hi, everyone what sort of excerises have you all tried. i have tried walk away the pounds, richard simmons, and bootcamp, cant stick to any of them. please help me.
Unfortunately no one is going to be able to help you stick to a program except you! You are going to have to decide that this is soemthing that you want to do and are committed to doing and then make up your mind to do it.
One thing that I say a lot here - is something that has helped me stick with exercising: There are a lot of things that we do in our daily lives that we don't necessarily WANT to do ... but that we have to. Things like get up in the morning and go to work. Pay our bills. Wash the dishes. Etc. I never *want* to do those things. But I do them because the alternative is to live in a box under a bridge.
I look at exercise as something similar. I don't always WANT to exercise. But I do it because the alternative is to be out of shape and fat. So I go to the gym. Not because someone told me to or I am super motivated ... but because it's one of the things I just *do* as a responsible adult.
I dunno if that will work for you, but it is the thing that keeps me going even when I don't want to. It's not a choice. It just is. Like bills, dishes, and the dentist.
do you like workouts that you can watch on TV? I have comcast and they have on-demand where I can watch exercise TV. I can choose yoga, strength training, cardio ETC.
First, can you think back and share why it was that you couldn't stick to any of them? Was it a pain issue? Time? Just didn't enjoy them? Finding out WHY is the key to finding out what WILL work.
I've tried to look at exercise as a normal daily chore, and it never really worked very well for me. I kept putting it off (like many other chores).
However, when I decided to stop thinking of movement as exercise or a chore, but as a game or challenge I had more luck incorporating it more regularly (I'm still not very good at it in the winter, but in the summer and early fall I do great).
A cheap pedometer on my shoes helped a lot. I'd look at the pedometer in the morning and at night, and try to "beat" my record for the day before. It worked pretty well, even when I forgot to check the pedometer, just knowing that my shoes were recording the miles, motivated me to take extra steps in the day. My battery ran out a few weeks ago, and I lost the motivation. Since my pedometer was cheap (like $5 at Walmart), I haven't yet decided whether I'm going to buy a battery, a new pedometer (and whether it will be another cheapy or something a little better quality). I am sad to say that when the battery died, so did my motivation to a large degree.
I love swimming, so I go to the warm water pool as often as I can.
Hubby and I buy fishing licenses every year. Fishing isn't much exercise, but most of the fishing spots locally require a fair amount of walking to get to.
I've been after hubby to buy me a new GPS or find the old one to do geocaching (a high tech treasure hunt. Google it and see if it's something you'd be interested in. The gps gadget is pretty expensive, but many rental places and even some city park systems rent them on a daily or weekly basis).
I find that I walk a lot longer on the treadmill in our apartment fitness room if I listen to my MP3 player while I'm on the treadmill. Again, I try to "beat" my best record, either in time or distance.
I bought a bellydance music CD (haven't had the nerve to try it yet).
Whether you view exercise as work or play, or both - think outside the box, and keep experimenting until you find what you like the best (or dislike the least).
I struggle with exercise, mainly because I get bored easily, so I need variety. I go to the gym, swim and walk mainly. I've slipped out of my routine, but it will end up being something like gym 3 -4 times a week, swim 2 - 3 times a week and walking for at least 30 minutes per day.
The best thing I ever bought is my iPod - I can be walking or at the gym and listening to music or an audiobook - it just breaks up the tedium.
The key is definitely to find something you enjoy doing.
The key is definitely to find something you enjoy doing.
I do think finding something you enjoy doing is important, but I think there can be a catch there.
I didn't enjoy *any* exercise until I'd done it a while and felt competent and started to see results. And I'd tried everything. I walked. I ran. I used the elliptical. I used the bike. I tried the machines. I took classes - step, yoga, spin, cardio kick boxing. I did DVDs - every kind of dance out there, step, and jazzercise. I did bootcamp routines. I tried rollerblading, bicycling, and swimming. You name it I tried it. And every single time I gave up because people kept telling me "find what you love". And I figured that there just wasn't anything I loved.
But when you're fat and out of shape, it's HARD to love exercise. When 5 minutes of exertion makes you sweat like a pig and then everything rubs and chafes? And your workout clothes don't fit right. And you're self conscious. And you have no stamina or coordination because your center of balance is screwed because you weigh 200 lbs?
There ain't a heck of a lot there to like or enjoy.
Even the things I enjoyed doing, I didn't enjoy for long because they made me feel icky, sweaty, uncoordinated, and gross.
So while for some people, they may be lucky enough to find something they enjoy enough to get them through that stage, for others, either forcing yourself do it like I do, or sort of gaming / tricking yourself into doing it as kaplods does is the only way to get started.
NOW ... now that I've been doing it for a while, there are things that I enjoy. I LOVE lifting weights - it's a huge rush for me. I love being able to go 45 mins on the elliptical. I'm even (*gasp*) learning to love running. And whoda thunk it!
But if someone had told me in the beginning to keep trying until I found something I enjoyed, I'd have given up.
That's not to say it's not good advice ... for the long term. But soemtimes you gotta push through in other ways first, before you can find the enjoyment in something that is so foreign to your way of life.
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Last edited by PhotoChick; 12-30-2008 at 12:25 AM.
Cardio can be pretty monotonous - especially if you're inside. I listen to my MP3 player when I exercise. It's the only time I allow myself to listen to it (except for doing household chores, which requires some motivation for me as well!), and I look forward to listening to it. I used to do the same thing with TV - the only time I allowed myself to watch TV was when I was burning calories. Sometimes going with a friend can be just as rewarading. Who has time to just chat anyore?
I will take the easy way out and just say I agree 1 million percent with what Photchick said.
All right, I'll add something in. If I had waited around to find something that I loved to do, I'm fairly certain I'd still be obese. Make that, there's no doubt in my mind that I would be. There are things in this life we do regardless of whether or not we like them. You must therefore make a ironclad, unbreakable commitment to exercise. It's just THAT important. You want to find something that you can stick with, make the decision to STICK to it. Don't make it an option NOT to.
Exercise has so many incredible health benefits. There is no (good) reason on earth not to incorporate it into your life. I surely wish I would have realized that and done so 20+ years ago.
The more you do it the easier it is to stick with it. It will seem like it's becoming a chore but exercise is essential to losing weight and maintaining so sometimes you gotta suck it up and do it anyway
I get bored easily too but it's only an 1hr (more or less) a day right?
Exercise is important, and I am going to start, but I have concentrated on my eating, and have lost 60 lbs since last Jan. I am sure that I would have lost more fat weight with exercise. I guess what I am saying is dont give up, you dont have to change everything at once.
excerise dilemma
