How can I ENJOY exercise?

#124

I always hated exercise and still hate it now, except for strolls around nature. Didn’t keep me from shedding all that weight. I have always had bad joints, and since my lengthy bout with Lyme disease, it got a lot worse. Keto helped a lot though. I still only like my strolls and that’s what I do.

(Robin) #126

I get on my rowing machine and watch a series or movie. Helps time fly.

(KM) #127

I’ve had times in my life when I was extremely fit and strong, and I simply loved my exercise, I felt so good. And there have been times when I would dutifully do my sport or routine, and feel exactly as the OP described: bored, unmotivated, and generally not aware of any sense of progress. Really not sure where the turning point comes.

(Edith) #128

I think the motivation or lack of it is caused by multiple factors. If I am feeling overwhelmed with life, as in too much to do, my desire for exercise goes down because it then becomes just one more thing to do. Lack of sleep definitely decreases the desire for exercise. If I am feeling a lot of stress and anxiety, I will force myself to do something just because that helps me process the excess cortisol and calms me down.

Sometimes, the lack of motivation can just be boredom with the same old thing. That’s when it might be time to mix things up and try something new. I think the most important part about exercise is that it just gets us moving somehow, someway.

Have you thought about trying pilates? It is very low impact but definitely helps with flexibility and strengthening.

#129

Make it social. Find some friends and start a walking/ coffee group. You will be surprised at how the social aspect begins to take over. The exercise becomes secondary. If doing it alone, then find something you enjoy listening to, such as a pod cast. I absolutely hate riding indoors and can barely do 45 minutes. Yet when I’m out with my buddies for a 4-6 hour ride, it’s magical.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #130

To paraphrase Mark Twain, exercise fascinates me. I could sit and watch it for hours. :grin:

#132

I have found that when the blood ketones get up and over 1.0mmol/L I can’t sit still. Usually I go out walking (listening to podcasts), or I get outside and do stuff like digging, lifting, and carrying, and now that it is winter, chopping wood. I think fine-tuning the ketogenisis through diet will physiologically encourage many people into physical activity.

(Alec) #133

My problem is the opposite: I have a hard time taking rest days :joy::joy::joy::running_man:t2:‍♂. I run most days, but I know rest days with no exercise is good for my running and good for me overall.

I have a rest day today (no running)… I am already twitchy and want to go for a run, and it’s only 10am! :joy::joy::joy::clown_face:

#134

I would gladly take your desire to run today, Alec… I still don’t like (can’t bring myself to) running but walking is fine, I just need to wait until it’s autumn to get desire to go out… Thankfully, cycling is a bit different, I get some wind on it unless I go super slow on uphill (and I go through the forest anyway) and I noticed I can handle summer on a bike (I even could handle hot summer on a motorbike, dressed in thick black clothes, it was only a pain when I had to wait for minutes…). Today I do some cycling in the hottest hours. As I must, my SO needs me (and my basket, his bicycle has none) to pick up a parcel.
Sometimes it helps that I was a goal. It’s usually shopping. The nearest villages are about 4km away, a bit too close with a bike so sometimes I walk (through the pond, it’s beautiful) but it’s way quicker with a bike.

I started to use my stationary bike too. In the beginning I just couldn’t, 1-2 minutes and I had to stop, it was as annoying as running, my mind had problems with occupy itself, the exercise took away too much but enough was left to get annoyed/bored. I can’t handle boredom as I never am bored otherwise, how could I be in this interesting world when having a mind to think about things? I asked my SO about what to think when running but he couldn’t help me. I don’t have this problem when cycling or walking, there is nice Nature around me and if not, I just think about things. I wanted to pair stationary biking (is it the term?) with watching videos (I do that a lot anyway, let’s use my muscles while I do, sometimes) and it couldn’t work in the beginning. Now that I got used to it, it’s so much better! I could do several minutes, still about nothing but walking was still painful for days :smiley: Yeah I forgot leg exercises are super easy to overdo… Once I got an even worse effect after a 5 minute leg exercise. As it’s not fun cycling inside, of course I do it as hard as I still comfortably can and that’s a way bigger burden on my legs than my normal cycling, even if I do the latter way longer.
So I will keep at it, I want impressive leg muscles! The muscles won’t be a problem, leg muscles train easily but getting off the fat from it… I am working on that too.

