Exercise and diet

[Katya]

I have an exercise bike, but I can't always convince myself to ride it.

What about a real bike?

[TheAnswerIs42]

I feel the same way, DL. I am not a fan. My husband, however, is an excercise nut. He has run probably 25 marathons, and this summer is starting into triathalons. So having him talk to me 4 times a week about how good his run was that night and how much better he feels after a good workout and on and on . . . that's the only reason I keep going at it at all. The other problem is that I am apparently incapable of losing wieght from excercise. I have lost weight from having braces, surgery, or nursing off my pregnancy weight, but never working out. Even the one summer I worked out an hour and a half a day, five days a week, for months on end. Grrrrrr.

So right now, my only solution is that I just committed my goals were to go to the gym twice a week and not gain weight. That way I feel like I suceeded, despite the fact that I'm still not actually losing the weight I want to. For me, I just have to have set times each week that I have to go - I told the bus driver not to come for my son on those days, so I have to take him to school, and I drive by the gym on the way home. Having equipment in my house has never helped me, because I can always come up with an excuse not to use it.

[Dragon Lady]

Having equipment in my house has never helped me, because I can always come up with an excuse not to use it.

Yellow's insurance, I believe, will pay for a gym membership if I want it. (If I can figure out how to do it.) And there's a 24-hour fitness within a 5 minute walk or a Gold's Gym probably a mile, maybe a titch more, away. I've been tempted several times to sign up for one of them. But then I realize that the only time I could actually go work out would be early in the morning, before Yellow goes to work, which won't work within the next month, because that's when I do my gardening, or after he comes home from work, which I don't like, because it's really the only time I get to spend with him.

[thebigcheese]

Okay, here's a question for you guys: what is it that you don't like about other forms of exercise (besides walking, yoga, etc)? Being hot and sweaty? Feeling like you're going to die? Not being good at certain sports? Can't figure out what to do with the baby while you're out? Too much trouble to get all dressed up and then take a shower afterward? Don't have a convenient time to go? Just plain don't get a kick out of it?

[TheAnswerIs42]

I think I'm just lazy. The whole time I'm running, I'm thinking "man, this is hard. I bet sitting down would feel really nice. Am I done yet?"

Oh, and DL - I use the daycare at the gyms. They really aren't bad. We get a few extra colds that way, but that's life. I love the lady at the Gold's 8th North gym's playroom - she somehow knows every single kid by name and is so sweet with them all. I remember I had friends who loved the 24 Hour playroom a lot, but that was years ago.

[thebigcheese]

Okay, so running. Just curious -- have you ever done that consistently for a decent amount of time? Having been a runner for years and years, I know that running really really SUCKS for the first few weeks. But after you've done it for a while, your body adjusts and it gets much better. Personally, I find it very liberating to know that I can just get up and run 4 or 5 miles. I also enjoy beating myself, which is often what keeps me going. In fact, beating myself was one of my greatest joys when I was on the track team. It's like little goals: "Last week, I ran a mile in 7 minutes. Let's see if I can beat that today!" or "Last week, I ran two miles. Let's see if I can do three miles today!"

Or maybe you just don't like the more intense forms of exercise. But I don't know...I've heard of people who hate running until they stick with it for a while, then they end up loving it. Maybe you're like that, maybe not.

[mic0]

I hate running. It makes my whole body hurt, and my lungs sting. Blech! I don't mind other intense forms of exercise, I even don't mind running in a game like soccer or basketball, but I can't just go running.

[TheAnswerIs42]

I've done a couple of 5Ks and a couple of 10Ks. Training for the 10Ks was when I was at my peak - I would run for 45 minutes three times a week, give or take. I've been at it enough to know that it does get better. But 10K is my limit. Even after all my training, I would be ready to die by the end. And after the 10K, I wouldn't want to run for a month or two. I try to get motivated to do better each time, but mostly I just plain don't care. My husband is very motivated about it, but it's just not my thing. I was actually talking to him about this the other day. I felt that way about other stuff - speech team in high school, or my sewing sometimes - like "oooh! I'm doing good! I bet I can do even better!" But never running. I'm a HORRIBLE swimmer, so that's even worse. And biking is okay, I guess. I have awful hand-eye coordination, so I've never liked other sports. So running is all I end up doing.

