I dislike exercise. I'm very sedentary. I would say that historically speaking I have a lot of energy and I like to do things, but working out and exercise have never been a big hitters on my list.
I don't mind walking, IF I have music (my iPod died recently, and my walking promptly ceased). I sometimes go for walks with friends, but haven't lately.
The problem I have with working out is that I know that the results will stay ONLY if I continue to work out regularly. Which could be for the rest of my life! I KNOW that I won't have a gym membership for the rest of my life. I also know that I probably won't do exercise videos in my living room on a semi-regular basis for the rest of my life, either.
I'm losing enough weight that I'm starting to see saggy skin in my arms, legs, and I think exercise might help minimize some of that. I'd definitely consider surgery if it were the only way to make things less saggy, but I would like to do everything in my power ahead of time before going under the knife.
So ... I know there must be people here who are fitness nuts who at one time were in my shoes. Can anyone offer any advice on how to start this? I don't want to start a rigorous exercise program, knowing I'll get sick of it and quit shortly thereafter.
What types of things did you start with?
What sort of exercise has been the easiest for you to do long-term?
How did you go from loathing the gym to loving it?
What do you do when you get bored with your routine, your gym?
Any comments, advice, encouragement or input is welcome! Thanks in advance!
If you'd told me three years ago how much I'd be exercising now, I would have laughed, and laughed hard.
I didn't start out with anything rigorous, just walking, then some marching in place. Then other stuff, like side bends and crunches.
I'd start, then stop, then start again. Took me a long time to get into a routine. Now I exercise every day, 3/week at the gym.
When I think about all the not just good, but fantastic things exercise does for my mind and body, then it's hard for me to hate it, or even dislike it. Maybe I'm feeling pooped and I resent doing it every once in a while, ha.
Really, it increases stamina, flexibility, strength, balance. Joints, bones, blood volume. It helps with the immune system. It helps the organs function properly. It always puts me in a better mood.
When you increase your muscle mass, you are helping your body to burn fat better.
Plus, exercising has put me in much better touch with my body.
There are a gazillion ways to get exercise. Lots just in the gym, changing machines and routines, classes, the pool. Outside the gym, even more. Biking, hiking, running, roller blading. You name it. Make it what you like.
Honestly, exercise is your friend, good friend, best buddy. The Nike commercial is right, just do it (if you think about it too much, it's way to easy to talk yourself out of it, at least that was my experience to start!)
I still hate normal exercise. I will get on a kick once in awhile and do it 5 or so days a week. Then I'll get bored and stop. One thing that helped me like it more is to work out with my husband. We get silly with it sometimes and it makes it easier when I do something I hate with someone I love. Another thing is to find something you enjoy doing. I found the Turbo Jam workouts. I love those. It's fun and the time flys by. I never thought I would find something, but I kept looking.
My advice is to find something you enjoy doing that is active and do it with someone you like alot whether it's a spouse, friend, relative, etc. It helps to make the time go by faster and that will help make it more fun.
I second the "just do it" philosophy. It is incredibly easy to talk yourself out of exercise (I'll do it tomorrow, I don't want to waste gas driving to the gym, I don't feel like it, etc.) but as soon as you start that line of thinking that's the time to just jump up get started, for me at least.
Also, I wanted to point out that IMO exercise (diet also now that I think about it) is all about your mindset. If you keep reinforcing to yourself the fact that you hate exercise and that you will never be able to do it for the rest of your life then that is exactly what will happen, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Of course things happen and you probably won't be able to exercise every time you should but if you start off thinking that you will never be able to stick with it you're setting yourself up for failure.
Finally, maybe you could ease into it by finding something that gets your heartrate up that you enjoy, swimming, a sport of some kind, rollerblading, etc. Any extra movement you get in is going to be beneficial to you.
When I started all this back in January I realized that one of the things I had to do was make exercise a foundational part of my life. Before that I did absolutely nothing. I never liked exercise, but then I never really gave much of anything a chance. I always saw exercise as punishment for being fat rather than something I might want to do because it feels good and makes almost every aspect of my life better. So I committed myself to do at least 10 minutes of exercise every day. So even if this is just marching in front of the TV, I would get off my butt and move a bit, every day. This has totally worked for me, and with today I am on a 149 consecutive day run of exercising. That way I never could give the excuse – I’ll do it tomorrow.
