I really hate exercise

I used to hate and still don't care for evening workouts. But when I had a all-nite partying neighbor, I couldn't get up early in the mornings. My morning routine simply moved to the evenings just wasn't working for me. I just couldn't sum up the energy to do it. Then I went to a martial arts studio- a dojo- and signed up for kickboxing. To be able to punch and kick somebody at the end of a long day was a joy deep in my heart, spirit, and soul. Some days I would kick the crap out of this arrogant little twit.  I would then go home, have a light dinner, and go to bed where I slept like a baby through my obnoxious neighbor's music. 

I'm just saying, there is hope.

 I was talking about this with my pshrink today - she's a fit, tiny little thing and she haaaaates gyms. She runs and says that for years the only thing she liked about it was stopping.

I decided that although I do not and may never enjoy the gym, I DO enjoy a certain smug satisfaction afterward that I've done it and so many other people haven't.  If that's what gets me through, then bring it on!

I'm looking forward to walking outdoors once my knee stabilizes a bit...

I liked water exercise but I didn't like how an hour of exercise seemed to take up my entire frigging evening, plus with psoriasis, it irritates the hell out of my skin. 

 Great BIG hug! 

Get it off your chest!!! Okay, I'm going to say probably the same response as most folks, "it gets better as you lose weight..." but I want to add a few of my observations.

Before I got surgery, I spent over a year trying to lose weight without surgery, and it included a LOT of painful days exercising. By the time I realized I really wasn't getting far enough, fast enough, I was DOWN to 474 pounds.  

Trust me, I used to love being invisible when I went to swim, cringing on the days small children were in the locker room, but I gritted my teeth & stuck with it. Gravity is a ***** high five!!! But truly, after seeing my weight finally coming off, I actually found two cool things: I could yank my fat ass out of the water easier, and I was becoming VISIBLE.

It has only been in the last 8 months or so that folks at the Aquatic Center have started to talk to me, even cheering me on! I'm still fat, but I just tried on a size 20 suit, down from my former 34. It takes time, effort, and a whole lot of guts to face the world when you are fat, let alone gimp around a gym (I too have severe pain). If you can just stick it out two months, I am 99% sure you will have a change of heart.

One of the byproducts of my exercise, my resting heart rate is 52. Hang in there, as you lose weight AND exercise, you will start hurting less.

Hang in
There, do this for YOU!

Brenda

You got me to thinking about what really gets me to the gym 3-5 times a week and I surprised myself with the first thing I think of when I go to the gym...

Those smug, tiny, *****y 18 year olds running the treadmill in low rise hip hugging jeans. Yep its them. They sign up in Jan, last through Feb flirting alot, and by mar they drop out and are still paying for the rest of the year. Then by April the guys they were just there to flirt with are taking to me about routines, reps and how impressed they are with how long I have stuck with it. Then they spend the rest of the year helping me with techniques, goals and new exercises, and it doesn't matter I'm twice their age.

Do I like exercising? Nope! Do I like the way I feel after? Yep! Many have said to me while I am training to run my first 5K that I will learn to love it, that is not the case. I don't LOVE cleaning my house, changing the car oil or doing my taxes but I do it because it needs to be done and the clean house, running car and tax refund makes it all worth it.

The gym and my trainer do one really big thing for me, keep me motivated (because I hate wasting money) and gives me another level of accountability that I really need. Losing the 230+ pounds was the easy part (relatively speaking when compared to a short life of weight and medical problems), toning, firming and getting stronger with a lifetime of new eating habits? Well that isn't so easy, but so far its still more fun then cleaning the bathroom every week.

It also helps that for the first time in 46 years I am smaller and healthier then both my sisters and they hate it. Whatever motivates you, right?

Thing is that when I first started the gym  I had a partner and that made it easier to go. You know, kind of well if he's going then I am going. And I lost 60lbs and was 390. Well after we broke up I continued to go and still go 4 times a week. But the difference is that when I got diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis I gained all the weight I lost bac****pt going to the gym just to keep from gaining more. Then I'd go off the roids and I'd lose 40lbs and by the time I went back on I'd gain another 50lbs. So after 2 years of lose, gain, lose, gain, lose, gain I finally just quit the prednisone and ended up at my current 452.5 lbs. But I'm tired all the time. I'm even more tired after I work out so I can't work out before work I have to go after so I can just go home and go to bed.

I feel like I'm just exercising to keep from getting fatter but I don't see a whole lot of change. Of course I do realize that I'm not working out at the same level I was because of joint pain. I'm much slower on the treadmill and I have to becareful with the weights and my trainer has reduced my training to accomodate the joint issues. The only thing that hasn't changed is that I can swim forever. I spend at least an hour and sometimes 2 just swimming laps hoping to make up for the lack of everything else.  I just wish there was a magic wand for getting me in and out of the pool and changed. It would help my motivation.

But still I keep going because I honestly think the only reason I am still mobile on my own and able to tie my own shoes and put my own socks on is because I refused to just sit down and quit.

I'm hoping that surgery helping me get the weight off will also help my energy levels so I can do more and maybe find my motivation there.

Anyway thanks for all the support. 

I'm impressed that you still go.  -shows some stick to it-ness.  Your heart still probablly appreciates it.

I love your honesty!

You know your self without self denial!

Even though you hate it, you understand the need!

YOU ROCK AND WITH THE SURGERY I BELEIVE THERE WILL BE A DAY THAT YOU FIND THAT FITNESS ACTIVITY YOU WILL ENJOY!!

Think outside the normal box!!

Hugs,
Sherrie