[thebigcheese]

You know what, I think it's great that you gave it a chance -- a legitimate chance. Most people quit before they get that far into it, so good for you. By the way, I'm a horrible swimmer too. And it makes me sad because I think a triathlon would be fun otherwise. I love running and biking, but swimming is BY FAR my weak link. I can't swim distance for the life of me. I took two swimming classes at BYU to try and get better. But I start to like, drown and stuff.

Anyway, I just remembered a fun quote -- I've heard it said that "Runners do it because it's hard." I think there's a lot of truth in that. It's all about challenging yourself to do something hard, accomplishing that, and feeling great about yourself afterward. And that's all I have to say about that.

[krebscout]

Here's what worked for me the one time I successfully lost a lot of weight (about sixty pounds between my pregnancies. Obviously a lot of that was natural postpartum weight loss, but I ended up weighing much less than I did before I got pregnant in the first place):

I was nursing, which I'm sure helped, I watched what I ate a little bit (but I'd done that before to little effect), and exercise videos (which, I could tell, was really making a difference for me). I spent a little cash on (a used copy of) the Slim in Six videos, and I love them. They're easy on the joints - good for hip and knee issues - but they're intense, and the intensity increases over the course of six weeks (you're supposed to spend two weeks on each video, but I think I spent at least a month on the first one and never got to the third one. Got pregnant again, and it was too intense). I loathe running, I'm self-conscious about exercising in public, and taking the kids to a gym every day would be a huge pain.

As for motivation, I used Wii Fit. The exercises it has are not great for weight loss but I love that it keeps track of your weight for you and charts it out on this nice little graph. I could see when I was doing well, what was working, what wasn't. Visible success made me want to keep going. And visible failures ("this little plateau is Thanksgiving") were helpful, too. I would check in with Wii Fit before I did the exercise video every day.

So that's what worked for me once, and I'm currently working on getting back into the groove with two little ones.

[Marduk]

I've made no secret of the fact that I hate running. I think it is the silliest form of excercise that exists, yet for some reason it is the most popular. I guess it is one of the few things that one can just get up and do, no other people or equipment really necessary. But when I wrestled, we would often run to cap a workout; a cooldown after the much more intense practice. I remember that everyone else would look forward to this as relief, but I looked to it with dread. I'm slow and it hurts my joints.

This is probably why I haven't done anything resembling a consistent workout schedule since graduating high school. I play basketball on average twice a month, but that's it.

[thebigcheese]

By the way, I've heard lots and lots of girls in my Relief Society say they LOVE the classes taught at Golds Gym or wherever else. Might be something to try, if you haven't already.

[Katya]

Okay, here's a question for you guys: what is it that you don't like about other forms of exercise (besides walking, yoga, etc)?

I'm not greatly motivated by physical challenges. Walking, weightlifting, yoga, and biking are forms of exercise with a more meditative pace, so I can get some thinking done while I do them.

[Dragon Lady]

I have an exercise bike, but I can't always convince myself to ride it.

What about a real bike?

No desire. I have a hard time explaining myself with this. Same with running. But let me try to throw out all the small reasons why I'm not enticed by this stuff. I'm bad at it, which makes motivation hard to come by. Especially with things like running where I have to do it in front of people. Sure, it's mostly people I will never see again who drive by in cars or look out their windows, but I still feel really self-conscious about it. I also don't have exercise clothes or shoes and since I hate to exercise, I find little motivation to spend precious money on clothes and shoes. My current tennis shoes are actually approach shoes (who knew?) that I got on clearance at REI years ago and the soles are starting to come off. I have Chakos which make walking really nice (once my feet get used to them again every spring. Until then it's horrible getting blisters and sore toes. But it is better than the first summer I had them and my feet would actually bleed by the time I walked 20 minutes to campus). I don't like to go very far by myself. Maybe I'm a sissy girl, but the thought of riding my bike up the canyon or something is slightly frightening to me. Oh, also I don't have a bike. That's a big one.

