[Mouse46]

Ever been angry and resentful about working out and make yourself exercise anyway. That's me today. As I laced up my shoes and squeezed into my size to small but use to fit me running bra, I found I was feeling pissed off. When I stepped outside and finally began to run I was even more angry. A 5'3" body was never meant to carry 175lbs much less run with it. I guess it's kind of like running with a 6 year old kid strapped to your stomach. Not easy.

I'm trying to look at the bright side. The sun is shinning, the sky is blue, it's a cool fall day but....... Still angry.

At least after I worked out I was pleased that despite my anger I still got off my butt and did it. Baby steps. Right?

[Emme]

Mouse ~ Good for you!! Just think, even though you are pissed and angry, you have done something good for your body this morning by going for a run. Anger is a good motivator for me to strap on my big girl panties and go bust out a workout. I'm glad you did it.

[Mouse46]

Thanks Emme. I know I didn't get here over night. It's going to take time to make it to my goal but I'm worth it!

[Ilene]

YES, I get pissed at myself, that's usually when I get the best workout... Keep it up!! The workouts that is...

[stellarosa27]

Exactly, when I'm angry that I've gained weight I have the best work outs ever.

[runningfromfat]

Good for you!

I know how you feel. Some days I just DON'T want to eat well, I DON'T want to workout, I DON'T want to eat fruit instead of chocolate, well, I could go on and on. However, sticking to your routine through those days really is a rewarding experience. Not only do you get the calorie burn in and the health benefits but you're proving to yourself that your body and health are worth it despite how annoying it is to stay on plan.

Sometimes I think these types of victories are more rewarding than when it shows up on the scale because you're proving to yourself that you can stick to it through thick and thin!

[lin43]

Yes, I've felt that way often in the past. This time around, I vowed that I would just do "some kind of activity" for an hour on most days. That means that if my house needs cleaning, a vigorous hour or two of housework is my activity. I realized a while back that I cannot force myself to just work out (as in a dedicated hour or more solely to exercising) as a lifetime habit. If I feel like doing a gym-type workout, fine, but that is not my regular routine. Since I've made that commitment, I've been very consistent and exercise has not had that dread factor for me any more.

Also, I hear ya on the "body for running" comment. I like running as I like the high it gives me, but I've finally had to admit that my body is not suited for it and at my age (43) I need to be more careful. The last time I tried running (a couple of months ago---6.0 for 10-15 minutes on the treadmill), my knees hurt me for at least three weeks after that. So, I stick to walking, cycling, or other moderate activity.

[solarplant]

I am 5'4" and running with 185 pounds.

I just ran my third 5k race (all within this past month) and beat my last 5k time by over 51 seconds. Yeah our bodies feel heavy running with all this weight but ! I tell myself that every pound I lose, is a pound I don't have to carry every time I run!

Also I will say if you haven't been running in a while, or just starting out running again from not running in a while, to start off at a way slower pace than you think.

Oh I will also say, that I hope you felt not angry after your work out. Whenever I am super pissed, and force myself to go workout, I usually feel super calm when I am done.

[Ilene]

Starting out really slow and with short intervals of running/walking is the best way... I'm 54 and have been running since I'm 48 and I never have sore knees... I also weight train my legs a doctor once told me that your joints are only as strong as the muscles and ligaments holding them together...

[Mimzzy]

Good job! Not all of us have the strength to push ourselves past the anger and do it anyway. I understand this, some days I am so pissed off at myself for letting my weight get so out of control. These are the days I don't want to do anything, all I want is to be a "normal" 21yr old and do/eat whatever I want. I do however get off my a$$ and work out when I'm feeling like this, not that I want to though lol

[kaplods]

Anger usually isn't a good emotion for me - especially self-anger. Because when I'm angry at someone (even me) the last thing I want to do is go out of my way to do something nice for the person. And when someone is angry at me (even when the person is me) I have a hard time wanting to cooperate with that person. I also don't handle giving or receiving punishment well, so punishing myself for being "bad" doesn't work very well.

I can't sustain the anger long enough to do any good, and I don't respond well to the anger.

