How to motivate yourself to exercise?

What were some of the things you did to motivate yourself to exercise? I have not had surgery yet, but I want to start exercising now. I have pain in my knees so I have to be careful with the exercises I do.

I have always exercised throughout my journey, and it paid off, I started in a size 26, and I really don't have tons of flabby hanging skin.

What really helped me was incorporating exercise in daily, I could not do heavy workouts when I was very heavy, but I started my day out with morning walks around my neighborhood, for at least 1 hour each morning, what REALLY helped me was I did this ALONE...If I get an exercise buddy, that can throw me off believe it or not because you have to wait for them and sometimes they have excuses and don't show up....I think an online forum is better to stay motivated and on track, but I walked EVERY day and made it apart of my daily routine like brushing my teeth and the biggest motivation was seeing the scale go down also, since I have exercised throughout my journey my weight it helped my metabolism a great deal and I don't gain too much weight when I eat a lot of junk and food....Good luck

This is a great question and it's hard to stay motivated.  I am in a 'slump' right now - I know I must, but I am half hearted, half azzed at it. 

What gets me back in line QUICK is seeing 5lbs jump on the scale - that's my 'break' point - I gain 5 and it's OVER!!!!!!!!!

I'm with Mack the scale is my motivator. 

Well I pay for it, lol. I was a self-motivator before and after the WLS and it helped a lot but then I got comfortable....much too comfortable, so now I have a trainer and a group to whom I am beholden. Every morning at 4 AM I am struggling to get up and by 5ish I am sweating like a grown "A" man! 

My current goal is a chin up and 10lbs this month...we'll see tomorrow.

I don't wait for motivation or I would never do a dam thing.  I just get up and I do it.  

Once I get started I have a lot of stick- to- it- ness  that makes me not quit anything I start. 

I've exercised since my teens because I enjoy a good sweat, but I still need motivation sometimes.   When I get to feeling lazy I remind myself how many calories I need to burn a pound of fat for the week.  Thinking about that 3500 calorie deficit is enough to get me moving.  A 1200 calorie workout is about 1/3 of a pound of fat burned if my calories remain stable.