I have a question, when do you get to the point of enjoying exercise?... cuz I just plain hate it.
Well, this is a tough one. When I started exercising I really didn't like doing it and found it hard to motivate myself to do it. So I set goals (minutes/month). Valerie (nolifewithouthorses) asked to join, and the exercise thread was born.
But I digress... so, I started exercising about a year and a half ago. Over time, I have found that there are things I do, sometimes, like about exercise. Sometimes it energizes me, sometimes it serves as a great stress relief. I really love how weight lifting has helped to reshape my body.
But there are many days, when I still have to cajole myself into the exercise in the first place. I just don't want to go and do it. I literally have conversations as I'm thinking of putting on my sneakers.
fat self: "But I don't WANT to work out"
thinner self: "It's not about what you want, but about what you need to do."
fat self: "But I don't FEEL good. My hips/leg/head/other body part hurts"
thinner self: "Not enough that you can't work around it. That's just an excuse."
fat self: "But I'm tired. And I have so much work to do!"
thinner self: "All the more reason to work out. You'll feel better after the fact..."
And so on...
Again, I have found things I like about working out, now that I have more capabilities. But I still have to convince myself many times.
What a morning it was here. The 20 min. drive to work took an HOUR! Spent 20 minutes on a highway on ramp behind an almost jack knifed tractor trailer. Did I forget to say it was snowing and that ramp was like an angled, greased, ice rink? Anyway, the trucker inched his rig back into a straight line and we, literally, crept along. He lost it one more time but again got straightened out and we finally made it to the toll booths. From there it wasn't quite as bad. Just very slow going with bunches of cars in the ditches. It's been a l..o..n..g.. time since I was that glad to get to work. Of course it stopped snowing as I pulled into the lot and 2 hrs later the sun was out and the roads were all plowed and deiced - like it was never dangerous. Believe me, if I could have turned around I woould have gone back home.
Went to WI tonight. No loss - no gain. I was't as good as I should have been on the weekend so no gain IS a big plus. I'll do better this week.
I'm home from Oklahoma. Seems like we had been gone for a long time however we left last night and came home tonight. This was the trip with the payroll manager because we were being sued by someone. It was kind of interesting - sounds like a scam to me. An ex-employee is out with a "friend" at night and wants money. The "friend" wouldn't take a personal check or just loan him the money but he would take the ex-emp's final paycheck. Then two days later, the ex-emp calls payroll manager to say that he lost the check and would she please stop pay and reissue. Which she did. Two months later, the "friend" sends the check through and of course the bank stops it and returns it. The "friend" claims that he can't find the ex-emp nor has any info to serve him to sue him so he sues us instead. Because he alledgedly took the check in good faith that it would be honored, we had to pay him for the value of the check. We had decided that if that happened, we would sue the ex-emp. She had to go down there to testify in small claims court. And because she is so incredibly introverted and she works for me, I went for moral support. Fortunately, we had a local lawyer there. The "friend" showed and the ex-emp didn't. We lost to the "friend" and have to pay him and won on the ex-emp. Now the lawyer can work on attaching his bank accounts, garnishments or whatever to get money back. I swear we spent more on travel costs than the check was for. We had heard that the guy had a gambling problem. Well, the "friend" comes into court wearing a casino coat. We think what really went on is that the two of them cooked up the idea not expecting that our company would send someone down to pursue the second suit and that each would get money out of us. Who would loan $1300 and then hold onto the check for two months? It was kind of fun to sit and watch small claims court.
But we had snow in Oklahoma City and snow at home so we were both antsy about flying in that kind of weather. Plus the trip home was very long because of the snow. Our airport is 80 miles from where we now live. Gads, that was a long drive home made worse by snow, running out of washer fluid for the windshield and it getting dark. Of course, we've had more snow at our house than up in the city. That has happened all four snows/sleets this year.
About the exercise thing, I'm not thrilled with getting up at 5:30 and working out. I just remind myself that I can make it miserable for myself or I can think what good it is doing for me and that I do actually feel better for having done it. If I call the stationary bike a borecycle over and over again, then I can barely make it through the exercise time. Or I can focus on how my body feels while doing it and feel how its working and changing. Its kind of like what Dr. Phil would say - first you have to be doing something you like and you have to shut off that negative inner voice.
I think I am going off to bed. DH is watching Ultimate Fighting.
Sorry for not replying to others right now. I did read and to all!
Good morning ladies, nothing much to report this morning, but I wanted to drop in and say hello. Hope eveyone is having a good week. I am pleased with myself so far. See You later. Ruth
Hello all....after an absence of 5 months I've finally found my way back....In the mean time I managed to regain all but 5 pounds of my loss...so my CW should read 272.5...
