I'm trying to go to a gym once a week at least, but it doesn't help that the gym is a subway ride away & it's very easy to just stay home.
It also doesn't matter if I'm being challenged to death, formal exercise bores me to tears & I keep thinking of 100plus things I'd prefer to be doing, like reading a book or playing an online computer game. Yay WoW!

Sadly if I do the treadmill or elliptical machine for more than 10minutes at a stretch I get homicidal. I usually just do 10min on a treadmill then 10min on the Elliptical machine... then I'll do like 45min spread over various weight machines then end up with 10min on a stationary bike.
I have to be careful because my knees are halfway shot, the doctor thinks I have osteo-arthritis already. :/

However I have figured out how to trick myself to do more cardio and someone mentioned it before- DDR! Dance Dance Revolution. I try to do that at least 30min 4 times a week. I need to squeeze in more time somehow. ><

If I had an indoor ice-skating rink nearby I'd probably do that too. I don't really know how to ice-skate, but it's fun!

Like some of you, I don't hate the exercise, I just don't do it. There always seems to be an excuse to do something else.

I don't feel ready to join a gym yet. I'm not sure why, but I don't feel as if I can confidently go to the gym until I've made some good progress. I guess it's probably so that when I get a look that screams, "who is she kidding?" I can tell myself that I'm making progress and I'm doing a good job. I've decided that once I hit 199 I'm signing up for a gym membership and going whether I like it or not, unless I convince myself to go sooner.

I LOVE weightlifting, it's something that I never thought I'd like, but once I tried it I absolutely LOVED it. I want to be able to do a 5K run someday though, so I'm putting together a couch to walk to run plan to acheive that goal. My doctor said no running until I get under 200 though because he's worried I'll ruin my knees. I guess I just need to learn to make exercise something I HAVE to do, that sounds like the best way to keep going. I'm hoping once I get started that I won't have to push myself to get up and go everyday.

I hate the gym, I feel weird and like I don't belong (even when I was thin), so I just don't go. I walk with friends, hike to places, I listen to music, and I do exercise videos at home. I never thought I'd ever like exercise videos, but here I am! I do tao-bo because I like things that are REALLLLY hard, I also love doing squats so I got a video with cardio and legs. Do I enjoy doing them? I don't really know, just like a lot of people.. I just do it. Lots of great ideas here, find what works for you!

-Aimee

Obviously it's good to listen to your doctor, but I swear sometimes they believe overweight people can't do anything at all. I know it's tougher on your knees when you carry extra weight, but I let that stop me from things for so long, and then I finally just decided to try it. I weighed 250 or so when I started running. I didn't run for long periods of time, and I didn't run fast, certainly, but I did start incorporating jogging intervals into my walking. If you have serious knee problems, obviously you shouldn't do that, but otherwise you may want to get a second opinion about it! I've been running as much as 4 miles at a time now with absolutely no knee problems, and I haven't seen 199 yet. You can probably do more than you think you can, and you may be able to start sooner.

LisaMarie ~ I thought the same thing as you are saying. I think my doctor (actually old doctor, I have a brand new one now.... forgot about that when I posted before) was fat-phobic. I have absolutely no issues with my knees, and I'm only 23 for goodness sake!

I went to him because I wanted to start running, and he himself was a runner, but he told me no way. I was running before I went to see him and had no troubles, although I was still taking turns walking and running at the time, but I stopped because he told me to. I think more than anything I used it as an excuse to stop because it was hard.

Thanks for posting this, I've been telling myself it was doctor's orders not to run when deep down I knew I really had no reason not to. I think I'm going to try to work my way back up to running again regardless of what he said. If I have any knee pain, I'll just stop.... but I never did before so I don't think I will. Thanks for the kick in the butt, even though you didn't really mean it to be one.

I'm glad you posted this, because I, too, am not overjoyed about most exercise.

I won't bother with a gym until I've proven to myself that I'm ready to exercise regularly (I've wasted tons of money on various memberships before).

I find pleasure in doing physical things that have a purpose, not just exercise for exercise's sake. Shoveling snow, walking to the library (a few miles away), not shying away from physical labor of any sort.

Getting a large dog and DDR are both good ideas. DDR would be much easier to take care of, though.

I'm really glad I came back and checked this thread.

I just started a new job yesterday and while I absolutely am in LOVE with the company I work for, it's still been a challenge, getting up really early and commuting pretty far away to get there. I arrived home tonight (or rather at the train station - luckily the kids and my guy picked me up) around 7 ish... we had some warm sandwiches for dinner and it was feeling really good to just settle in and watch Medium. I thought "you know what? it's ok to take a break once in a while" and I was really ok with it. But then I came here, just to see the latest threads and I thought "Girl, this is WHAT YOU DO. How can you be some sort of Pseudo NIKE ad, tell everyone to JUST DO IT and then you don't do it yourself?"

