When I started the weight loss thing, I did not exercise at all. Walking for grocery shopping or around campus (never more than 5-minute walks to each building a couple times a day) was IT. Otherwise, I was sedentary. I lost steadily. Around February, I plateaued at 150lbs and decided I needed to add exercise. I'm an all or nothing person, so I went into it hardcore. I joined the gym and went from nothing to 90minutes per day of cardio and strength training. I was up at 4am every morning to do my work outs. Elliptical, treadmill, stair machine, strength routine. Everyday. And I hated and resented every minute of it.

After a few months of that, I gave up. I just hated it too badly. It was the end of the semester, my routine got jumbled up with a new class schedule, and I could never get myself back into a new gym routine. I have tried running, I've tried fitness DVD's, I've tried exercising with friends, I've tried setting fitness goals. I just can't do it. The moment I start doing an activity for the sole purpose of exercise, I feel resentful until I finish the activity. I just hate the act of "working out." That being said, I do like being active, and throughout the day/week, I look for ways to keep myself moving. I'll invite friends to go on hikes, I go window shopping and walk around for a couple hours, I'll park at the back of the parking lot, I get off at the bus stop past the one that is closest to my apartment so I have to walk. I just generally move a lot more than I used to.

For the past several months, since reaching maintenance. I have not "worked out." 99% of days, I make sure that I walk for 60 minutes minimum. It has become habit to walk 15min right when I wake up, and I usually go on a 20 min walk around lunch time. I'll either go on a few more walks, go to the grocery store (which I count as walking time, haha), or something of the sort. But I make sure my body is up and moving for one hour. Walks are a non-threatening form of exercise for me. I'm happy to go on a walk, it doesn't feel like a work out. I often walk far more than my minimum of 60 min.

The only thing that I feel like I should do for my health is strength training. I feel like I could devote 15min or so while I'm watching TV to do something of a strength routine.

I definitely want to work out more..but i also just make excuses such as i'm too tired, i have something else to do (which can usually wait), i'm hungry, sick, cold, not in the mood, its too dark outside..a million and one things and then i feel horrible for it. I really need the exercise too because my blood pressure is a tad bit high but its very difficult for me. Like today I have a doctor's appt at 3pm after work. I know I will have plenty of time afterward to go to the gym..but chances are, i'm just gonna home. And even knowing this, i still slack off..i need a drill sergeant to yell at me and make me go lol.

I lost 120 pounds in the past without exercising. I felt that I needed to concentrate 100% on one goal...dieting. When I had lost most of the weight, I felt so good that exercising felt good and I naturally adopted being more active without making it a "must". I bought a bike and biked to work. I walked more, I danced on the weekends.

This time around I am not exercising, but that is because I live in a truck and can't. I am older and I can really feel the need to move more, but losing weight is still happening even sitting still 14 hours a day and laying down the rest of the time. I have lost enough weight to feel good again and do swim when we are home and walk when I can. I don't make it a must, but I find I crave it more and more as the weight goes. I like that it is a natural desire and not some crazy master plan I cannot keep up with.

I don't work out on exercize machines or the gym.
I do so much gardening and work around my 2 houses, I wouldn't have enough energy to do more than that.
I planted over 500 plants this year, planted 5 fruit trees. Next year I am planting over 200 oak trees. Plus putting in a Zoysia lawn on 3 acres.
And I cut over an acre of grass every week with a push mower.

Then I picked and processed over 8 bushels of fruit. Shaking fruit trees is a lot of exercize.
And I pick over 200# of grapes every fall and turn them into juice...a lot of standing all day for weeks.
In the spring I will have more than a bushel of strawberries to pick and turn into juice.
I don't drink sodas. I grow and pick my own fruit and drink the juice.
I don't turn the fruit into jams or desserts or cookies. Just juice.

Plus I grow blackberries, elderberries, raspberries, green peppers, tomatoes. A bushel of each last me a whole year.
And I grow and make my own mullein tea. Pounds of tea. It is an antiviral. So I never catch colds or the flu.

That is a lot of exercize. A lot of picking, standing, & pulling weeds. There are days I can't move off the sofa, I am so tired from heavy work.