(Aggie ) #135

At first, I was exercising for the purpose of losing weight, but the process was too difficult. One day, I accidentally fell in love with mountain biking. Every time I ride, I will bring my BP Doctor smart watch, and I always find that I will ride for a long time without realizing it. The scenery along the way is so beautiful. Only when you find a sport you like can you really enjoy it.

(Central Florida Bob ) #137

I guess that I’m like @aggie in some ways and different in others. I started running back in the late 1970s when I was in my mid-20s and stayed with it pretty continually until the early '90s when an orthopedic surgeon I was seeing for knee pain, did the (almost) fatherly hand on my shoulder thing and said, “you know, you’re not built like a runner.” I had an infrequently used road bike in the garage and started thinking “maybe I should do that”…I was regular rider, 5 or 6 days/week for a good 15 years.

I was off the bike from about '10 to '18 and find the ability to get around easily and move without thought is worth it. I don’t believe exercise to lose weight works, but to improve general health and wellness, yeah. The amount of built in stretching and moving in my cycling, which is just a bit over an hour three days/week, (because I find it easier to ride an hour every other day instead of half an hour every day) eliminates those jokes about dropping something and having to decide if it’s worth bending over, or figuring out what else to do “while I’m down there.”

(Joey) #138

Difficult … and ineffective. Exercise does wondrous things for a body - like build strength, bone mass, aerobic capacity, healthier heart, brain, circulatory system, regulate hormones.

But as a way to lose weight it generally sucks.

Dietary effects will typically overwhelm any “calories burned” benefit from exertion.

We need to exercise regularly for all the right reasons. Weight loss just isn’t one of them.

#139

That’s very much true for most of us. But exercise still can help especially for the ones who have a very little energy need otherwise (or people like my SO who has a higher need but still too low to get satiated with only that much. his maintenance would be starving very much without exercise). I still do it mostly for other reasons but I expect it to be quite helpful for fat-loss too - as long as I manage to eat very little too. Muscle gaining exercise is especially useful.
But eating is a more important part in health and fat-loss alike, at least for most people. I am sure some people just start exercising and lose a lot of fat, there may be multiple reasons for that (maybe the exercise brings some mood boost so comfort eating won’t be necessary?) - but it hardly is like that for overeaters who eat too much either way. And of course, most of us don’t use up very much energy… I take a big bite from my fattiest fav item and I got it back…
But exercise is good (unless on does it wrong) and if it helps, even better.

(KM) #140

I have made an effort to get out and “do things”, whether that’s a shopping trip or overnight camping, going to a museum or simply finding a new park or street to explore. Just something that requires me to be on my feet for an hour or two at a time, while somewhat distracted mentally. I realize this isn’t Exercising, capital E, but just being more vertical for longer periods for the past six months has given me more energy and stamina, I’m starting to actually feel a little antsy if i don’t get up and Move, vs. being planted in front of my desk the entire day. Maybe someday organized exercise will be more of a thing for me, but I feel this level is still beneficial.

(Pete A) #141

I call that “scurrying”. And it counts!

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #142

When I was young running, football, swimming etc etc wasn’t exercise, it was 2nd nature. it was fun and it was almost effortless.
Now it’s a pain in the arse and seems pointless! … I’m often wrong of course.

(Edith) #143

There is another amazing benefit to exercise which is blood sugar control. Your muscles can utilize glucose without insulin, even if you are insulin resistant. So, just walking for 10-20 minutes after eating is a great way to bring glucose levels down.

Dr. Ben Bickman discusses just this during his interview in the Model Health Show podcast: