'Hullo' wasn't enough lol

Bums wish had read the 'please read this first' section. Just wrote HUGE thang about me and my lack of motivation right now. Will come back and do that again later. Meanwhile some tips please as am desperate.

Bout time I posted here as see u guys @ Animal Aid's fayre in Dec every year as around my birthday so kinda ties in nicely with that plus been training for around 2 years xxxxxx

Nice to have you onboard Tracie
Lack of motivation can be hard!
First off what are your goals? If you haven't any sit down & think about it & then write down exactly what you want to achieve. Make sure your goals don't conflict is stage one. If you say something like "I want to lift a world record deadlift" & you also say "I want to slim down to a size 8" then there's the first problem. You're trying to do two opposite things, so writing down can first help clarify your exact goals in your head. Once your goals are clear you can put it up somewhere you see it often (even make a few copies - put it up as a 'sticky' on your computer where ever you will see it), this will remind you of your goal & help keep you on-track.
Next will depend on your what your goals. but most people will need to buy a training log. This doesn't have to be fancy just buy an exercise book or similar & plan out your training & diet. The details will depend upon your goals.
Here's a few examples:

Let's assume your goal is physique based, you want to get ripped for summer:
1/ Write the goal down & put it a few places (stick it to the fridge, sticky it on your computer)
2/ Set aside 2 or 3 days a week to train, set a time & day.
3/ If you have any 'problem foods' in the house that will affect your goals get rid of them, go out & buy healthy food options (you can still have the odd treat, but build that into the program).
4/ Once a week in the morning in bikini or underwear photograph yourself. Take a couple of snaps somewhere that you can do regularly, at the same time of day, in the same outfit. Also measure the waist size & you can weigh yourself (although weight can be the least affected when you lift, go by waist & photos when considering fat levels as you could be adding muscle).
5/ Begin training & starting shifting to a healthier diet.

Things to avoid are to make too many changes at once or you could get overwhelmed. If you have a specific deadline, then you have HAVE to do that, but if it's a lifestyle change you're after then I'd suggest getting the training started & just make one or 2 dietary changes (remove the real junk as much as you're comfortable doing). From there make no more than 2 changes a month & only once the last change has become habit.

Thanks Pete that's really helpful. I suffer with depression so training is a 2 edged sword for me - essential to keep those happy hormones going but doubly difficult when am having an acute episode as I am currently. I think one of the difficulties is definately the loss of sight of goals but also around a year ago I lost all my known support at the gym re a change in management. First of all my instructor left and then 3 guys I knew really well and who knew their stuff. They replaced these guys with younger guys who know very little as focused on the personal trainers who I cannot afford being on benefit. I rely on the other gym guys for a 3 monthly review where we discuss goals, change routine etc but because of my lack of faith in them plus illness & ankle injuries I haven't done this in ages. I guess what writing this down has done has made me realize I really need a chat about this to the gym manager. I pay nearly £60 a month membership and I should not feel in a position where I must have a trainer I cannot afford on top of that. I do my best to bounce back after illness and injury despite it being hard as haven't really got back to my supersets now for months.

My diet is pretty good being a vegan but I guess my ultimate goal always was to lose weight and I can't do that until I feel I can stick to a calorie controlled diet. I guess that is also an issue for me as if I don't go to the gym I put on weight as I am eating too many calories which just gives me something else to beat myself up about. I definately have toned up over the years and plenty of people have commented on that but I guess I'm pretty hard on myself generally and know I can do better because I'm not in that place I was at the beginning of my training. So to summarize I guess my goals are to lose weight, help keep depression at bay, be healthier generally as getting older & tone.

Will speak to gym but appreciate any feedback in the meantime x

OK, in your case when you hit a low patch just think "I'll go in & do one thing", often you will start & do more, but even if you only do one thing that's still moving you in the right direction.
If finding support if difficult at the gym you may have to move towards becoming your own coach, to some extent. Investing in a few books might help. I quite like New rules of lifting for women. It's not the newest book out there now, but quite a few women have found it useful.
I hope the talk at the gym helps & looking forward to some interesting updates as you progress.

Awwww thanx Pete. Have got complete guide to strength training but will def take a look at this too x

What a year so far! Just wanted to update you. After tearing a ligament in my ankle earlier this year and finally getting back to gym (and getting fab new instructor) I over did things and got an acute strain in my existing T12/L1 problem area. This was mainly due to the crap instructor I had inbetween my feb first one and this one. He didn't tell me about my form on a free weight fly despite knowing I had a back injury so my abs were all floppy despite the rest of my form being fab lol. Hey ho.

But NOW for the good news. New trainer Nick is a personal trainer too and altho I can't afford that he works in the gym as a general instructor so can do half hour reviews just like my first instructor who left. FINALLY I have a guy who understands how serious I am, takes my injuries on board and knows what he's talking about. My new routines are fab and I tried the lower body one for the first time yesterday & back tomorrow for upper body. He has got me on interval training with supersets and using the oddest new apparatus - TRX. On first sight I thought it was some medieval torture device but for those of you who don't know it's like a swing frame but with straps hanging down of various lengths that you can adjust and loops at the end for your feet/hands. Great for reverse curls, squats, jack knifes etc. I'm back to being stoked about going to the gym again & feel challenged once more

Anyway just wanted to thank you again for your fab advice & New Rules for Lifting book is brill. Keep up the great work on here xxxxxx

I'm glad you're getting the advice you need. Injuries & issues can really muck up your results, so having someone take those into consideration is good - just remember you are the real expert on you, so let them know if anything feels wrongs, you get 'warnings' etc, it's your feedback that helps the trainer design a program that suits you & gets you results you want.
Yes the TRX is the latest 'hot gear'. I've got an older xtreme ring set-up that allows you to do pretty much the same stuff. I bought a lot of TRX educational stuff learning how to training using them as it's kind of different to traditional training!
If someone hasn't seen the TRX system before go to youtube there are loads of clips to see what one looks like (I'd be wary of some of the form blunders on youtube though, you can buy quite a few DVDs from TRX about various types of training that give you better form advice than some youtube vids - although the well known people are often pretty good)