I wasn't going to try to "begin again" until after my vacation later this month...but suddenly yesterday decided that I HAD to at least touch bases with all the wonderful friends I met here. DH and I will be going away the 3rd week of this month...but I'll deal with that (probably even suspend my eating plan for that time) when it comes.
This week my goals are to write down everything I eat (haven't done too well today...but will start as soon as I write this)...not buy any more candy...(wish I could just make myself throw away the mint patties that I have...we'll see), drink my water and walk 5 minutes a day....only teenie steps...but compared to what I've done since Aug 1..it is a step I guess.
I had been following Medifast and still have quite a few of the supplements (well a generic version of Medifast that is) so I will try that again....just takes me a while to get used to the taste of the shakes and "diet" sweetners again.
Of course I"m "down"...I'm 58 and have been yoyoing for 45+ years (including one 200 lb loss about 15 years ago...down to my "goal" weight...but I really will try to remember why I chose my name...and try to be satisfied with baby steps.
JUST A GIRL – I understand not liking the exercise, but it still must feel great to see that you’re walking faster! There are so many different ways to get exercise – swimming, dance classes, roller skating, volley ball, kick-boxing, yoga, biking, shoveling snow, belly dancing, weight lifting, jazzercise, raking leaves, walking a dog. If you get bored walking your block, can you try a local park or zoo? A local school track? If you don’t have a dog, you can borrow one. If you don’t like or can’t afford dance classes, then you can crank up the radio and just have fun. With a couple of free weights (Wal-mart, yard-sales, Goodwill) you can build muscle in front of the TV and almost not know it. It ALL counts. It’s all better for us than eating popcorn or ice cream, sitting & watching the tube.
I’ve waffled on the exercise myself. I go thru spells where I can’t get enough of it, and spells where I just can’t face it. Most of the time, just getting started is the hardest part. I remember one night, 3 am, where I had to walk within a small parking lot area with 18 steps up to a building. At first I was just doing it because I knew I really should, and occasionally I’d trudge up those stairs. Somehow, my momentum began to grow. By the end I was running up those stairs to the Rocky theme in my head. No, it doesn’t always go like that and I can’t conjure that feeling on demand (or I’d weigh 112) but I hold on to that memory and I know that sometimes it can happen. I’d love to get back to my exercise class if funds weren’t so tight. It was fun, but it was killer hard.
WYLLENN – My selves are having just such a conversation, right now. The TM is set up, the DVD is in the player, and here I sit on the ‘puter. Sigh. Oh – listen to that – it’s calling me!
JUDY, your truck on the ramp story had my heart in my throat – I’ve BEEN there. Glad he pulled it out and you got to work safely!!! … By “take out the pointers” I assume you don’t mean the sisters? My boys seem to think if I’m on the computer, it’s only because I’m bored and have nothing to do, so they need to take me out ever few minutes. It’s not enough for them to go out back by themselves – they want me to go watch. Silly pooches.
Oooo, TERRI, even you are having adventures-in-payroll? I love that you, as a company, stood up and didn’t just pay the creep, but I hate that they seem to be getting away with it in general. I hope attorney tracks him down and skins him. Both the agency I work thru and the company I work for, insist on direct deposit, which would have made those guys little quick-change impossible. I hope the trip was at least more fun than being at the office, but it sounds like with the weather the way is was, well, not so much. Aren’t you tired of this weather?! I was just thinking that it’s been 40 days or so since the winter solstice, and look how much longer the days are already. In another 40 days, we’ll be so much closer to RIDING weather! At least out of blizzard and deep freeze weather I hope.
Hi RUTH! Glad to see you’re having a good week! I hope it stays OP for you!
WELCOME BACK PAULA. I’m glad you’re hanging in there and have a plan to get started. It’s a lifelong journey, not just about the losing weight, but about the maintaining as well. It’s sure a challenge, but the support here is great. I don’t know where I’d be without it. - WOW! I'm really impressed that you lost all that weight before. You know you can do it again. It must have been amazing. I think your baby steps approach is really a wise one, to really change habits and live healthier forever. Go for it!
I thought I might actually attempt a few personal replies today. Forgive me if you just get a .
Valerie - How you doing? The dogs wanting you to take them out reminded me of mine. Little monsters thought it would be a good night to make mom hysterical yesterday. It was snowing and cold and wet and we thought they'd come right back, so for only the second time in their young lives we decided to take them out unleashed. GONE IN A SHOT! They came home, AFTER mom had trudged about 1/3 mile in the snow in shirt sleeves and house slippers! Rotten dogs.
Paula Welcome back! It's good to see you. Don't feel too bad about the gain, we've all been there. What's most important is you came back and are ready to try, try again!
Ruth:
Terri - You know, as a lawyer, I'm horrified by the judges ruling! I clearly need to look over the uniform commercial code more, because I would have BET that there was no way the "friend" would win that suit. No pun intended. Getting up at 5:30 to work out stinks, don't it! NOT a morning person here!!! But I still do it more often than not. It was nice today - DH was home and still awake to make me coffee and breakfast!