However, last week was a weird exception. I was angry AT my husband. We had a huge fight on the way to the gym (over something completely silly), and I had my best treadmill record for time and distance EVER (I was also listening to irish punk rock versions of old battle and drinking songs on my MP3 player, so the music helped focus and channel the anger).

The combination of angry music and real anger, helped me forget my discomfort.

[kaplods]

Originally Posted by Brown

That's what most people need, whether it's about fitness, weight loss, money, their careers, or their relationships. We tend to need to get angry enough with what we have to want to change it.

I think this is actually one of the most dangerous myths of weight loss. I think it's what we have been taught to believe, that "anger" is the required fuel for change - at least certain kinds of change. I don't think we expect anger to be the only source of motivation - except with dieting.

By that logic, people who don't get angry or can't sustain anger are SOL, and in my experience working with people through my employment in social service and law-enforcement, anger often is more often and more severely counterproductive to change than it is motivating.

Sure, abused women left their husband in the heat of anger, but they returned when the anger discipated - and anger almost always discipates. It's very hard to sustain anger long enough for lasting change. We had to teach the women to have motivations besides anger. A "back up" motivation, if you will.

You don't have to hate where you are, to go somewhere else.

And even though I knew this, I never applied it to weight loss, because in our culture it's just a given that anger and self-hatred is the appropriate catalyst for weight loss. I never questioned it, because it wasn't even in the forefront of my mind, it was just how weight loss was done. Until I realized that I was expecting anger to fuel my entire weight loss, I couldn't realize I needed a different motivation. I failed in the past not because I wasn't angry enough, but because I thought anger was the only appropriate fuel for weight loss change, and I am not an angry person. I don't hold grudges (even against myself) and anger is always temporary for me. I need a fuel for change that is a more easily renewable resouce. I need to use the not-anger fuels I used for other changes in my life.


Anger didn't fuel my relationship changes. Respect for myself did. I didn't have to be angry at a guy I was dating to stop dating him.

I didn't have to be angry at anyone or anything to pusue my education or change my career.


I didn't have to hate my career to change it any of the times I did - even when I retrained to enter a completely new field (My health problems forced me out of a career I loved, because I couldn't deal with the physicla demands of all the on-the-road travel)

The only changes in my life for which I expected "anger motivation" was dieting, and because I am a very optimistic, forgiving, easy-going person I couldn't ever sustain anger motivation long enough to fuel the entire weight loss journey.





You don't have to be motivated by anger, you just have to be motivated by a fuel you can sustain. And if one fuel doesn't work, try others.


I've found that love for myself works infinitely better as a motivation than anger. Using diet and exercise to pamper my wonderful self is endlessly more energizing than punishing the "bad" me.

[tdiprincess]

I'm definitely with kaplods on this one!
Anger honestly is quite self-destructive. Maybe for some it feels like it fuels a better workout experience. But, in the longrun anger stresses us out and raises our blood pressure, which probably isn't good.

Anyway... its understandable to be mad at yourself. I'm fighting with that myself. Mainly because I have issues with my self-worth. Anyhow.. this shouldn't become a normal thing. Anger should not be your fuel to a better work out.

I've had anger problems my whole life. Honestly, it never did anything good for me, my family and my relationship with my husband. It wasn't until I worked on my anger issues that things got better.

Kaplods is right. We live in a culture surrounded with this mentality that we must be angry to change things. I think that stems from the idea of "if I get angry and yell enough (or whatever it may be..violence as an example), then the other person will just give in!"..
All of this is IMO. Simply my .02!

[fatferretfanatic]

When I started running at 268, and now at 217, I often have to fight the urge to get angry at myself. When I get angry at myself, it turns to desperation. Desperation and I are not friends,and I usually end up being even more self deprecating than usual, and I hate thinking about myself in a bad light. As a person who has fought for the approval of others for so long,I now feel like it was because I never approved of myself. Now that I'm working on that, and trying to give myself unconditional love and acceptance, anger doesn't work in. I have done far more workouts sad than angry (not that sad is any better, I have been going through tough times). At 217 it sure is hard to run, but now I don't fight it; it's a lot easier than it used to be for me. Now, I just go.