PCOS/Insulin Resistance SupportSupport for us with any of the following: Insulin Resistance, Syndrome X, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or other endocrine disorders.
So here's a weird concept... okay, I really like working out. It makes me feel good and most of the time it's fun. I make about 1/2 the workouts I intend to do (I intend to work out every single day, and wind up working out 4 days a week usually). And this is because sometimes I feel that working out, even though it feels good, is a 'punishment' to me for my body being the way it is.
I've eaten healthy and organic for years so I know that my body looks the way it does because of PCOS, and nothing I did to it. (Granted, if I were naturally an athlete I probably wouldn't have all these symptoms...)
But sometimes I find myself believing right before a workout phrases like "if you were thin, then you wouldn't have to take time out of your day to do this hard work. You'd be able to do the shopping you need to do, or go see your boyfriend now instead of in 2 hours, or sit on your bed and read. If you were thin you'd be able to sleep in until 7 instead of getting up at 5:10!!" "The reason you have to spend money on fitness memberships is because you need to fix your body. If your body wasn't broken you wouldn't have to do this."
I know this is so dumb, and I like feeling like I'm becoming more athletic. But too often these thoughts crowd into my head and sabatoge my efforts. It's so hard to stop them. I'm losing weight slowly, so at least I'm losing, but it's the everyday battles I'm not really winning.
Anyone else have these problems or have overcome them? How? I may start writing them in a journal as soon as I think them, then try to 'talk' myself out of it by writing positive things...
Maybe it will help if you tell yourself that you are going to the gym or working out because you love it! Your day just wouldn't be right or complete without it. that you love the way it makes you feel.
You can also tell yourself that skinny fit women do still workout at the gym, because they don't want to be skinny fat- and you want to be skinny fit So, you will always workout at the gym... it is a lifestyle
Empower yourself! People don't only workout because they need to lose weight. They workout because it makes them feel good
One thing that helps me out...I too LOVE working out - but sometimes, there are days when I truly wanna do other things and/or just sit on my butt watching TV! lol...
But what helps me out is I think of working out - not like a punishment - but more like a reward...truly - for me, I work out because I CAN workout. I have co-workers who (yeah, are bigger than me) and ALWAYS complain that they either HATE exercise alltogether or they can "barely" make it on the eliptical for 5 minutes. They always have excuses as to WHY they "can't" exercise - and I know it's 99% because they're too lazy TO workout...
For me- I think, "hahahaha 5 minutes? try doing it for an HOUR!!!! I can do it for an hour - can you??!!"
I AM healthy - and I CAN workout 4 to 5 times a week and NOT have to worry about not being able to because of things such as, "being too heavy / being too lazy / not being able to do things because of a bad knee, asthma, etc..."
That truly is what helps me get through my workouts...and even those times when I'm DOING my workout and getting tired - I push myself because I know I CAN make it. My body is conditioned enough by now that while, yes - i am technically "overweight" - and I am 'dying' to lose these last 20 pounds on the scale - the truth is, I am healthy enough that I CAN do these things - I don't have any physical conditions holding me back.
These are all great ideas. It's weird, I'll be in 'positive' mode for like a week, then I'll sink back into 'why do I have to do this' mode. I still do it, but not as often as I'd like. I think writing positive will help me think positive! I hope so. I'm usually a very positive person to begin with. I have to stop listening to what I feel like doing at the moment, and just deal!! Once I get there I'm fine and loving it and pushing myself. I usually get up at 5:10, have a cup of coffee in front of the news then I'm out the door at 5:45. But too often I get my coffee and being on the couch is so snuggly that 'I think I can skip just today' and that turns into skipping 3 mornings in a row.
I think what I'll do is, get up, put on my work out clothes, THEN drink my coffee. That way I'm already dressed and not in my PJ's. If I'm already dressed I might as well go!
You wrote, "I have to stop listening to what I feel like doing at the moment, and just deal!!" and that reminded me of one of my FAVORITE quotes for weight loss...
"Don't give up what you want MOST for what you want in the moment!"
another one is:
"Suffer the pain of Discipline, or suffer the pain of Regret - it's your choice".