Judy - I HATE ice! Glad you got home safe and sound!
Heather - I'll be very happy when my thin self kicks my fat self's big behind and makes her SHUT UP!
Just A Girl - I'd say I have a love/hate relationship with exercise. I'd love to be able to say I don't hate it! The fact is, I am by nature a very sedentary person. Always have been. I remember my father commenting when I was little that my favorite thing in the world was to sit on the couch with a book and a sandwich - and he was right! It's still my favorite thing, just add in the TV on in the background. But I've resigned myself to the fact that I HAVE to exercise. There are some things in life you have to do. I have to go to work in order to have money to live. I have to take the dogs out in order to keep them from peeing on the floor and I have to exercise if I'm going to lose weight. So I do it the most painless way possible, but I do it. It's taken a LONG time for me to come up with something I can stick to. My DH and I bought an elliptical and put it in the living room in plain sight. I get up early to get in 20 minutes before I shower and go to work. When the weather warms I'll find stuff I actually enjoy to do in addition, like take walks and ride bikes with my son and DH, that sort of thing. I think you'll find something you don't HATE, even if you never really like it! Just keep looking.
Well that's it for today. Take care ladies and I hope you are all having a great week!
Lilion -- Oh, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see thin self truss up fat self and shut her up for good... sadly, I don't think it works like that.
But reading all your posts reminds me that I do other things to help keep exercise fun -- my ipod! I love listening to music while I work out. And I just downloaded some npr stuff from itunes and gonna give that a whirl. Something else to keep my mind occupied...
Lilion and Valerie..thanks so much for the encouragement. I really did get a lot of support here last year and it helped more than I probably even remember....today has been rough but at least it is a day I have held myself accountable...tomorrow is another day.
The joke really has me in stitches....I, too, have that love hate relationship with exercise....I'd love to do it...but I hate to. I'm lucky that I do have a dog that I can/should walk...now just to get myself motivated....somehow I don't think walking out to get the mail each day quite qualifies as cardio/vascular exercise...though I have to admit it is better than absolutly nothing...
Anyway...thanks all for being here....it means more than you can know...
PS...Valerie...I couldn't agree more about horses...infact my big "reward" at the end of this is to once again ride.....not much feels quite as good. BTW...my youngest son was born in Canton, Ohio....32 years ago I must confess....we lived in a small town south of Canton and it was the closest hospital.
My DB and niece just left. We had them over for dinner. Buffalo brisket and veggies. Excellent.
Remember me mentioning about the jacuzzi that didn't work anymore? Well I had asked DB to help me look under the tub area to see if there was a switch with a reset. He's an electrician and I wanted him to help me see about it before we called the warranty company. He got wedged under the tub to reach the outlet and used his tester to see that there was no power to the plug in. He asked where the electrical box is and I took him to the mudroom. I was standing there looking at all the breakers and saw one called "Whirlpool" and then started laughing. I have no idea what I was thinking before when I saw that other than dishwasher. Yep, it was kicked off. He didn't think it was nearly as funny as I did. So I have my jacuzzi back. Sometimes I can be a dufus.
TOM finally arrived after what seemed like three weeks of building up to it. Maybe the scale will be able to be nice again in a few days.
This morning, I started on month 5 of my Push.tv workout. I worked up a sweat and wasn't doing the cardio part. Bob Harper is obsessed with chair dips. I hate them. And refuse to do them. Something about them that just doesn't work for me. So I do something else for triceps. Then there are the push-ups. I can now do more push ups that I have ever been able to do and that isn't a whole lot. Now he wants me to put my feet on a chair and do pushups with my feet elevated. I need to write to Bob and tell him to get real. Other than the wacko pushup and the chair dips, I could do just about everything that he does. I can definitely tell the difference in the muscles in my arms and upper back.
For those of you lamenting about the silly pooches or the puppies, at least its during the day. Bear seems to think he needs to go out at 3:30 am. Even if he's gone out before going to bed. Who has whom trained? What's worse is that he goes out the front door and then goes over to the side door to be let in. Sometimes I'm walking back and forth between the doors trying to find where he's waiting.
Judy - I owe you a belated for your six pounds lost. Great job! Dang you are getting nasty weather. I hate driving when its icy. We had another snow last night but it was only about 3 inches and it was only snow. The roads weren't too great this morning but definitely were manageable compared to a couple of weeks ago.
Lilion - I saw you had a favorable result on the scale and are oh-so-close! Loved the cartoon. Getting back into exercise in the morning has taken me a long time to get back into. I was doing so good a year ago and then just lost all consistancy. There were many a day when I'd get up at 5:30 and lay down on the couch on the way to the exercise room. And I grumble at Bob about having to get down on the floor then back up to do something else then back down on the floor. But I love the results. I liked the way you said what you did about exercise.
