Well the day has just started and I can already tell its going to be a rough one. The last four days have been good...keeping those carbs way down and exercising. This morning I did fine with food. I made my egg scramble. But its the exercise thats getting me. I dreaded the elliptical but made myself get on it. Five minutes later I gave up. I'm wondering if it might be because I ate first. The last few days I exercised first then ate. I don't know. Is it okay to take a day off from exercise or should I just "woman up" and do it? I know that if I do take the day off, I need to be more strict about my food intake. But there is another problem....I'm having some bad food cravings today. A large blueberry cheesecake muffin with brown sugar crumble topping sounds sooo good right about now lmao. I won't do it though. Thankfully I don't ever keep anything remotely close to that in the house! I am facing one of my "challenge days" that has always led to me going off my diet in the past...ugh.
I am a big believer in sticking to plans, because it builds confidence and makes us feel in control, but I am also a big believer in making plans moderate. In other words, it's better to plan to do less but always do it 100% than to plan to do more and often fail: you end up doing the same amount, but in the first case you feel like a success and in the second you feel like a failure.
This is a long way of saying that if you are dreading exercise that much, you may be overdoing it. I'd go ahead and finish what you planned today so that you don't let yourself down--even if you do it at a snail's pace, or if you do it in five minute chunks once an hour. But then I would sit down and look at your plan and see if you shouldn't scale it back some--do less each day, or plan a day or two off. You can increase your planned exercise over time.
The most important thing is developing good habits, and that happens by sticking to the plan. So make it a plan you can stick to, and once the habits are in place you can worry about intensity.
Find exercise that feels like pleasure instead of like exercise - hiking, walking, swimming, yoga, kayaking, zumba, belly dancing - there are a million things you can do to get in shape that don't involve a machine at the gym.
I have not stepped foot in a gym and am transforming my body through yoga, hiking, and walking (and when summer comes: biking, kayaking, swimming.)
Well. I decided to take the "woman up" approach. The longer I sat here, the more guilty I felt...and the more I thought about eating a blueberry muffin LOL. So instead of doing my little 15 minute elliptical session....I made myself get up off the couch, put shoes on, and took a 4 mile walk outside. I know 4 miles doesn't sound like much but it feels like good exercise because it has variety: flat, up hill, down hill, sidewalk, rough trail terrain, and even about 13 steps worth of a staircase to go back up to get home. I feel MUCH better about myself now. The thing that is keeping me motivated is knowing that the gratification I feel after the exercise is amazing. The failure and guilt and self hate I feel when I make excuses to not exercise is terrible. Another thing that helped me a lot is finding one of my favorite DJ Tiesto songs (trance music) and putting it on my ipod. Its deep rhythmic trance with a heavy fast paced beat that helped get me going. I even found myself walking faster and with more purpose.
A large blueberry cheesecake muffin with brown sugar crumble topping? OMG! Are you serious? How dare they put all my favorite things into one muffin!
OK...moving on...(sigh)
You and I are the opposite. I hate walking outside but I LOVE the elliptical. I literally have to force myself off of it when I am done. But believe me, there are days when I just need a rest day and I schedule those. The important thing is to find an activity that you love to do. In fact, find a few because it'll prevent you from getting bored and switching it up will be good for tricking your body. Maybe you can find an exercise video that you love for the days that it is raining and walking outdoors is just not doable.
I'm really looking forward to moving back to my hometown. When I get there, I can ride and care for horses daily which is all very physical but its EXTREMELY fun. Everything involved is exercise from saddling up to riding to grooming to cleaning stalls to feeding, all of it. I can't wait!!
I think you did good! I aim for 5-10 miles on my exercise bike 3-4 times a week. I usually do 10 or more but it seems easier to talk myself into getting started if I give myself that "5 mile cop-out". Yesterday, life wasn't working with me and I felt no want to be on the bike so I took a 45 minute walk in the sunshine. It wasn't as challenging but it was enjoyable, uplifting, and burned calories. Whatever keeps you going forward....
I, like seagirl, have not stepped foot in a gym either (unless my local pool counts, because I love swimming and do that regularly). I do things that I enjoy - like walking, biking now that the weather is getting more cooperative, and running. Just find things that you love and do them - you don't need to feel punished. And the horseback riding sounds wonderful, I am so jealous!!
Rough Day
