I hate exercising
 

I hate, hate, hate exercising, yet I know that in order to lose weight and become more healthy, I must do it.......I have a wonderful treadmill that I never use so I have relatively simple exercise at my fingertips. Over the years walking is the only exercise that I have been able to stick with long term. However, I don't see very good results with it. I will begin walking on it for 15 minutes a day for a week and then up it to 20 minutes a day for a week and then move it up to 30 minutes a day for a week, but I have a very hard time staying motivated with it because it seems that the weight loss is so slow. Can you offer me any suggestions that would help me to stay motivated? Thank you.

When you're walking are you brisk walking? I guess it also depends on your diet, because unless you're really getting the heart rate up you might not see much difference. Try pushing yourself more. again though I think it all depends on your diet too.

No matter what it is you're doing, you have to get your heart rate up enough to burn calories. Otherwise, you're not doing much good from a weight loss perspective.

Is there anything athletic that you LIKE to do? It'll be much easier to enjoy it (or at least tolerate it) if you find something you like. Roller blading, bicyling, taking a class somewhere?

Also, I'll be honest .. I also HATED exercise with a passion. And that was because I was overweight, awkward, out of shape. Exercising wasn't fun, and didn't feel good because I could never complete a class or a series, would sweat like no tomorrow, and became hot and sticky and red faced.

As I stuck with it - powering through it because I *had* to, I found that I began to enjoy it more and more. I now feel a sense of accomplishment when I complete 30 mins of HIIT. I am proud of myself when I can do a full set of weighted lunges walking across my gym. And lifting weights has been an amazing experience - it's very empowering to walk over to the squat bar and squat an olympic bar with heavy plates on ... and see all the guys glancing at me out of the corners of their eyes cause there's a CHICK in the free weight area doing heavy squats. :)

All of that siad, you say that the weight loss is slow? How much are you losing? How fast? What do you weigh now? And what are you eating?

All of those things will factor into your weight loss and impact how quickly you lose - not just your exercise. Also "slow" is relative. 1% of your body weight per week is considered a healthy and reasonable amount of fat loss. For me, at 163, if I lose 1.6 lbs a week, I would lose 7 lbs a month. 7 lbs a month doesn't sound like much, and a lot of people would get frustrated with that. But it's a reasonable amount of weight to lose and it's 7 lbs I didn't have before.

.

I hate it too. It helps though. I have to force myself to do it and I look for excuses to not do it. I have no words of inspiration other than you are not alone.

Says Photo:
That's pretty much exactly what I going to post myself when I read your (i.e. InnerChild's) post but Photo beat me to it. I was very keen on exercising either but amazingly, that attitude vanished in thin air and now I not only enjoy but also LOOK FORWARD to going to the gym. Who would have thought? I'll admit if somebody told me that's what's going to me I would NOT believe it, and yet it's true. Can you watch TV when you are on your treadmill? I can't (I have my TM in the basement) but I would like to get another TV so that I can perhaps play movies when I am on it. If not, can you play some funky upbeat music that will make you want to move?

I recommend getting a heart rate monitor and hoping on to your tread mill on an incline and walk so your heart rate is at about 75% of it's max and do it first thing in the morning before eating anything... but do drink water.

The endorphins that kicks in (the reason I love to exercise). But, they only kick in if you are working out hard enough. Like everyone else said... your results will be minimal if you don't get your heart rate up.

Why do you hate it? What specifically don't you like? I don't like sweating. It's gross and smelly. But if I think about how the water coming out of me is melting away weight, then I can put up with it.

I think the clumsiness feeling is a good observation. I've never been athletic, always been terribly out of touch with my body. I used to randomly (it seemed) fall down and bump into things when I was younger. I was like a comedy show, only it was my life. I gained more body awareness, and that helped. I think even more would probably make me more comfortable.

Ok here's the deal.....Yes, I hate to sweat. I hate the feeling. But also, I am overweight and I hate the way exercising makes me feel. I know that as I lose weight, I will feel better about exercising. I wasn't always this fat and I rememvber how much I used to enjoy powerwalking. Ugh, but I have let myself get so out of shape that I feel like begining will be so horrible.....and it will. I guess I just need to work thru that part.

For those that asked....today is the first day I begin a new eating plan. I have not exercised regularly in over two years. The last time I stuck with a good eating and excercise plan was two years ago if not more. I was eating 1500 cals a day and walking on the treadmill thirty minutes a day and I lost 12 pounds in four months. I was so disgusted with how slow the weight was coming off in comparrison to what I felt I was giving up that I just gave up. I know, I know....... I don't have much real life support so I'm really on my own with this. Ugh.

I could never roller blade....hahahaha.....I have tried. I have a bum knee that prevents me from doing things like that and aerobics, and I have a bad wrist that prevents me from doing things like bicycling.....too much strain on my wrist. But I can walk. And I will get back into a routine. I like to start out at 15 minutes slow and work up from there because I'm so out of shape. I can't start big or fast.....I'm too out of shape. :(

Thanks for all your replies! :)

Maybe this will help. :)

I took 10 months to lose 20 lbs.