Paula - Welcome back. Just take it one day at a time - one meal if you have too. How far away is the mailbox? It can count if you do it several times a day.
Heather - Great job on meeting that goal on your exercise. That is quite a feat.
Valerie - Yes, I am so tired of snow on the ground. I could deal with cold if the sun were shining and the ground was dry. I'd get out and work with the horses. But now its a matter of making sure they get their grain, have hay and water and straw in the loafing shed. I've barely touched them. I am so ready to be able to start working with them. So many things I want to do before I find a trainer for the two boys. And then there is the little princess who needs work. I now refer to Spice as Princess of the Pasture. She looks like a wooly mammoth with her long hair. So darn cute though.
Ruth - Howdy!
The sleeping pill is kicking in so I better head to bed.
to all! Goodnight!
Last edited by Terri in MO; 02-01-2007 at 11:09 PM.
OH Thank you Thank you Thank you.... at least I know I am not alone in having those stupid tapes in my head about exercise. I will be out tomorrow doing it again and hopefully pushing myself. I thank you all of you who had suggestions on ideas of what to do for exercise. Like Lillion I prefer to be sedentary the tv and the pc is all I need throw in a few books I am good to go. I will be making that extra effort to exercise, I am starting out at three times a week since I haven't exercised in forever (8 years).
Today was a bit of a struggle. I had a hotdog for lunch and what a trigger. I had to really fight with myself about eating more.. I know not the best choice, but it was what I have in the house. I need to go shopping which I did this afternoon. So food is a struggle today, tomorrow I will do better.
I'm having a "sit on the couch" morning. Its Friday and I allow that for myself. Which means I have to get my exercise minutes in this evening. It is so darned cold. At least I get to wear my heavy sweaters.
Nothing much to say. I really could get into just flopping over on the couch and reading and or snoozing.
My niece called last night at about 9:30 and wanted to know if she could come clean house today. I know my DB must have said something to her because I asked him if he was going to be mad if I fired her because I needed someone to come consistently and she wasn't doing it. Funny how she called last night. So I told her no but to call me next week. Then I explained very nicely how she needed to treat this as a job and needed to tell me ahead of time what days she would be out so that I can be prepared and also so that I know she is indeed coming. And that by not bothering to call or keep a consistent schedule showed us that she would only call when she decided she needed money - and we weren't going to be working that way. So I'll give her another chance to get her act together. I'm also a softy and couldn't tell her that she was fired. She would have cried. At least she got her brother a job at the same place she works so maybe he can start getting his act together too. Except that will mean he won't go get his GED. Kids. And they aren't even mine!
I'm headed to the shower to see if it helps wake me up. At least its jeans day so dressing will be easy.
Just a Girl - Great attitude!! Make your plans for something you know you can and will do. Sometimes we over shoot our expectations and set ourselves up for failure. Your three days sounds like a great plan. Exercise bands are a great way to get some strengthening exercises in while you're watching TV. Make today a great day!
Of course it stopped snowing as I pulled into the lot and 2 hrs later the sun was out and the roads were all plowed and deiced - like it was never dangerous. Believe me, if I could have turned around I woould have gone back home.
to all!
Hello!
It's good to see you. Don't feel too bad about the gain, we've all been there. What's most important is you came back and are ready to try, try again! 
The fact is, I am by nature a very sedentary person. Always have been. I remember my father commenting when I was little that my favorite thing in the world was to sit on the couch with a book and a sandwich - and he was right! It's still my favorite thing, just add in the TV on in the background. But I've resigned myself to the fact that I HAVE to exercise. There are some things in life you have to do. I have to go to work in order to have money to live. I have to take the dogs out in order to keep them from peeing on the floor and I have to exercise if I'm going to lose weight. So I do it the most painless way possible, but I do it. It's taken a LONG time for me to come up with something I can stick to. My DH and I bought an elliptical and put it in the living room in plain sight. I get up early to get in 20 minutes before I shower and go to work. When the weather warms I'll find stuff I actually enjoy to do in addition, like take walks and ride bikes with my son and DH, that sort of thing. I think you'll find something you don't HATE, even if you never really like it! Just keep looking.
He didn't think it was nearly as funny as I did. So I have my jacuzzi back. Sometimes I can be a dufus.
puppies, at least its during the day. Bear seems to think he needs to go out at 3:30 am. Even if he's gone out before going to bed. Who has whom trained? What's worse is that he goes out the front door and then goes over to the side door to be let in. Sometimes I'm walking back and forth between the doors trying to find where he's waiting.
for your six pounds lost. Great job! Dang you are getting nasty weather. I hate driving when its icy. We had another snow last night but it was only about 3 inches and it was only snow. The roads weren't too great this morning but definitely were manageable compared to a couple of weeks ago.