[Jen071310]

So after 5 months of not having my mentrual cycle, it finally came with a vengeance and ever since I have not been great with my dieting.... I haven't eaten bad, but I have not exercised.

I need help! I plan on getting back on cycle tomorrow.

How do you bounce back from a lapse in your routine.

[beautybooty]

my advice is to just do it...i know it's hard, but for me the long i spend just thinking about it the more i don't want to. for example, i could spend a half hour thinking about exercising and by the time i decide i don't want to, i could have done so already.

also it helps me (when it comes to eating) to have something else to distract myself with so I don't think about munching and bingeing all the time. personally i play world of warcraft (not that that's the healthiest hobby, but it's not binge eating!) so that keeps me from thinking about overeating.

hope that helps. i'm sure you can do it. you just honestly have to think you can and then you will be fine. have faith in yourself.

[JayEll]

Here is one way to do it. Yesterday I decided I would walk on a treadmill for 30 minutes. Well, on the way to the fitness center, my mind was already saying, "Oh, just 20 minutes will be OK." And then I started on the treadmill, and my mind was saying, "This feels hard today, maybe I should only do 15 minutes." But I had decided that I would do 30 minutes, right? So, I just kept going with it.

Did my mind stop its chattering? Oh no. I got to 20 minutes and my mind told me, "It's OK, you've done enough." I kept going. At 25 minutes, my mind said, "This is really close enough to 30 minutes." I kept going. At 29 minutes and 30 seconds, my mind told me, "You really are crazy, you can just stop now, what difference does 30 more seconds make?" I kept going.

So the point of my little story is that sometimes the mind is not helpful because we try to let ourselves "off the hook." Don't listen to those stories about how tired you are, how much you don't want to do it, how cold it is outside, Just start, and then finish!

Jay

[Heather]

Jay -- That's a great story. My brain does that to me all the time. Nearly always before I get to the gym. "You just worked out yesterday, why are you going today? You're tired and have so much to do..." Stupid voice.

Jen -- I think the answer is to commit to it and to think of strategies to help you cope. On days when I think I'm going to have the munchies at work, for example, I bring a big bag of raw veggies to munch. Actually, these days I bring them a lot! I drink a cup of tea before I give in to the munchies. Often the tea helps, and even if it doesn't, that's time I wasn't eating. And I've learned to make myself go exercise during TOM when I want to eat.

So, I guess the answer is you make yourself! Don't know if that helps!

[modkittn]

Jay I had the same issue with the treadmill yesterday

Jen - If TOM is the reason you have not been exercising, think about this: For most women, exercising provides relief of some TOM symptoms (bloating and cramping for the most part). Exercising can also help relieve headaches. So I say jump back into the game and see how good you will feel afterwards. You may have to force yourself at first, but I bet your body will just be thanking you afterwards!

[pamatga]

I too used to have those kinds of periods where I would have one heck of a period about 2-4x a year. Some women would say "Woo Hoo" on that but let me tell you the iron that I lost was enough where I felt like I needed to take it easy physically for a couple of weeks afterwards.

Make sure you aren't in that kind of situation though before you start exercising because I would wait until you feel strong enough to.

There is exercise and then there is activity. I think you need to have a combination of both. If you find activities that are fun you can be burning calories, having fun and forget that you are actually doing something good for yourself. You didn't mention your age or if you are close to any natural elements but if you can walk (bundle up when it is cold) in the woods or a park. I used to walk year round. I would put on my headset and listen to music. If there is a public lake or pool go to that and do laps or join a water aerobic class. I used to love those and you feel very graceful in all of that water. Last winter I organized all of my closets. Then, I decided to paint and wallpaper. That burns calories too.

Once you get started being more active in general then you feel like you want to walk on the treadmill, take stairs instead of the elevator, park farther away from the Mall's entrance, etc. Once you get active, your body will want it and actually even "crave" it. It is also a great way to work off steam if you have had a bad day. A lot better than over eating or eating the wrong foods!

So, if you look at both activities that you do every day and also incorporate some of the other exercises mentioned here, I am sure you will be seeing yourself burn off those extra pounds in no time and you might actually learn to enjoy some if not all of it.