it's all in the head...
 

Hi Ladies!
Well this going into week three for me, and every week i have stepped it up a little with my time. I have been so unmotivated this weekend and i feel myself slipping back into that 'i don't care, what's wrong with being fat anyway?' mode. so i was at the gym (i made myself go) and it was mentally hard for me the whole dang time. thn i started thinking, i should hop on the bike (i did the treadmill & ellip) for an extra 20-30 mins. because i should start proving to myself that your not going to be a quiter... i ended up getting a call from home and just did what i was there to do.

but i was wondering if anyone thought that making myself go a little further would be a good thing or not, not physically but i was wondering if it would help reinforce that your not going to be a quitter now attitude. any thoughts?

A little more exercise never hurt anyone. I seem to sit on my lazy a@@ and not do much exercise on the weekend, but I still eat right. My goal is to step up my exercise this week. Wish me luck!

Hey! :wave:

Is your goal to lose weight or to prove something? :chin:

It would be good to get clear about that.

If it's to lose weight, then do what you have planned to do. If you still feel like doing more, that's OK--just don't think that it proves anything. Losing weight is hard enough...

Stay with what you're doing to lose weight. You will see results if you stick with a good program. There is a lot wrong with being obese, and you can change that. :yes:

Jay

Depends whether you're ready to progress to a new level of physical activity or not. When I first got my treadmill I set itty bitty plans because I had to--there was no way I could jog a mile without resting after each quarter. But after doing the same routine for a while my body one day said "what the heck, let's keep going" and I found that I could go a lot farther than I thought, which was really uplifting and spurred me to set more ambitious goals.

But if I had tried a few weeks earlier, before my body was used to the easier routine, just to prove that I wasn't going to give into pain, I probably would have overdone it and the next day's sore muscles would have put me off exercise for the next week. It is kind of in the mind, but it really depends what your body can handle. Pushing yourself too hard to prove things often blows up later down the line.

You have to know yourself. If it helps YOU to make a game of it and push yourself a little more each time, then fine. If it's just too much pressure that you're putting yourself under and it's going to lead to you saying, "screw this", well then it's not fine.

In the beginning, I eased my way into exercise. Adding small increments each week.

You did mention something about motivation though. I don't think you should ever rely on it, as it's never around when you most need it - like when there's french fries, ice cream and cake around or when you don't feel like hitting the gym. Much more important to make an iron clad, unbreakable commitment. That no matter what, whether you feel like it or not - you will continue on with this new healthy lifestyle. Much more lasting then motivation.

monkey: I think you already proved how good you are simply by going and working out even the you didn't really feel like it!
Those days when you have to really push yourself to get of the couch and exercise, well so many of us DONT do it! But YOU did!
thats awesome. Don't push yourself into overdoing it. You did what you needed to do, and thats a great accomplishment.
good for you