I work two jobs - about 45 hours a week between the two. At both jobs, I'm on my feet the whole shift and do quite a bit of walking, bending, and light lifting.

I'm really struggling to stick to an exercise program because I feel like my body just can't handle it. For two weeks, I tried doing a combo of 30 Day Shred and running (4 days of 30DS, 2 days of running, 1 rest day) and I thought I was going to die. I understand that exercise is supposed to hurt but this was unreal. I mean, I was almost in tears one day at work and actually ended up leaving a bit early. I generally consider myself to have a high pain tolerance, so this is just crazy.

Any suggestions on how to balance an active job and an exercise program? Or is something majorly wrong with me? Help?

I apologize if you already told me this but I'm starting to get my threads mixed up!

Do you have a Fitbit or something like that to measure your activity done while you are at work? I know someone who is a nurse on her feet all day and she was so concerned she couldn't exercise after doing her 10 hour days. After putting a monitor on to track her activity, it turned out she was giving herself no credit for the "work time" even though she was working her tail off! Granted a nurse might not be a good comparison for most people to say they are just as active but I just wanted to put it out there.

Nothing should be so hard or sore that you cry.

Just walk! Walking is soothing for the soul and not too demanding to the body. You will still burn loads of calories. -- I does not matter if you jog 2 miles or walk 2 miles; just about same calories are burned. One activity just takes shorter time.

I've often wondered about this myself. I have a pretty active job, too (I work in retail, but I'm "the right-hand person" at work -- pretty much the assistant manager without the official title). I sit down for a grand total of fifteen minutes a day, during my lunch break (the rest of my lunch break is spent powerwalking around the mall, lol.) I also walk back and forth to work, which is a grand total of an hour of walking each day outside of my work movements plus any gym time I might put in during the evening after work.

I wear my WW pedometer all day, every day, but I always struggle with whether or not to "count" my daily work movement as "exercise", per se, and therefore whether or not to count it in terms of Activity Points.

As for exercise you can do without pain...I second the walking suggestion. And I'll echo what someone else has said: no exercise should be so painful as to make you cry. Who wants to deal with that? Exercise should be, at its best, enjoyable...and at the very least, it should be tolerable!

I think maybe the reason you were so tired is that you are trying to do too much too fast, and your body is just too tired, which could lead to injury also.

You mentionned : «4 days of 30DS, 2 days of running, 1 rest day» that's quite at bit, to start off with... I would suggest maybe 2-3 days of 30DS with 2-3 days of walking while working yourself up to running, and taking 2 days of rest or a fun activity like hiking.... Eventually you will get used to it, granted you will sleep darn well at night ...

I've also read that people who have very active jobs can gain weight because their bodies just gets used to the same repetition every single day, this is why you should also change-up your works to keep your body guessing ...

HTH

I think you're right, Ilene. I probably tried to do too much too soon. Overachiever, muchly? I'll try adjusting my workout plan and see if that helps.

I'm definitely not giving up running - I love it and need to train for a race in June. But I need to do some toning also because I do not want to be flabby and thin. Ughness. Thanks for the walking suggestions, everyone, but that's never gonna happen. Walking for exercise bores me silly.

How about a bike? That way you can use your muscles in a way that gets you OFF your feet. When I was working retail, the absolute last thing I wanted to do was be on my feet even more to workout! Or, I worked out in the morning before work.

Also, it sounds like you do a lot of moving around in general, so maybe have more strength training in your exercise program. It's essential to get your cardio in (and get your heart rate up), but maybe you could start your workouts with strength training so you get a chance to let your feet and legs rest from the day while you do other things. I love sitting on a stability ball to do arm exercises (adds in a small core workout due to balance) and using one for core exercises.

One thing I am going to consider as a time saver since I, like you, have a very active job and life regardless, is Tony Horton's ten minute trainer for when I'm in a time crunch. I've also heard of people who do the 10-15 minute Tabata training, which is high intensity training for that time period, so it's worth looking up!

Otherwise if I know I have time for a longer workout, doing what you are doing is great!