Then I moved over 100 35# concrete tree rings and garden blocks last summer, assembled 5 little sheds.
Moved 50 40# bags of topsoil and manure.
So I am too pooped from my regular work and hobbies.
It is difficult for me to find enough time to rest. :(

Now that winter is setting in, I have to turn to all the easier housework that I neglected all summer. But first I have to move the 5 bushels of compost that I grow my potatoes in. Those are really heavy, but its raining today, so I have a break to do laundry. I do housework on rainy days.

I wanted to spread 1 ton of white marble landscape stones and 500 lbs pea gravel last summer, but it was just too hot to do every little project of mine. :cool:
Next summer I will set the stones. And paint my house.
Under all my excess fat is a lot of muscle.
I don't need exercize, I need rest. :beach:

I just lost 20 pounds since June. Now I am working on the next 20.

:dizzy:

I can't move just now, I'm ordered off by my doctor and sitting around (mostly lying around, actually) with my spine in a metal brace, then I'm having a bunch of operations but looking forward to maybe returning to a little light swimming within a few months. I'm not so much worried that my current loss will be slower but that it will affect me down the line when closer to my goal weight, I won't be as fit as if I'd been able to move all the way through and I might well have a very slow metabolism. Already I worry when I am really cold and I try to warm up by fidgeting instead of putting on the heater. I can wiggle a bit, I'd rather do 30 seconds of exercise than nothing!

I started out exercising 4-5 times a week at a gym, but over the first two months, I lost interest. I also struggled with the fact that it seemed to slow my weight loss (I know the physiology - I just have a very hard time when the scale stalls for any reason). Right now, maybe once a week, I go hike for about an hour on the regional park trails in my area. I'm going to be increasing that and combining it with some strength training at the gym, but I haven't made it happen yet. Ultimately - I want to run :D

Also, I've seen the following words of wisdom on many posts on these boards, and it seems apt here:

I love Robin's idea of small goals, and I'd add something to it: have a fall back position: "I am going to increase to X, but if I hate it after a week, I'll go back to Y for two weeks and then reassess." If that's part of your plan from the beginning, it will keep you from pushing too hard and then giving up completely.

gosh do I know what "abusing exercise" means. LOL Before I would tell myself "I'm going to really do it this time" and oh heck did I do it. I did it so bad that I was hurting the next day swearing I wouldn't do it again. Years would go by where I hated my weight and self. Losing weight= hard exercise and a strict diet. After hearing about these calories counting sites, I enrolled into one and started tracking my food intake. Then I ran into a couple weight loss shows and it inspired me so much to commit to doing the "Step aerobics" on the Wii Fit as I watched the shows (30 minutes a day). I told myself to not get ridiculous about it but just to take it slow, nothing mattered as long as I was moving. Things progressed after a while to where I started walking for 30 minutes a day.
My biggest goal was a phrase that I heard "If you do something for 6 weeks, it becomes a habit." After 2 weeks I was seriously counting down the days. I was so ready to quit but after a while I can say it became a part of my life. I don't see it as some horrible thing. I don't "LOVE" it but I can say I enjoy it.
My dh lost all his weight without lifting a muscle. His cholesterol levels dropped so much that his doctor encouraged him to do some type of exercise cause his good cholesterol dropped as well. So he's doing a little here and there now.

That's the thing. Don't give up on it - switch it. Don't give up on it - tweak it. Don't give up on it - change it.

You must talk yourself into the fact, that *this time* there will be no giving up.

Ha. We can say that about our eating plan as well.

Heck, we can say it about lots of things, can't we?

haha love it and yes very true. Can't tell you how many times I've dropped crocheting but so glad I stuck with it. Its my personal favorite down time activity.

This has been a GREAT thread. I know for long term maintenance moving my body is a must. I can say this, I am coming off about a six month span of pretty harsh depression which I have NEVER dealt with before. Talk about NOT wanting to MOVE...ugh ugh ugh SO opposite of my personality.

To be able to focus each day on what I am eating and to be able to control my foods etc.....this is a big step. I do exercise 3-4 xms per week but it's just for my mental stability.

Once a week I go to my personal trainer to do weight lifting to help build muscle so I'm not loosing muscle. The other days I simply walk but 2-3 miles. I also live in "valleys" so they are significant walks as far as hills etc :)