Which comes first - the energy or the motivation?

Which comes first - the energy (aka motivation) to do the exercise or increased energy from doing the exercise.

Personally I feel that the answer is both are right and both come first...

We can motivate ourselves to do some exercise, and if we do enough at the right intensity we get the "serotonin" high. (BTW The serotonin high is also called the runners high.)

Quite simply - the serotonin high makes us feel good, which gives us the motivation and the to do other things.

Now, one thing I will say - and speaking from experience. I have always managed about 5 or 6 days of going hell for leather and then I have to stop. And the reason is an interesting one - It's because I have run out of fuel. When we decide to "eat better" and do more exercise it's usually because we've decided we need to lose some weight. What do we do - we cut back on food, and consequently our bodies run out of steam. We don't expect our cars to run without petrol, so why do we expect our bodies to work when we're not feeding it. Now we can probably all do with modifying our eating behaviours - cutting out some of the excess fats and sugars we find in so many processed foods - but we should be adding more natural foods to our diets. Foods that take longer to break down in the body giving us sustained energy for longer periods. Rolled oats are a good example.

So if you are looking to improve your diet, increase your energy levels and gain the benefits from exercising as well - remember - all things impact on each other. If you're running out of steam after a couple of days of increased activity - check to see whether you are eating enough good foods. And no I am not a dietician or a health professional - I just have a lifetime of studying my own body and its needs.