ever feel burnt out from trying to lose so much weight?
 

Hey y'all...

I don't know if it's the summer heat (90-some degrees here, ugh), but I've wondered if people on this forum just get burnt out with trying and/or losing so much weight.

Right now, I have to admit, I'm not enjoying the exercises I'm doing to lose weight, so I'm reassessing what other kind of exercises (i.e. circuit training, exercise bikes, treadmill, etc) I can do to keep the motivation going.

To be honest, the idea of doing "French Women Don't Get Fat" and just walk for miles outside instead of sweatin' it out on a machine sounds more appealing to me as of late, but I don't think it'll really help translate into pounds lost, just maintenance ;)

What do other people do when they feel like this?

:)

~ tea

You know, I've done quite well this summer from just walking. Now, some of those walks were longer (up to 6 miles). I'm not at the point where I can comfortably jog for more than a minute, but eventually it will come I suppose. The funny thing is, since I went back to my strength training routine, my losses have slowed a bit. Of course, some of that is extra water weight since the weather also got very hot and humid about the same time.

I sometimes think that long walks are highly under-valued. It was a great way for me to 'unload' a bit for summer. I've walked, worked in the garden, swam, etc. I may be down only 25 pounds this summer, compared to 33 pounds for roughly the same time period last summer, but I've had way more fun doing it.

I got like that this summer and for a little bit I didn't really exercise too much except water aerobics in our pool & a run on the treadmill when I could beat my kids up, which was like once a week if I was lucky. For a while there they were waking up at 6am, the time I'd get up to do my run! When they did that I would feel funky & so unmotivated. Sometimes I'd be lucky enough to just turn on the radio, start singing & that progressed to dancing (that counts :lol:)

You know what? I still lost weight though ;)

Since my kids just started school they've been not wanting to wake up in the morning so now I can do my run....my mojo is coming back!

Just hang onto your plan on the days you are feeling burnt out....are you interested in taking some sort of classes like belly dancing? Now would be the time to do it! :)

When it comes to exercise, WHATEVER you can stick to is the winner. I have been all over the place. Sometimes, just walking. Other times LOTS of exercise on a very structured plan.
I lost weight doing both.
I get bored easily. When something stops being fun, challenging, or interesting - I move on to something else.

So, my advice - walk, if you feel like walking. If that doesn't seem to be working for you, change to something else. Don't overthink, or compare yourself to others. Just travel your own road, and change the travel plans as necessary.
:hug:

I can speak to this from a maintenance perspective - because losing weight is the short term, maintaining is well, the rest of my life and sometimes (2.5% of the time, heh) I feel whiny about the fact I have to work so hard to stay slender.

Then, I put on my big girl panties and get over it. :)

LOL - I use that phrase all the time!

Onder - the only thing I would add to the discussion, is you mentioned possibly doing a full body weight lifting/strength all 5 days. Really it's not a good idea to work the same muscle group 2 days in a row regarding weight lifting. The muscles need a day in between for recovery. Your program looks fine to me!

Umm... that last part was for a different thread. And now.. I feel kind of silly. lol Move along.. nothing to see here. :D

Yes, every now and then I get a bit tired of it all. Go through the why me's and the it's not fairs and but I don't feel like its and if I have to chop up one more veggie and all that stuff.

But when I started this never ending journey, I committed to it. I committed to doing "it" whether I feel like it or not. Kind of like when I became a mother. I was a mom and there was no turning back. I needed to do - what I needed to do whether I felt like it or not.

Weight loss/maintenance is the same way. I forge ahead because this is what I do and who I am and NOT doing so is no longer an option. Luckily that feeling doesn't happen all that often and when it does, it passes very quickly. Until it does, I just suck it up, pull up my boot straps and get on with it. I'll feel dynamite in an outfit, spend the day being highly active and productive and just feel overall MARVELOUS and I'll be snapped back into reality, loving my slim self, be delighted with my new life and be firmly back in my groove.

I think it's perfectly normal to feel this way on occasion. Hang tough in the interim tea. It will pass swiftly for you too, I'm sure of it.

I always seem to go back to walking. I'm not talking about an aimless stroll around the neighborhood; it's a 3.5 mile route and involves a couple of pretty good hills. I also think that walking is underestimated; I think that if you feel like taking a break from the gym and just doing some good power-walking, there's nothing wrong with that. You can always go back to the gym if you don't like the results.

I'll probably have to sign up at the gym this winter because it's too dark and icy (not safe) to walk here at night in the winter. But for now, I'm liking the walking. It's the one thing I can commit to doing regularly, so that's what I do for now. :)

Walking has always been my primary exercise. I lost all of my weight with walking and hiking. I don't power walk, I just get the walk done. My favorite thing is that mass/distance = calories burned. As long as I'm getting the walks in, the calories are getting burned, doesn't matter how fast I get the distance in. I have had my best results with regular 45 min or so walks 3-5 times per week with an extended walk/hike/snowshoe on the weekend but I have definitely lost pounds without that extended event.

Here's a thought you might consider. If you have a weight routine in place, what if you did your regular weight/cardio routine on those days and replaced your all cardio routines with outdoor walking or biking? The one thing I would hesitate to do is give up your weight routine if you have that rolling because that would be a shame to lose ground on.

Peg

Yeah, I don't do traditional "power walking" with the fist-pumping, etc, but I keep up a brisk pace. I do 3.5 miles in a little less than an hour, so I'm not killin' it but I'm also not moseying along. :) Somewhere in between!

lol thanks for the encouragement... another thing that's driving my pessimism in part is that the AC doesn't always work lately at the gym... and it being hot as in high 80s or 90s lately, doesn't exactly makes you thrilled at the idea of going to the gym where you end up not feeling good or wiped out during your workout instead of near the end.

Like another reviewer said, I'd definitely keep the membership going especially for the winter months or days of crappy weather outside... I think I just need to look into varying my workouts here to prevent boredom for the time being... :)

~ tea

Losing a lot of weight is hard--both physically and mentally and there's been points in my journey where I felt I just needed a break. So, I gave myself one. Not to say I went all crazy, but instead of losing, I tried to maintain my weight for a couple of weeks. I may increase my calories a little more for those weeks, I may try different exercises or do a little less. Usually by end of the week or two, I've actually continued to lose (although a little less) and I feel more refreshed to continue.

Uggghh I couldn't deal if the air was working at my gym. I'm so sick of the heat and it is hard to be active. I do workout every morning because I have a wonderful gym with great air, but I feel for you. I can't wait for the weather to break so I can go to some of the parks around here and the botanical gardens and walk in the fresh fall air. That will be heaven!

I sometimes feel like that at the gym. So what I usually do is switch my routine to something different that will keep my heart rate up where it needs to be. I do circuit training it works quite well and there are a lot of machines you can use to keep it changing, but it will still give you a good full body work out.