Does anyone else ever feel guilty for not doing "enough"?
So I finished jogging 3 1/4 miles and walking 2, a number I'm slowly raising as I get my body used to the impact of slamming into my treadmill so many times. I jogged faster and longer than I have before today. I then lifted some weights. I wouldn't change anything about the way I ate today.
So why do I feel guilty for not doing enough? I mean, I can imagine myself working in some other things that keep me moving about, like doing yoga or belly dancing on DVD. And maybe that would make me feel better. But I still think it's kind of weird that I would feel bad about doing the exact workout that I had planned for today (actually more, that extra 1/4 was like a bonus). I wouldn't mind harnessing the extra energy to work for my benefit, but at the same time I also want to feel good about my efforts so far!! Any suggestions or insights?
Even when I've eaten well all day, exercised, gone to school, AND gone to work, I can't feel like I'm doing enough. Whyyyyyyyyy?
AAAAAND...why can't I see the results others do? I posted a few weeks ago about how I went down a jeans size from a 14 to a 12....but I feel like I look EXACTLY the same as I did at 220 (highest weight -- size 16).
I have no real insights for you, just wanted you to know I feel the same way. I'm a perfectionist by nature and if I'm not pushing myself to my limits I feel like I'm not doing enough. This is something I'm trying to be aware of because in the past if I wasn't "doing enough" I'd get discouraged and not do anything at all. You're doing great give yourself a pat on the back
Same. No great advice or anything, but I've felt the same before. I could have a week go by gorgeously onplan, but I start thinking about how I could've walked or worked out more. How silly! >_<
Thanks guys, it makes me feel a lot better that I'm not some kind of weirdo here. I used to know some people in college who would be like "I do 6 hours of cardio a day, is that enough?" or saying how they eat way too much when they only eat a cube of cheese. I guess as long as I stay away from that level of insanity, I can just accept the guilt feelings as normal though unfortunate.
And artsnsmarts, going down so many sizes is definitely seeing results! It's hard to judge things that you see every day. Maybe you can try on some of your old size 16 pants so you can see all the room that's not being filled anymore?
I have -- the pants I have to wear for my work uniform are 16...but I always tell myself that they've stretched out because i wear them so much, i'm weird, huh?
Haha, not weird at all. I didn't realize how much weight I had lost before until I gained it all back, even when it was like "Oh, these pants I bought recently don't fit, I must have bought them too small, what was I thinking". It didn't really hit me until much later, hence why I'm finally getting around to doing something to fight it.
About a year ago was when I felt like that the most. I couldn't do the amount of exercise I had been able to do once upon a time. I'd gotten out of shape and I didn't let myself slowly build up. The guilt definitely led to me not wanting to exercise and to overeating more. Twas an evil circle; I wouldn't exercise, then I'd eat too much, then I'd feel guilty and I'd binge.
It actually took a lot for me to let myself have a day off here and there. I still sometimes feel guilty if I don't exercise for hours every day. But I'm getting over it...
yeah, I think sometimes we're our own worst critics...it sometimes helps me to get things in perspective a bit when I think of what I was doing before...I may have only done 40 minutes of exercise today, and I may have eaten something less than healthy at some point, but when I think of how I used to eat a whole pizza on my own and was too lazy to do anything but push buttons on the remote control I realize that I'm doing ok. I may not be a conditioned athlete at the moment and my skinny clothes may be out of reach, but I am improving myself, slow though it may be. I guess its better to always feel like I'm not doing enough than to be a lazy pig who thinks I'm doing nothing wrong. Maybe someday I'll be able to strike a healthy balance in there somehow :-)
Does anyone else ever feel guilty for not doing "enough"?
