3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community - Exercise encouragement for couch potatoes

For everyone that is dedicated to your exercise program, you can stop reading - this thread is not for you. I applaud your tenacity and commitment to exercise! You absolutely amaze me!

For all the couch potatoes out there that really hate to exercise, my advice is - DO NOT GIVE UP!

Move more - every day. Any way that you can. Keep trying new things until you find what "fits" for you. You will! I promise! Just keep trying! Don't worry about the rules, or advice from others. Forget those voices in YOUR head too - you know the ones - I'm not flexible, I'm too fat to ___. People will laugh, I'm not good at ___, etc.)

Spring is here - now is the time. Make a commitment to yourself to move your body more every day for a month. You CAN do this! And it could just change your life.

For anyone that likes to read sagas, my story is below:

I was dumbfounded recently when more than one person commented on my exercise schedule. They wondered how I motivated myself to exercise regularly. How I got to the point where I actually HATED to miss my workouts?

Who me? The person that for 50 years hated to break a sweat, got bored after 5 minutes on the treadmill, and never met a sport she liked? They can't be talking to me? Can they?

I was the queen of exercise avoidance!

I tried, I really did! I bought the bike, air-walker, weight machines, free weights, treadmill, Gazelle, ab thingies, and an Octagym.

I tried gyms, Jazzercise, running, biking, rollerblading, tennis.

In my workout room, I set up a tv, got a cordless video game controller, rented audio books.

I moved my equipment to the living room so I would have no excuse not to use it.

And - I STILL hated exercise. I suffered through it for several stretches. I persevered. Sometimes for days. Sometimes for weeks. Sometimes I even kept it up for months!

I knew it was good for me, but I just couldn't find anything that I really liked to do. It was a chore that must be completed - not something I looked forward to at all!

Of course, the problem was - exercise is important to weight loss. Exercise is essential, if your goal is health and fitness.

I finally had an epiphany (and it only took 50 years :lol:)!

I sat down and made a list of every single type of exercise I had tried.

I ranked them based upon, cost, availability, sustainability, what I liked about it, what I didn't like about it, and why I stopped doing it.

From this, I learned that I really don't do well with repetitive exercise. I don't like to have to "prepare" for my workouts, or plan a lot in advance. I don't like to have to drive to exercise. I NEED variety. I do best when there is an instructor to tell me what to do. I like a routine with a beginning and an end - something that makes it difficult for me to quit before I am done.

Next, I discarded all the "shoulds" I learned over the years. You should exercise for at least 30 minutes to get your heart rate up. You should get enough cardio. You should do intervals. You should exercise in the morning. You should exercise at night. You should lift heavy. You should lift light. The list goes on and on and on ...

Next, I made up a list of things to try that I had never done that sounded like something I might like: yoga, balance ball, stretchie band things, Walk Away the Pounds (there sure were a lot of 3FC raving about this one). I added to the list things that I had tried that well, I didn't hate - or actually liked in moderation (dance, weights)

Finally, I made a commitment to myself. I WOULD exercise 3 days a week for one month. I would try new things and give myself permission to discard something I didn't really enjoy doing. The key was that I had to keep trying. I could stop after 15 minutes, but the goal was 30 minutes each day. I could switch to anything if I really wasn't enjoying myself. The key was to have fun - to break away from the notions that exercise is work, boring, dreaded, etc.

I tried a few free workouts on Exercisetv.tv to determine what I enjoyed. Then, I ordered a few DVDs, and dusted off the weights and began my experiment. I quickly learned that the 10 Minute Solution, Dance Off the Inches, and the WATP DVDs were my favorites. I slowly added to my collection - variety was still a very, very important factor to keep the boredom level down.

I modified the routines that I couldn't do (steps were too complicated, too high impact, etc.) I laughed my way through some of the "hotter" routines (I will NEVER be able to shimmy properly). But, the real key here - is that I laughed - I had fun - I got a workout, and I enjoyed it. Something that had never happened before. I was actually looking forward to working out.

Over the next two years, I added in additional pieces - I found that I LOVE yoga, and the fitness ball. I still hate push ups and crunches. We got a Wii for Christmas and it has been a WONDERFUL fitness tool (my latest love is Cardio Shape Boxing).

Now - almost two years into this experiment, I love to exercise. I hate to miss a workout! Me - the exercise avoidance queen.

So, as I said above - keep at it. Keep trying new things. What worked for me, won't necessarily be right for you. Analyze what works and doesn't work for you - and don't give up!