I realize with my title that probably most people hate exercise... but I'm a newbie and exercise is my one big pitfall!

I hate exercise! I think partially because I'm not sure how to make it fun! I hear of all you ladies who exercise for an hour or an hour and a half ever day and at this point I just go even thinking about that!

I have 1 exercise video, although I've never really used it...and when I tried the other day, 15 minutes was too much for my lazy bum!!

What are some fun exercise alternatives?

first........... do you have a dog?

Do you play video games? I got the video game Dance Dance Revolution to start with. It's a lot of fun, and you can burn some serious calories when you get good at it. So if you like games...

One of the reasons I always hated exercise so much was because I was out of shape and sucked at it. When I bought the DDR game, I got into much better aerobic shape and now I can actually DO stuff, it's a lot more fun. It's no fun to get out there and try and swim a few laps but be winded by lap 2 and feel lying a dying flounder by lap 4. So find ONE thing you can handle <and like I said, for me it was that game> get some heart strength going, and then you might find fun in other things. I've been trying running now, something that I've always HATED and I can DO it and it makes me proud. Still don't love it, but I can do it!

Walk a dog, walk your neighbors dog, ride a bike, anything that doesn't suck *too* terribly. Don't get caught up in the idea that it's an all or nothing proposition right now. You *don't* have to start your exercise routine of 50 min. of exercise 4 times a week tomorrow. Learn to do one thing and get good at it, and get to the point it doesn't make you winded and then think about trying something new.

And put away the exercise videos until you find something else you can do. Nothing makes me more discouraged than a 30 min. exercise tape that I can only do 10 min of and then spend the rest of the day feeling like a failure.

Another thing that helped me was buying new stuff. Bought new CoolMax pants and bra <and I'm going to get a shirt, there just weren't any I liked.> I *hate* the feeling of being sweaty and when you are wearing coolmax stuff it pulls the sweat off you so you don't notice as much. Helps me a lot at least.

Good luck. *hugs* You'll make it. And try DDR if you have a play station or an Xbox. It's totally addictive and lots of fun.

Thank you for your ideas!

I do have a dog, and I walk her about 30 minutes a day most days! (Ok, my husband usually does it, but I've been trying to walk her myself more often, I've done it 3 days this week.)

I have an XBox...I'll have to think about getting DDR! I do have Yourself! Fitness, which is fun on occasion... but BLECK!

I really wish I could afford to join a gym! I love eliptical machines...

All good suggestions Shalia. Two other things to think about. Negative self-talk is self-fulfilling. If you keep telling yourself you hate exercise, why by golly, you'll hate exercise! Try telling yourself positive things about exercise, like how proud you are of yourself for taking baby steps to get started, about how good it feels to set an exercise goal (even if it's only 10 minutes) and achieve it. After awhile that self-talk will kick in. The second is to start off small, like a 10 minute walk, then evey day or every other day add another 1-2 minutes - and when you do, put a star on the calendar. Pretty soon you'll have a string of successes and will have built up some stamina besides. You can give yourself a non-food reward when you get to so many minutes or so many days, whatever you like. And like Shalia says, try all kinds of things to see what you like to do to exercise. No matter which exercise you choose, if you don't like it, you'll find excuses to not do it. So get up and do something! You can do it, and da** it, you're worth it.

I hated exercise because I didn't understand it!!! Walking I could do, but the rest of it was a mystery. I am lucky that I have a gym at work which is free, and found a cheap one in my village. I joined the village one coz I was having such a great time at the works gym that I wanted to do it at weekends. Now extremely uncharacteristically for me I do 90 minutes a day minimum, who would have thunk it, not I!

My favourite exercise is swimming. I hate swimming on my own, and only had to go four times before I got myself some swim buddies. OK they are all twice my age, but boy we have some fun. And now at the gym I have discovered fit ball, I love the fit ball, and to me it is just fun, I even don't mind doing crunches on it!!!!

Water rat has hit the nail on the head. One of the first things I did was change my self talk. I had to replace all my negative thoughts and feelings with positive ones. So many people have noticed that my body has changed, not just the weight coming off, but my muscle tone and general appearance, and my stress levels are way down. Now it's easy to keep going because I can see what a difference exercise has made in my life.

I think most of us hate exercise when we start doing it, because it seems like a chore - something we have to force ourselves to do. But it really does become easier, and most people end up loving it after a while. Your body will start to crave it, and the exercise will become a priority on its own. I know this doesn't sound easy, but keep telling yourself that if you keep it up, you WILL love it later.

My favorite exercise is using the treadmill. I burn my own CDs with really good music to walk by, then I put on my headphones - put a fan in the window facing me, and then it's all about me, lol. Nothing else in the world matters when I'm on the treadmill. I can daydream, sing with the band , plan my dream vacation, etc. I'm always so busy, that this is the only time of the day I can spend on myself in that way, that I don't have to feel guilty about having wasted time on later. I feel so relaxed afterwards. It's better than sex!

Comments on two things people said ... a] yes, swimming is fun! b] starting out even at just 10 minutes .. works

I went to the gym at my school today and did elipticle for 45 minutes (3 miles!!) I loved it!! I so wish I could afford an elipticle here at home... maybe someday *sigh*

I do have a stability ball...perhaps I can experiment with that tomorrow

You might want to check out the Gazelle. It's similar to an eliptical I think , but it's cheaper. They have them at Wal-Mart and Academy, I believe. It's still like $100 though, but cheaper than an eliptical.

Amen Sista!!

Brunette -- 99.9% of us don't like to exercise when we start, but start we must, for 99.9%. I have never met ANYONE who loves it the first day out who says: ''WOOHOO I'm gonna come back tomorrow and wreck my body again!!'' I remember when I started, 20 years ago, I was sore... I HATED cardio, so therefore for years I did only weights, but now I gradually discovered running and like Suzanne said I just get lost in my thoughts, solve my problems the world's problems, it's all good.... But you just gotta bite the bullet, start, and eventually it'll be like brushing your teeth, you won't go a day without doing it...

I always thought I hated exercise, then I tried it, and it wasn't so bad. I stuck with it for a while and realised that the good bits (weight loss) outweighed the bad bits (getting sweaty and sore). Then I stuck with it for a while longer and realised that I actually enjoyed it, and then that I felt lost if I had a day without some form of exercise. You can't expect to magically like it overnight, but if you stick with it you should be able to at least tolerate it, and then take it from there

Thank you everyone for all of your advice and thoughts It's really comforting to know that I'm not alone!! (Every time I see someone out exercising they seem to enjoy it... and so I felt so... off.)

I'll have to look into that Gazelle! Does it store easily? Or is it always upright?

I have the Gazelle. It does fold up and it is pretty easy to store. In fact I have mine in my closet because I needed to make room for company but now I'm going to bring it back out! I think it's allot of fun and although I do Leslie Sansone and George Foreman walks I like the fact that I can watch TV while I'm on the Gazelle. Another plus for me. I wish mine had resistance but it doesn't it's just the basic model but does have the heart rate monitor on it. I would try it out to see if you like it. Some complained about their calves getting sore but I haven't had that problem. When I use it regularly I do get good results and you can make it as easy or hard as you want. I haven't followed the workout tape that comes with it though but I hear this gives you a great workout and Tony is a big modivator.

How about dance? If you like to dance, your local city recreation center may have classes. I belly dance and do videos, and the lbs. are melting off quick!