Thursday, February 13, 2014

Exercise

I hate exercise.  I don't know why, exactly, but I've hated it ever since I can remember.

About the only exercise I've ever enjoyed for any length of time is dancing and yoga.

And after losing all this weight I KNOW I need to exercise, on a regular basis...but man...I really don't want to.

Part of the problem is finding the time.  I decided I would do it when I got home from work while David was cooking dinner, but that didn't work.  I came home and put on my pjs, because that seemed like the thing to do.

Then I thought I'd get up at 5am, drink some coffee, exercise for 30 minutes and then get ready for work., but that didn't work either.  I should have known it wouldn't.

Then after much thought and wrangling with myself, I asked what my goals for exercise were and why I felt that I need to do it.  Here's what I came up with:

  1. overall good health
  2. toning--I've lost all this weight, being tighter would be nice
  3. being able to travel and walk without discomfort or weariness
And that was really it.  I don't have any aspirations to run marathons, 10Ks or even 5Ks.  I don't want to look like a model, nor do I care to join a gym or exercise socially.  When it all comes down to it what I want is to be able to travel, see things and not feel limited by the physical condition of my body.

That accomplished I took a little advice from Dr. Phil and decided that I needed to make a rule that would force me to exercise.  I decided that I would not be able to put on my pjs and knit until AFTER I'd exercised.  That means that when I come home from work, I change into my exercise clothes, eat supper, clean the kitchen and then exercise.  

It's worked for 3 days in a row now, and I have to say that mentally I'm "getting this."

I'm doing 2 days a week of yoga, 2 days a week on our elliptical and if the weather holds out on the weekend David and I will go for a walk.  I'm good with this for now.  I'm enjoying the fact that since I'm having my shower at night, I can spend my first 30 minutes awake sipping coffee, catching up on e-mail and facebook and playing some games...

I'm optimistic this might work.

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Of course this does mean an hour less of knitting each night, but I look at it this way.  I'll live longer, so it's an investment in my future knitting possibilities.  I can handle that.

And Pearl told me last night that she's very proud of me.


1 comment:

  1. I'm so proud of you! It's really hard to find the discipline. I'm going through it myself. I do not eat as healthily as I should and therefore I try to compensate with exercise, but really even then it was not very much. There is always something. If I come home and sit down, if I do not change immediately into my "exercise" clothes, all motivation quickly dissolves. I am having a hard time digging deep right now. I only want to exercise the things I like, zumba occasional event running... so I made the leap and signed up with a gym that will show me how to use the "things" like ellipticals etc. With my husbands blessing, I think I will sign up for a few sessions with a trainer to try and acclimate me to "gym life" find a routine that maybe helps develop some upper body strength etc. Wish me luck, I'm wishing you a bunch. But you are amazing, you've done amazing so quickly with other aspects of your health, I TOTALLY believe in you.

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