--- title: How to Stay Motivated When You Can’t Work Out description: These easy tips will help get you off the sidelines canonical: https://time.com/3023555/motivated-cant-workout/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-25T16:00:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:17:53.015Z article:section: Health og:title: How to Stay Motivated When You Can’t Work Out og:description: These easy tips will help get you off the sidelines og:url: https://time.com/3023555/motivated-cant-workout/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb02ae0fce6177d9/69869cc8cd684868e9095c52/pregnant-woman-walking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5125 og:image:height: 2883 og:image:alt: Pregnant woman walking og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How to Stay Motivated When You Can’t Work Out twitter:description: These easy tips will help get you off the sidelines twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb02ae0fce6177d9/69869cc8cd684868e9095c52/pregnant-woman-walking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How to Stay Motivated When You Can’t Work Out > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Health.com](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Health.com Contributor Jul 25, 2014 4:00 PM UTC  Pregnant Caucasian woman jogging on city street Pregnant Caucasian woman jogging on city street JGI/Jamie Grill—Getty Images/Blend Images by [Health.com](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Health.com Contributor Jul 25, 2014 4:00 PM UTC At one point or another, many of us will be sidelined by something that prevents us from working out. Whether it’s an injury, an illness, or a pregnancy restriction, it can be tough to stick to your usual healthy habits (like eating well and drinking plenty of water) when your exercise routine isn’t what it used to be. Not being active can really throw you for a loop, so here are five ways to help keep you motivated. **Figure out what you CAN do** Ankle injury? You can you work on your upper-body strength. Just had a baby? Ask when it’s OK to start taking walks with the stroller. You might not be able to exercise like you used to, but with your doctor’s consent, you can work together to decide how you can stay active. **Health.com:** [How to Recover From an Injury in Less Time](http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20745351,00.html?xid=Time-motivated-072114) **Dial back your diet** If you can’t exercise, it’s especially important to pay attention to what you’re eating. Someone who’s used to burning a few hundred calories per day from working out will likely gain weight if they don’t cut back when it comes to food. Some ways to keep yourself accountable: track your calories (I love MyFitnessPal), invest in a fitness tracker, and search online for nutritious, low-calorie recipes. **Health.com:** [24 Food Swaps That Slash Calories](http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20777081,00.html?xid=Time-motivated-072114) **Surround yourself with healthy inspiration** You might feel like you’re out of the game when you can’t exercise, but you can still keep yourself in the right mindset by surrounding yourself with all things healthy. Read health and fitness magazines, watch health-inspired documentaries, create a motivational Pinterest board, or cook some new nutritious recipes. Whatever you do, make sure it inspires you to stay healthy! **Set some goals for the future** You can’t work out right now, but you know you’ll be back to your favorite activities soon enough. Get yourself excited for your comeback by creating some goals for yourself. Do you want to run a half-marathon? Start looking at training plans online. Thinking about trying CrossFit? Check out some “boxes” in your area. Setting some goals for yourself will help keep you motivated until you can get back into the swing of things. **Health.com:** [The 13 Weight-Loss Goals You SHOULDN’T Make](http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20762322,00.html?xid=Time-motivated-072114) **Stay busy** When all else fails and you’re still itching to exercise, try being active in some other way, such as volunteering, taking up a new hobby, or enrolling in a class to learn something new. Keeping yourself busy will help pass the time until you can work out again. **Health.com:** [**15 Diseases Doctors Often Get Wrong**](http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20834752,00.html?xid=Time-motivated-072114) [**This article originally appeared on Health.com.**](http://news.health.com/2014/07/18/how-to-stay-motivated-when-you-cant-work-out/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3023555/motivated-cant-workout/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3023555/motivated-cant-workout/"},"headline":"How to Stay Motivated When You Can’t Work Out","datePublished":"2014-07-25T16:00:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:17:53.015Z","description":"These easy tips will help get you off the sidelines","url":"https://time.com/3023555/motivated-cant-workout/","keywords":["Exercise & Fitness","Working out","Workout"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb02ae0fce6177d9/69869cc8cd684868e9095c52/pregnant-woman-walking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Health.com","jobTitle":"Contributor","url":"https://time.com/author/health-com/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb02ae0fce6177d9/69869cc8cd684868e9095c52/pregnant-woman-walking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pregnant woman walking","caption":"Pregnant woman walking","creditText":"JGI/Jamie Grill—Getty Images/Blend Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/exercisefitness/","name":"Exercise & Fitness"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3023555/motivated-cant-workout/","name":"How to Stay Motivated When You Can’t Work Out"}}]}] ```