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Originally Posted by SweetTreat80
I've jumped on board FEET first into a new lifestyle and exercise is a part of that lifestyle choice, and while I can't do anything vigourus due to surgery I can and DO my stationary bike and health walker every day. Right now while the stationary bike is on the fritz (my luck!) I've been doing around 60-90 minutes a day on my healthwalker and I'm quite happy with myself that I've done this on a consistant daily basis! I however now of course have to contend with my Husband, Mother, family and friends throwing the following at me:
"You're being obsessed!", "you're just addicted now", and they act as though this is a bad thing. When they throw these things at me I first respond with, "well there are worse things that I could be addicted to/obsessed with" but I also follow that up with, "I am however just commited to doing this."
I went from a VERY sedatary lifestyle where I didn't exercise at all and I was either on the computer or sleeping all day, sadly that was my life and then I had major surgery in Oct so it sidelined me even more (imagine how that's possible!)and from Oct-March I didn't do alot as I couldn't do much for myself, so to go from seeing me living that way to WANTING to exercise for an hour and then say, "hrm I don't want to stop, I want to do more!" I can see how people can view that as being obsessed. I might add that I exercise EVERY day, even if I can only jump on my walker for 15 minutes because it's a busy day I still manage to do it every day. But can it hurt? When DOES it go from being commited and dedicated to obsessive and dangerous?
What do you all think?
I think it can move into obsessive territory when a person is SO worried about getting in time on their machines that they stop living. For instance, let's say one day you had to choose between going out on the lake with your fam or exercising. (This happened to me a few weeks ago, even though I got exercise from swimming I didn't get to the gym before it closed.) If you begin to choose exercise over meaningful experiences with people you love, then I think it crosses into "obsessive" category. (I used to do this with money. I was so worried about paying off debt that I would constantly say no to driving 30 min. home to see my family because it would "cost too much" in gas. I learned my lesson though!)
For a few days, I was really concerned about going out of town with my best friend. We had made plans to road trip to Cedar Point amusement park, and all kinds of thoughts about less exercise and higher calorie foods were swimming through my head. For a brief moment, I thought about not going. Then I realized... This is my LIFE! I can't put my life on hold for exercise. I'll exercise when I can on our trip (the hotel has a gym and pool), but I'm not going to say no to experiences that I'll cherish for the rest of my life just to burn more calories. (Keep in mind that I'm closer to my goal weight than some. If a person was morbidly obese and NEEDED to make these changes to avoid health problems, it would be a bit different.)
In my opinion, you're committed/dedicated to achieving your goals. People are going to be concerned because they see this giant change in you. They worry that you're overdoing it. Heck, my husband told me I was "starving" myself because I was eating 1,200 calories a day. He wasn't trying to sabotage me by offering me more food. He was trying to show his concern. Be strong!