I started out doing stuff at home and then joined a gym. I have a bunch of different dvds and I have tried a lot more using Netflix to see what I like. I am lucky to have a gym in my building at work, and it is a very low key kind of place. I have met a lot of people there and made some friends. I use the elliptical and the treadmill and I also use the weights and once a week I have a session with a personal trainer. I watch tv and listen to my iPod at the same time. I think of it as time just for me where I can tune out the rest of the world.
I am happy with this for now, but ultimately I want to get into martial arts. Right now if I can find a place nearby I am thinking Kali (stick fighting) but I am also intrigued by the idea of fencing or some other type of sword fighting like in the SCA. So even though it isn’t in my fitness ability now, I have something to work towards. Who knows? I may hate it when I get there. There is always dance too.
The more I move the easier it becomes. I really enjoy it now and I enjoy pushing myself – not too hard, but enough to feel like I have made strides and accomplished things. There must be things you would enjoy – there are so many possibilities. It can be hard to imagine, but exercise really is addictive. The body wants to move and be active. Once you get past the hurdle of building a bit of muscle and endurance it really becomes enjoyable.
I think exercise, like most weight loss components, are strongly tied to our attitudes. Many people wake up one day and successfully change everything about the way they live. I had tried that approach and knew it wasn't what would work for me. I too was very sedentary and didn't see myself becoming one of those people who would fall in love with working out. So, instead of thinking in terms of "formal" exercise I committed to just living a more active lifestyle. That meant walking into the kitchen and getting my own glass of water instead of asking DH to bring it to me because he was already in there. It meant making several trips to put away the laundry instead of juggling one huge one so that I wouldn't have to walk so much. It meant playing chase with my kids instead of watching them play and washing my own car instead of driving through a machine. I made a point to be more active in general and it made a difference. As time passed and I began to feel better and have more energy I discovered all kinds of calorie burning activities that I enjoyed once again - swimming, tennis, gardening - and I didn't think of any of them as exercise. Now, I do go to the gym and I enjoy it. But, I still know that I will never be classified as a gym rat - and that is okay. The trick to ANYTHING that you have to do for the rest of your life is to ENJOY it. Sometimes I think we make losing weight too complicated. We have in our heads these things that we HAVE to do in order to be successful. The fact of the matter is that any extra movement that you incorporate into your life will burn extra calories and improve the quality of your health.
One suggestion I have is to think of the things you enjoyed as a child and do them again. I recently had a blast trying to teach my daughter to hula hoop and jump rope. At the pool all three of my kids (not to mention everyone else there) get a big kick out of watching my husband and I race. It is fun for me because it isn't about exercise it is about beating him which, by the way, I NEVER do! The point is HAVE FUN! Don't turn exercise into just one more thing on your to do list that you have to dread finding time for.
I'm with you in that I would like nothing better to lay around all day with a book. But that's what got me here in the first place. I have also found that regular exercise keeps my moods more stable and I am less prone to depression. I don't like to exercise, but I feel much better when I do. Mostly, I use the treadmill or walk outside when it's not too hot or humid. I have started listening to books on tape (which you can get at some libraries) and this keeps me motivated, especially if I get into the story. Rule is that I can't listen unless I am walking, so I have been known to walk and hour and a half to get through a good part. I am a member of the local YMCA and they have a program called the lazyman's triathalon where you walk 26 miles, bike 112 miles and swim 2.5 miles, but you do it over 5 weeks. I signed up and am looking forward to it to try to vary the routine.
I was an exercise loather too, and I was frightened of it. I have a mild form of cerebral palsy, which makes my co ordination very dodgy, and quite a severe asthmatic.
I started by making a deal with myself. 3 x 30 minute sessions a week for 6 weeks + a swim on Sunday mornings. Then I could give up.
Of course, after the 6 weeks my 30 sessions were more like an hour, and I was trying to find ways of fitting in an extra swim!!!
I change things up constantly. I am learning to run and just completed my first 10k. This was the girl who couldn't finish an 800 metre run in high school without having an asthma attack.....
Give yourself a chance to love it. If you stay negative and convinced it will be a hateful chore, then it will be. But if you treat it as play time, and muck about with different machines, routines and workouts, you will find something you can like enough to want to keep doing it.
Exercise is a bit like eating your veggies. If you've only ever had broccolli boiled for half an hour on the stove, then chances are, you think you hate all vegetables. Likewise with exercise. If all you've ever done is run horrible track at school and always come last, you think you hate all exercise.
Exercise does need to be a life long commitment, but that doesn't mean you have to become a marathon runner.........although don't laugh, it could happen!
Count me in as one who struggles to get the exercise in. I don't hate it every day, but I sometimes really have to argue with myself to do it! Often, once I get going, I'm fine!