I love working out but I was in a bit of a rut earlier this week. I'm super stressed and I just wasn't feeling like going to the gym. It just seemed to be adding extra stress. Even when I don't feel like getting to the gym I don't think of it as "punishment" for being the way I am. I think, "Remember that feeling when you saw (insert number here) on the scale? Remember how happy you were when you realized you could see your collarbone now? That's what you're working out for...that feeling you get when you accomplish what you want from it." It's super cheesy (and I'm not a cheesy kinda girl ) but it really does work.
And then if I'm at the gym and just not having a good workout or feeling like calling it quits halfway through I do the "You didn't bust your a** for the last 45 minutes to quit with 15 left to go did you?" or whatever. That works too. I use it when running sprints as well
Last edited by rockstar87; 04-25-2008 at 02:47 PM.
Well, good thing is I go to boot camp (Platoon fitness), so once I'm there there's no slacking, which I love! But I guess I've just been in a rut, too. Like, it's such a great experience to be able to go to Platoon and be outside, and be around trainers who care if you're there or not... but at 5am those thoughts go through my head "if you were never overweight you could get more sleep!"
But I know that there are thin people who are not healthy. Maybe all of us 'horizontally challenged" chicks are lucky... b/c we're almost being forced to do routine maintenance on our bodies, and put the good stuff in it... b/c we can see the interal damage on the outside, without it creeping up on us when we're 60.
Thanks guys! I'm already pumped to make the 7am class tomorrow, and go running after work today!
For myself, although I generally enjoy my workouts I find it much easier when I feel like I am "training" for something instead of just trying to lose weight or look slimmer. I found this out by accident. I started working out with a personal trainer. After a bit it was suggested I try a powerlifting competition. Having the competition to focus on made the workouts feel so much more productive & fun.
I have a really hard time committing to a workout because even though i've met with trainers, dietitians, etc... i'm not losing weight. Its like i'm working my sweat glands dry just to remain where i am. i'm fighting with my body not to GAIN any more weight...
I also haven't found a workout that i really like to do, that doesnt seem repetitive and boring...
I'm starting to find that it's really all about calories. I've been eating 1,100 most days of the week and am finally seeing results! Are you strength training? That also helps me as well. Cardio won't do a thing for me (even though I still do it). If I have to skip a workout it's cardio, NEVER skip the strength training!
I used to be married to a work-out addict. All of his co-workers called him "The Machine" because there wasn't anything he couldn't do better, faster, longer, etc. than anyone else. The guy had something like 6% body fat... I told him that we made a perfect 10 - him being the "1" and me the "0"
He also ate very healthy all the time and very rarely splurged, but when he did, he did it right (e.g. we'd split a whole tube of cookie dough, he'd eat Krispy Kremes till he got sick, etc., etc.) IF we happened to be in public and he had a couple of pieces of birthday cake or something incredibly fattening people would say, "Of course, you can afford to eat like that, look how skinny you are." Like they were jealous that he could be so thin and eat like that.
He'd get very angry and tell them, "NO, I can eat like this because I go to the gym every day and eat healthy 99% of the time."
And, that's the truth of the matter - those skinny people either work their arses off to be that way or they are lucky to have "skinny genes" but that does not mean they are healthy. We all have our battles, some of us just happen to have very visible ones.
Yah, it sux that PCOSers like us have to watch every friggin' morsel, calorie in/out and still might not lose weight, but we have to get past that cause life ain't fair in so many ways.
What I tell myself is that if I were famous and the paparazzi was following my arse around all day every day documenting every second of my life, I'd find a way to keep that arse small for the photogs. It's kinda working. I'm still trying to figure out what works best for my body and that's the hardest part so far for me.
We have to figure out what works for us. Here are some things I've tried and/or remember reading about:
- Journaling is good if that's your thing
- some people put stars on their calendar
- others come on here for attaboys
- some set personal achievement goals
- some note/document their progress - inches, times, machines, weight lifted
- pictures every four or eight weeks so you can visibly see tangible evidence of your hard work paying off?
- Tell yourself "Look, I'm not playing that game with you again. You always whine, we always go and look at how much better we perform/feel/look. Kwitcher*****in and get to the gym." Eventually it'll become so natural that those thoughts don't pop up at all.
Heck, for what it's worth - I'm impressed with how frequently you work out given how much mental gymnastics it requires from yourself! You should be darn proud of that discipline.
Working Out as Punishment?
So, you will always workout at the gym... it is a lifestyle
) but it really does work. 
It's kinda working. I'm still trying to figure out what works best for my body and that's the hardest part so far for me. 
