Ok. So I went to the local state park that has a huge playground for my daughter and there is a 3 mile track. So we walked to the playground and then walked about a mile back to the car. Afterward i felt so awake and had so much energy. How can something that makes me feel so good be my nemesis? I love the way I feel when I am walking and the energy I have afterwards. So why cant I make myself do it everyday. I have a tredmill in my livingroom and I cant even make myself get on for 30 min a day. I hate the tredmill.
If you love the feeling you get from exercise but hate the exercise itself - change it! Don't do the treadmill if you hate it. Exercise shouldn't feel like a punishment. You really do have to find something you enjoy. And make it mandatory for yourself.
Think of it as showering or brushing your teeth, it must be done every day, no excuses.
I've heard it said that it takes 3 weeks to form a habit. Commit to doing something for 3 weeks with NO days off and it will become habit. I hated the treadmill, but I started mid-Feb walking on it. I had days when I had to work 12 hour shifts and could not walk...I actually missed it on those days. Now I look forward to it. Someone else on one of the forums here said when you don't feel like doing your exercise, just go put on your exercise clothes, put on your exercise shoes and then you will be more likely to just do it. She is correct. I have had days like that. Sometimes I bargain with myself that I will just walk 15 mins, but then I am on the treadmill and feeling empowered and strong and I just keep going. Now my average time is up to an hour. That is only after about 5 weeks of just doing it.
Don't start at 30 minutes a day! Wow, ambitious much?? Shoot, do 5 minutes. Pick up some weights. Then in a couple days, do 10 minutes. Slowly build.
I freakin' HATED exercise, but what worked for me is that I found a way to slowly get into and did it during my normal lazy/sedentary routine. I used to veg and watch Netflix TV episodes during my "break" while my DD napped in the afternoon. So, I would watch an episode of the L Word (which I was addicted to at the time) and did simple exercises with the door gym. It was relatively painless since I was still doing something "luxurious" during it. That worked for me, tacking it onto another habit. Now I don't even watch TV anymore and exercise for 45 minutes on most days instead. It's incredible how addicted you get.
You will never, ever exercise if you make it your nemesis.You will get into it, I promise. Just don't feel like you have to overdo it. Start slowly, and do something you enjoy. And after a while, you will get addicted and your body will change and you'll love the rush you get.
A local state park sounds gorgeous! An indoor treadmill...not so much! Maybe you could try exercising outside more often? Yea for nature and sunshine and breezes and clouds and flowers and stuff!
If you hate the treadmill then don't do it!! DO NOT do it!!! I HATE machines, and now I work out with a group on a football field. It feels like high school sports practice, and I LOVE IT, and work harder than I ever could push myself at a gym. I actually wait for my alarm to go off at 5am, and I'm soo NOT a morning athlete-type.. until now.
Please, for your happiness, find something you love- maybe a walking group, or somthing else that makes you overjoyed! It's okay that you hate the treadmill. Machines are unnatural. It's time for you to move on, and succeed!
If you enjoyed walking at the park so much, why not try to walk around your neighborhood every day, instead of doing the treadmill, which you don't like?
I agree with everyone else that if you just make yourself do it every day, no excuses, it will get to be a habit and eventually even be something you enjoy. But in the beginning, you just have to force yourself to do it every day. I went from hating exercise (referred to it as my torture sessions) and not exercising at all to now going on three years of doing some from of intense exercise every day. When I first started exercising, I couldn't imagine doing it every day for the rest of my life. When I thought about it, I felt depressed, panicked, and overwhelmed. Now it's easy to imagine because it's just another daily task, like going to work, doing the dishes, cleaning the shower door, making dinner, sleeping. It can't say I look forward to it, but I don't dread it and when I am actually exercising, a lot of times I feel really good and feel energized afterwards. But it took a long time of forcing myself to just do it every day, no excuses, to get to this point.
Come up with a reward system. If you exercise three days in the week, you get to buy yourself something you want or do something special for yourself. I got myself to floss my teeth by promising myself I could download a song for my iPod every time I flossed. It sounds stupid but it totally worked.
Also, I didn't go from not exercising at all to exercising every day overnight. I started just exercising three days a week with a personal trainer. Then after a while, I added in cardio on my own for a couple of days. Eventually I got up to exercising every day (although this isn't necessary--I do it because it's just easier to keep it up if I do it every day--there's nothing wrong with taking one or two days off a week, so long as you are consistent about exercising on the other days). Start with a reasonable goal and when you feel like you've got that down, come up with a new goal.
I'll ditto the others about finding something you love. If you find you're only able to fit in something with the treadmill why not put the TV on one of your favorite shows or something and walk while watching TV?