I think finding things you like to do is one key. Another people have mentioned is commitment, in some form or other. I started commiting to so many minutes of exercise a month. I know my weeks are highly variable, and a month seemed like a good way to go. You can look in my sig and see how my exercise goals have increased -- I've more than doubled what I did back in November! I think I'm also not the kind of person who can change everything all at once. Back last July, I started not counting what I did, but just tyring to "move more" as lucky said..
And while finding what you like is key, I have found that it's not the whole. I don't love doing weight training. Don't particularly hate it, but don't love it. I do it because of the benefits I get from it -- increased muscle tone, better stamina all around, increased metabolism (so better weight loss). Sometimes it's like brushing your teeth. You do it because it's the right thing to do, not because you love it.
I try to do other things I like. I walk my dogs with my ipod, I walk on a treadmill while watching TV (AND with my ipod), I've started riding a bike, and last week rode it to work the first time. I'd like to play some tennis, might do a 5k... try to find other things to make it fun.
But often I just do it because I need to do it. And while I don't always want to, and sometimes don't even like doing it, the rewards are WELL worth it! Attitude really is important here, I agree with the others. I try to focus on the benefits and waht I'm getting from it, rather than telling myself I hate it. I actually don't think I hate it any more, so maybe I'm making progress!!!
Try an activity where you actually accomplish something. I love Tae Kwon Do for that reason. I figure it will take 4-5 years to get a black belt and then I can continue on or try a different martial art. Having a goal is very important to me because otherwise I just see the rest of my lift stretching before me with all of this exercise to do...which is better than the alternative! But I am one of those who needs always to be working towards something. So right now I am working toward a half-marathon in the fall and my next belt in TKD. Then I will work toward the next belt, and another race, with a loftier goal that simple survival (which is my current goal).
Try an activity where you learn something. That might help. : )
Wow! What great pep talks everybody gave! Thank you!
I do put efforts in, just not often enough and I'm not consistent about it. Today, I biked to my grandpa's house for Father's Day (~4 miles, but got a ride home), and I went for a half-hour walk with a friend.
I still haven't developed a love for exercise, just a love for how it makes me feel. And knowing it needs to be a lifetime committment, I'm always trying to keep it from getting boring.
Quote:
Originally Posted by phantastica
What types of things did you start with?
What sort of exercise has been the easiest for you to do long-term?
How did you go from loathing the gym to loving it?
What do you do when you get bored with your routine, your gym?
I started with walking, then interval jogging until I could jog consistently. Walking, for me, was too slow-paced...ergo boring. It took too long, and seemed pointless. Running could get the job done quicker. And jogging was the easiest, since it was the fastest on a busy schedule.
What I've learned though is to continually change my exercise, so I don't get bored. And I've found ways to walk that aren't boring. I go to the park and walk/run. I take my camera and get pictures of the rose garden and squirrels. I take nuts and feed the squirrels. I take my son in the jogging stroller and take time to put him on the swing or take him down the slide...mommy has to go with him of course, since he can't slicky slide alone just yet.
Walk quickly through the mall, doing a quick browse, then go back slowly and do the actual shopping. If you work, get in extra walking by going to a co-worker's desk instead of calling them.
Like you mentioned about biking to your grandpa's house...good way to get in exercise...functional. Bike to work, to the grocery store for milk, etc. That way you're not really exercising for the sake of exercise, so it might not seem so tedious for you. Park long distances from doors if you do take the car, to get in some extra walking.
If you have kids, get them into doing an exercise video with you. I put my baby in the swing and interact with him while doing WATP videos. He gets a kick outta mommy's kicks. Or take them to the park (walk to it of course), and actually PLAY with them. Climb on the monkey bars, etc. Pets? Walk them frequently just for fun. Take along your camera for kids or pets for some great shots and to make the time feel like a major accomplishment if the exercise doesn't feel like an accomplishment on it's own.
What about hoola hoop or jump rope? We enjoyed them as kids, try them again...just for fun. March in place in front of the TV if you want to watch a movie. Turn up the stereo and dance. Dance with the broom/mop if you need to get some cleaning done.
Just combine the exercise with daily routines, or look for ways of incorporating exercise into small tasks, or making it something fun instead of mundane.
I've always liked walking, but I like it much more when I enjoy the scenery. A dreary neighborhood or one where I have to dodge traffic because there are no sidewalks will make me stay inside. But an area with beautiful architecture or a park with woods makes me want to keep going, to see what's around the next corner. I don't use music, because I use the time to think things through and sometimes to just daydream. Right now, I'm walking in a park where other regular walkers have begun recognizing me, so there's a kind of support and community feeling to it.