Do I feel like I've "given up" too much for that? NO!!!! Resoundingly, no.

I am healthier. I enjoy my food more. I don't deprive myself, but I am sensible and reasonable about my food. I no longer binge w/out even tasting or enjoying what I eat. When I choose to eat something that is junky or not good for me, it is a CHOICE, not a compulsion.

What have I given up?
I've given up being miserable.
I've given up being angry with myself every time I ate.
I've given up feeling ugly and unloved.
I've given up gorging on food that I didn't really want and feeling sick after.
I've given up the idea that I'm not athletic.
I've given up the idea that women shouldn't lift weights.
I've given up feeling resentful of my skinny friends who can wear cute clothes
I've given up the idea that I can't.

And if it takes me the next 10 years to lose these last 30 pounds, I won't feel like I've given up anything. Because the way I feel right now is SO MUCH BETTER than the way I've felt any time in the past 10 years.

.

Thank you for the perspsective! I really appreciate it!

I hit my all time low not when at my heaviest, but when I added exercise to my routine.

I bought a stationary bike and was horrified to see that my weight exceeded it's limits. I jumped on anyway and was disgusted when my breasts hit my stomach which in turn hit my knees. GAWD! To make matters worse I could only go for 5 minutes at a time.

Even typing this makes me feel like vomiting. It was that bad, the memory remains that clear in my head.

I used that disgust to motivate myself and DO it. I did.

Now instead of feeling my gorge rise when I look at myself exercising I'm really f'ing proud to admire the sleek new me.

Like Photo said, there are moments of glory in exercise. Yesterday I was doing my lower body workout to a crowd of admiring teenaged boys and a few men. My leg presses were over 100 pounds heavier than theirs. I love the victorious feeling of a heart pounding 80 minutes on the elliptical or a 30 mile bike ride.

Never would I have suspected the triumph involved in exercise 115 pounds ago. By using the hatred of exercise I've grown to love it.

I used to hate exercising too. I have always hated running in particular, probably from my whole school life being forced to do it and never being any good at it, and always coming last. So when i started exercising, i made myself run. It was really hard. I started out running for two minutes, walking for two, running for two, walking for two. I couldnt do any more. It was impossible. And i could only keep up the running and walking for about 30mins total. I was disgusted not only in how over weight i was, but how unfit i had let myself get too. It felt terrible, and i didnt totally appreciate the giant wake up call. But i stuck at it, making sure that every week 2 of my work outs were run/walks. I started that in about July i think

Yesterday i ran, non stop, for 25 mins, walked for 2 mins, then ran another 20.

It is all about persistance, and cutting yourself some slack. I think cutting yourself some slack is important. I mean, give yourself a break! You're eating well, and you've made a start on exercise, the hardest part is starting. You cant expect to be brilliant at exercise from the get go :) All you can do is your best, every day, for that day. Sometimes you might be able to walk heaps really fast, thats your best for that day. Other days just getting on the treadmill is the best you can do.

maybe its a matter of finding the excercise that suits you best.
i for one HATE running, however find the bike a lot more tolerable and this has allowed me to stay on track with at least some kind of exercise program.

I believe that the excercise that suits me best is walking, either outside or on the treadmill. In the past it is what I was able to stick with most.

I am completely ruled by my emotions and no matter how hard I've tried not to let them interfer with my exercise routines, it eventually does. UGH, I wish I knew how to get that part of it under control. Anger, sadness, depression, whatever, it will seep in and effect my exercising. It always has.

I want to mention this next thing and see if others feel or have felt the same way about exercising.....I am afraid of having a heart attack while exercising. I have no health issues that lead me to believe I will. I have slightly higher than normal BP. My idea weight for my height and bone structure should be no more than 120 lbs, I weight 212 lbs. I weight about twice as much as I should. I don't really want to get into taking pulse and heart rate readings because if I begin that it will be too much for me to stick with, what with measuring food and counting calories also. But I was just wondering if anyone else has been afraid of exercising also for this reason?

I can't say that I've ever had that fear, no. I figure I'm mostly healthy and I know pretty well what my limits are. If there were some reason for me to be worried, I'd be more careful. *shrug* I just tend not to get worried about stuff like that.

Honestly just like everything else we talk about here ... this is a CHOICE. You choose to let your emotions control your exercise. If you're angry or sad or upset, do you not go to work? Do you not get out of bed? Do you not cook dinner or brush your teeth or do the things you do to live your life? Of course not. You do those things because you know you have to. So when you feel emotional and you allow it to affect your exercise, that's your choice.

I don't mean to be harsh or anything, because I understand how hard it is to want to do something you don't like. I really do. I'm sure everyone here does. But I do think that saying you're "ruled by your emotions" is an excuse.

.