By the way, I've heard lots and lots of girls in my Relief Society say they LOVE the classes taught at Golds Gym or wherever else. Might be something to try, if you haven't already.

Hmm… a class. That's a good idea. Having a set time and place and organization might be just the trick. I'm just not very self-motivated.

Oh, and DL - I use the daycare at the gyms. They really aren't bad. We get a few extra colds that way, but that's life. I love the lady at the Gold's 8th North gym's playroom - she somehow knows every single kid by name and is so sweet with them all. I remember I had friends who loved the 24 Hour playroom a lot, but that was years ago.

Oooh! I hadn't even considered they'd have a day care. Is there a minimum age? Do they need to be potty trained?

Okay, here's a question for you guys: what is it that you don't like about other forms of exercise (besides walking, yoga, etc)? Being hot and sweaty? Feeling like you're going to die? Not being good at certain sports? Can't figure out what to do with the baby while you're out? Too much trouble to get all dressed up and then take a shower afterward? Don't have a convenient time to go? Just plain don't get a kick out of it?

Can I just answer, Yes! ? Because really, all of those fit me. Really, I just don't find it enjoyable. It's something I feel like I should do, not something I want to do.

Walks I love. I listen to conference or books on tape, I get to see beauty (especially in the spring!), I love the fresh air, I love the idea that I'm walking somewhere instead of driving. I love to garden. It's not a whole lot of exercise, but it's refreshing and I'm just happier when I'm done. Which is why spring, summer, and fall I'm willing to go to bed early so that I can wake up early and walk a mile to my brother's house to pull weeds and plant seeds then walk a mile back. Yellow thinks I should start running there and back and I hate the idea. But oddly, mostly I hate the idea of having to run down two major roads and people being able to see me.

[thebigcheese]

Hmm, you bring up a lot of interesting points. Given your constraints and interests, I think an exercise class or perhaps some workout videos might be the answer for you, DL.

One thing stuck out to me though -- the clothes and shoes. I find this one easy to justify, but maybe that's because I do a lot of dirty sports in the mountains (trail running, mountain biking, hiking). I buy special clothes and shoes for sports simply because I've already ruined too many of my regular clothes and shoes -- and frankly, I'm tired of it. I've lost too many favorite t-shirts this way. So I went out and got stuff that is only to be used for those activities. Exercise shirts and shorts, check. Running shoes, check. Hiking shoes, check. Biking shorts, check. I wish, I wish, I wish, I had a biking jersey, but most of them are horrendously expensive. Anyway, I think this is also true of regular exercise (pit stains, anyone?). It's really, really nice to have clothes that I can get dirty or sweaty and it's not a big deal. It's also really really nice to have a good pair of exercise shoes that don't cause shin splints or other discomfort. Exercise is way more pleasant when you don't have that stuff holding you back.

[Whistler]

My husband likes DDR, and I think it's fun too. I like biking when I can get out of the suburbs, but then it has to be nice out too.

[thebigcheese]

I think someone already mentioned Wii Fit, but xBox just came out with the Kinect recently. That thing is a WORKOUT. So if you like interactive video games, that might be your ticket too.

[Dragon Lady]

We have Wii Fit. And sometimes I do it. But I always forget or don't want to go through the effort of setting it up. Especially if Dragon Baby is awake, because she likes to stand on the Board. Also, I really, really, hate doing the body test and having it tell me that I'm overweight or really close to it. I don't feel overweight. I don't look it, either. So seeing it there in black and white is more likely to depress me than inspire me. And there's no way I'm gonna buy an xBox just for an exercise regime. No ways.

[thebigcheese]

And on that note, I'm going running

(Need to start training for the 5K on Saturday. I haven't missed a Rex Lee Run since 2006, and I'm not about to start now!)

[Dragon Lady]

I'll admit, a small part of me wishes I was a runner. Until I start running.