I don't actually mind exercise, but I'm not in good enough shape yet for a gym, and being unable to manage even the basics is so frustrating, I just wouldn't go. I'm not always good about doing my daily routine at home, though, so I'm working on it.
Your best bets are:
-- find something you like to do
-- do a manageable amount, so you see the success rather than struggle with failing to be able to do the workout
-- pick a setting you like to be in, so you'll want to go. Like shopping? Maybe try mallwalking. Before opening hours, many malls are open to mallwalkers, who do laps around the mall.
-- if you're a TV watcher, do a rountine while your TV shows are on.
I don't actually mind exercise, but I'm not in good enough shape yet for a gym, and being unable to manage even the basics is so frustrating, I just wouldn't go. I'm not always good about doing my daily routine at home, though, so I'm working on it.
You might surprise yourself. I bit the bullet and joined a gym when I weighed about 250. I don't know that I ever thought in terms of being in shape enough to JOIN the gym. I kinda figured going would help get me in shape. I walked on the treadmill and started using weight machines (and now some free weights). You can start slow and small.
Many people are concerned that the other people in the gym will perceive you as "fat." Well, maybe they do, but I go anyway. We joined the Y because I felt that perhaps I'd be less likely to be surrounded by "gym bunnies" but I find that most people just do their thing and move on. I was not quite the fattest one at the gym when I joined but close. And I think I am still one of the fattest I see ... especially at the weight machines. But I am a lot stronger, apparently, than many of the skinny minnies who seem to lift very little! I've gotten comfortable there.
Of course, as I think about this, I realize that we tend to go to the gym at "off hours" so that we don't have to wait for machines, but it also cuts down the pool of people I see!
Anyway, I guess the point I started off wanting to make was if you really don't think you want to join a gym, that's fine!!! But make sure that you don't talk yourself out of joining a gym because you aren't in shape or you're too fat or for whatever reason...
I also grew up hating exercise. I'm a klutz and I was always picked last for any sports team. In grade school we had "field day" once a year, which was basically gym class all day. Everyone else seemed to love it, but I remember literally dreading it all year.
I'm not sure I qualify as an exercise nut yet, since I only started this about nine months ago, but back then I didn't exercise at all. Now I am in the gym every day. What really worked for me in the beginning was signing up with a personal trainer when I signed up for my gym membership. It was such a relief not to have to be responsible for making myself exercise. All I had to do was show up and do what he told me to do. I didn't have to know how to use the machines or what exercises to do and I felt far less self-conscious than I would have otherwise. In the beginning, all I did were my sessions with my trainer.
Over time, the progress I was making was very motivational. Enough so that I was willing to start taking responsibility for my exercise. I starting going in once on my own the weekend. Then I started running on the weekdays that I wasn't meeting with my trainer. And the more I do, the more progress I make, and the more motivational it is.
Another thing that helps is making it part of my daily routine. Every day when I get up, I figure out what I am going to eat for the day and when I am going to get my exercise in. I don't give myself the option of not exercising. I also have a job with no set stopping point. (I work out of my home now so I could literally work all the time. But even when I worked in an office, I easily worked 10 or 11 hour days, grabbing lunch at my desk.) One benefit to exercising is that it gives me a quitting time (or a break in the middle of the day). The day is done at 5:00 when I have to go to the gym. It's actually really helped bring some balance to my life.
Also, at some point I made the connection between exercising and eating. If I exercise, I can eat more. Now, right now I'm not seeing the benefits of this because I don't add the calories that I burn to what I eat for the day (I'm impatient so I'd rather just lose weight faster). But eventually, when I get to a maintenance level, my maintenance calories will be higher if I am exercising regularly. I can't even tell you how much I like to eat, so this has also really helped motivate me to go to the gym. You have to be a little careful with this, because you don't want exercise to be an excuse to eat more than your calorie limit, but eventually your calorie limit will be higher if you exercise.
Coming to Terms With Exercise
(if you think about it too much, it's way to easy to talk yourself out of it, at least that was my experience to start!)
Or take them to the park (walk to it of course), and actually PLAY with them. Climb on the monkey bars, etc. Pets? Walk them frequently just for fun. Take along your camera for kids or pets for some great shots and to make the time feel like a major accomplishment if the exercise doesn't feel like an accomplishment on it's own. 
