So it dawned on me this weekend that I have more energy since i've been working out. I started working out 5 weeks ago and have been doing it faithfully. I try to work out 4-6 times a week. Before working out I was always so tired and exhausted. I didn't want to do anything but go home, eat dinner and sit on the couch watching a little bit of TV and then go to bed at 8:30-9pm. It's not that I was so lazy that I wanted to just lay down, it's that I really felt tired and sleepy. It felt like it was midnight or something!!

I got to thinking the other night, while I was chatting with a dear friend who helped me get my butt in gear and do this whole weight loss thing, how i've been staying up later. I've been going to bed around 10:30 each night. That's huge for me!!! And the great thing is that I don't feel exhausted and tired at 8pm. So I attribute all of that to working out. It really does give you energy!!

EmilyT - It's good to hear that you have more energy working out. 5 weeks is a great! Good Job!! I wish I had your energy to start working out. I got a new bike and put it in the basement to ride and watch TV, but I have NO energey to get going. I am always tired and exhausted. I don't want to do anything but watch TV, Eat and type on the computer. I have a 2.5 month old son who seems to be content with me putting him in his swing while I take a nap, eat or watch television. Boy, this is really bad...

Do you have any suggestions on starting to get with it?

Congratulations on your newfound energy! That's one of the few things that keeps me going with exercise. I have been slacking for the past week or so and I've noticed my energy levels going down as a result.

Keep up the good work!

Oh, and Oochie Goo... one of the things about exercising regularly... I hate it, hate it... but it works best if I treat it (and I got this from another poster, probably Wyllen) like going to a job or brushing my teeth. You don't think about it or debate yourself, you just go or just do it because you have to. I don't have a lot of fun brushing my teeth and I always hate having to get up to go to works but I still do it. Exercise is the same. I know this thought changed my exercise habits completely... hope you can find it helpful as well...

Good luck!

-Lala

EmilyT---You are doing so great! 12 pounds in only 5 weeks! That's excellent! I'm so very proud of you for finding a plan that works for you and sticking with it. There's no limit to what you can do, if you just stay motivated, even when motivation is hard to come by. I'm very proud of you!

Thanks everybody for the kind words!! It keeps me going.
Oochie Goo: I usually always hate working out AT FIRST, but if I workout regularly for 2 weeks it becomes a more natural feeling. It really does get easier to do the more you do it. It's just those first 2 weeks or so that I have to get over. It's definitely tough to get started and it took me awhile, it was not an instantaneous thing. But once I went to the gym the first night, then the second and third night, it got easier. It is really just a routine now. But it goes the same way if I don't go for more than 2 or 3 days, I start slipping out of the routine. So like Dalai said, I know I have to in order for the weight to start dropping, no ifs, ands, or buts!
Now I kind of have fun working out. It's something I can rely on in my day, and it's a little bit of alone time to think, sweat, and just feel good about what i'm doing. I ALWAYS feel better after a work out. I may feel a little tired, but my lungs are wide open and I don't have the guilt on my shoulders that I would have had I skipped out.
You'll get there! Just go to the bike and start riding, without thinking! If you start thinking about it, heming and hawing, you're giving yourself opportunities to change your mind and turn around.

Way to go, Emily! Isn't it wonderful when you begin seeing the positive changes in yourself? I was thinking... I need to write down things I see in myself along the way... now that I have lost 32 pounds, and at different steps along the way! I am proud of you!!

That's brilliant! You're right, especially during the stretching/warm up, it can be almost meditative... time to clear your head and not think about the stressful things we all deal with for the rest of the day. And then not having the guilt factor afterward, since you know you did your duty!

-Lala

Isn't that a great feeling Emily?
I too have noticed the difference in my energy level.
I totally agree with you and Lala about the fact that you just have to make it part of your routine. It's become just another daily responsibility. Am I always happy about it? Well of course not, but I do it anyways. I know each day that I work out it makes me look and feel better.

I'm glad you have noticed the energy increase.
Keep up all the hard work

Leec

Congrat's on getting that exercise. I know that when I don't exercise that I feel unusually sluggish. It's not that I love the treadmill (for sure) but I do feel totallly better about myself after I do it.