I don't want to be that person. I refuse to eat my words (too many calories LOL). I got my butt on that elliptical, cranked up some music and did my 20 minutes minimum plus 2 minute cool down.

This is what I DO. I may not always LIKE it, but I do it, because it's like breathing. Without it I'm not really alive.

Renee, first congrats on doing your exercise!! Great story!
Your comment reminds me of one of the best things about 3fc for me -- that kind of accountability. I can't tell you how many times I have said something and then realized I wasn't taking my own advice! Telling other people something does seem to make me live up to it more!!

Yay! You should join us in the Cool Runners thread in the Exercise Forum. Some great inspirational runners there -- I enjoy learning from them. I'm glad you've decided to give it a try. You can listen to your body and if your knees say stop, then you'll know what to do. And yes, you're only 23 -- you're just a puppy!! Tell your doctor you know someone (me) who's 35 and was running at 250 pounds with no problem, and that she's running her first 10k in a few weeks even though she still weighs 200 pounds! Well, I hope to be around 195 by the race...

I'm gonna give Curves a plug here. That phrase of "find something you like to do" for me, is a load of crap . At my weight, if it makes me sweat and pant, I hate it. I'm hoping once weight comes off that will not be the case, but for right now, it is.

Curves takes thirty minutes three times a week and you're done. That's the draw for me. I hate going in there, I hate doing the circuit twice, but in thirty minutes I'm finished and I do feel better for having done it. I belonged to a gym once, but was always so overwhelmed when I walked in there because I wasn't sure what to do, what was best for me, how long to work out on one thing...it sent me into a tailspin and I couldn't afford a personal trainer. With Curves, I know what I have to do, the women are friendly and there are no guys to contend with while I'm sweating and panting!

Do I think I'll get bored with it eventually? Yes. I do, but hopefully by then, I will be in better shape where there may actually be a sport that I do enjoy being smaller!

ShrinkingDaisy, I'm no doctor so I hate to second-guess one, but I'm going to second what LisaMarie said about running. I've been running since last October, have worked up to about 20 miles a week on average, and I ran my longest distance last week of 7.6 miles. Guess what - I was over 250 when I started, I am just now under 200 (as of today ) and I haven't had any issues with my knees. As long as you build up gradually and allow your muscles to adjust to the changes, you should be fine.

For me, running has been exactly what this thread is about - it's the form of exercise that I discovered I actually enjoy doing. I too am a total klutz, so team sports aren't a good alternative for me. I also was never a gym person, I just can't get that excited about being there. (I do still go to the gym when I can't get outside to run, so I agree with the point that no matter what, exercise is something you need to tell yourself you just have to do, like brushing your teeth or going to work). But running along the lakefront path in Chicago is really something I look forward to when the weather is nice. And I'm thinking very seriously about a half marathon this summer, so it's definitely gone beyond exercise and into entertainment for me.

I'm absolutely certain that because I enjoy running, I push myself farther with it than I would if I was just logging minutes at the gym. There's no doubt in my mind that success with my weight loss is directly tied to my new found joy in running. Yes, food control has also obviously been important - proportionately more important when you look at the mathematics of the impact of food vs. exercise on calorie counts. But when people ask me what my secret has been, running is always the thing that I view as most important in focusing me on this journey.

So - go get a second opinion and then lace up your shoes!

Great question. It's one that I ask myself almost everyday.

I must say, though, for the past 2 1/2 months, I've been really good about incorporating exercise into my day. Like the several others who responded before me, it is something you DO as if its a daily hygeine task. One thing that has worked for me to keep me consistent these last couple of months is I give myself the rule of "20 minutes". I promise myself before I go to bed that I'm going to the gym in the morning (at 5am nonetheless... a HUGE sacrafice as I'm SO not a morning person). Of course, I do a great job of trying to convince myself otherwise, but I make a promise that all I have to do is 20 minutes of cardio. If I'm tired and frustrated by the end of 20 minutes, I can stop with no self-criticism, because I'll have already done 20 minutes of exercise. However, about 10-15 minutes into the exercise my body starts to love it and it becomes mind over matter and on most days I usually end up doing 25-30 min (if not more) of cardio each day. I use the same rule for additional exercise in the evening after work. Not that I'm trying to be a workout guru by working out twice a day, but I don't have time to do a long one at one time so I split it up into two. This has worked for me. It's become a great stress reliever after a crazy day with my crazy coworkers and driven manager.

Take it one day at a time. Eventually, you're body will crave it, I think. At least, I'm banking on that possibility! Until then, I fight with my snooze button every morning.

julzchiki - I totally know what you are talking about... because after just 9 days I feel an incredible sense of control AND energy just from doing what I DO... minimum 20 minutes per day. I have the same sort of deal with myself - no guilt, no bad feelings if I don't do more than 20, anything extra is a bonus!