the amount of weight being lost at any particular moment. You should also keep records as to what your waist line is. All of this information will help you to set up or modify existing exercise and weight loss goals.

Key motivational factor 4:

Create a List of Reasons Why You Want to or Need to Lose Weight

When I first started my weight loss initiatives my counselor told me to write down every reason I could think of for wanting to lose weight. Immediately I came up with a list of about 4 reasons:

• I was tired of being called fat;

• I wanted to look better.

• There were clothes in my closet I hadn't worn for years and which I conserved on the hopes that I would one day fit into them again;

• I wanted people to think I was attractive instead of repulsive).

After that, my mind went blank. Vanity! She told me. She was right, I only wanted to lose weight because I felt I didn't look good enough and though this was indeed an important reason for me there were other reasons that were possibly more important.

My counselor and I came up with a list together. It was actually about 52 reasons long but I am not going to bore you with the details. About 30 of the reasons on the list dealt with my health. I was headed on an unhealthy collision course which would take its toll on my life in a few short years. In fact, it wasn't until that moment that I realized I was slowly killing myself by not doing anything about my weight. That's when I began my first truly serious weight loss initiative. My counselor put me on a strict diet which I was able to adhere to with the help of Phentermine. I was also required to start a daily exercise routine which I currently continue to follow even though I've met my weight loss goals already. But, one of the biggest things that kept me motivated when I felt like giving up was looking at the list we came up with together.

Every time I felt I just couldn't go on, I simply looked at the list and saw some powerful reasons that made me want to continue.