Have you ever felt like something you wanted to
do, knew you needed to do, was just against your very nature? I am
reminded of the movie "Finding Nemo". Dory and Marlin meet up with some
sharks who are in a 12 step
program not to eat fish. Their mantra is "Fish are friends, not food!"
Of course, one little drop of fishy blood in the water and all the
shark's good intentions are out the window and Dory and Marlin are
swimming for their lives!
Historically, this is how I feel about exercise. I know I need to do it. I know it's good for me, but the only exercise I truly want is that of my thumb clicking the "next page" button on my kindle as I read a good novel. It just takes a little whiff of anything MORE fun than exercise in the air for me to want to just drop the idea of working out like a hot potato.
It is not so much that I'm lazy -it's more that I don't like sweating. I don't like being hot. I don't like hurting. In my experience, all those things are involved with exercise.
Also, I am a creature of habit. It's about the laws of physics really. The law of inertia. Things in motion tend to stay in motion, things at rest tend to stay at rest. Well... I've been at rest for a good 5 years at least. That's the last time I was involved in any kind of regimented exercise routine.
If you've been following this blog you know that this time around I STARTED with exercise before the diet. It has worked well for me. In the past I wouldn't even really consider exercise until I had already lost 20 pounds or more. This time I've got exercise built in from the start. I'm about on my third month now of going to the gym across the street from my house and exercising. Currently I am weight training three times a week and working on the couch to 5k program two or three times a week.
Historically, this is how I feel about exercise. I know I need to do it. I know it's good for me, but the only exercise I truly want is that of my thumb clicking the "next page" button on my kindle as I read a good novel. It just takes a little whiff of anything MORE fun than exercise in the air for me to want to just drop the idea of working out like a hot potato.
It is not so much that I'm lazy -it's more that I don't like sweating. I don't like being hot. I don't like hurting. In my experience, all those things are involved with exercise.
Also, I am a creature of habit. It's about the laws of physics really. The law of inertia. Things in motion tend to stay in motion, things at rest tend to stay at rest. Well... I've been at rest for a good 5 years at least. That's the last time I was involved in any kind of regimented exercise routine.
If you've been following this blog you know that this time around I STARTED with exercise before the diet. It has worked well for me. In the past I wouldn't even really consider exercise until I had already lost 20 pounds or more. This time I've got exercise built in from the start. I'm about on my third month now of going to the gym across the street from my house and exercising. Currently I am weight training three times a week and working on the couch to 5k program two or three times a week.
Now, this goes against everything I thought was in my very nature. I'm starting to get a glimmer here heading into month three though, that maybe my nature is not as prone to rest as I first assumed. I've been getting this feeling a few minutes after doing my couch to 5k every day the last few weeks. It's a feeling of well being, of happiness. Even as I drip sweat into my workout towel and suck back on my water bottle. I mean, I feel great! My friends who run tell me this is called "runner's high". I have heard about this, and assumed it was something people got from inhaling the body odor of all the sweaty people around them at the gym, but no...evidently it is all about endorphins being released into your body! I am loving endorphins. Since I work out around 9 o'clock in the morning I get this great boost to my day. By 10, I already feel like I accomplished a lot!
Last time I worked out with the great and terrible Melissa I went into the workout feeling funky because of the pollen and just overtired from some lack of sleep the last few days. I came out of it dripping sweat and feeling BETTER than when I went in. Seems almost counter intuitive to kick my butt on a workout and come out feeling better, but I do.
This is one of those things that makes me go Hmmmm. I actually purposely don't exercise on the weekend. Monday this week I was feeling this urge to get to the gym, to do something physical. It was almost like my body... *gasp* missed exercise!
If you haven't started some exercise I encourage you to try to work whatever you can do in, whether that's a 10 minute walk or a full fledged zumba class (I don't DO classes myself, I like to be humiliated by my lack of grace and ill fitting work out gear in a less public setting, thank you very much). I started this journey out of desperation because I was having so much trouble controlling my eating, but I'm continuing because it makes me FEEL good, and I'm already seeing results after only these very few weeks. My hubby actually says my butt feels firmer. That's enough motivation to exercise for another month right there! I'm stronger too... last time I fell behind on laundry and had to take a few baskets to the laundromat to catch up I thought I was about to die from all the lifting and carrying. I did it again a few days ago for the first time since I started exercising and I didn't struggle at all with the baskets. I didn't even get winded, and it was really hot out! It was AMAZING. I felt like superwoman!
If you haven't started some exercise I encourage you to try to work whatever you can do in, whether that's a 10 minute walk or a full fledged zumba class (I don't DO classes myself, I like to be humiliated by my lack of grace and ill fitting work out gear in a less public setting, thank you very much). I started this journey out of desperation because I was having so much trouble controlling my eating, but I'm continuing because it makes me FEEL good, and I'm already seeing results after only these very few weeks. My hubby actually says my butt feels firmer. That's enough motivation to exercise for another month right there! I'm stronger too... last time I fell behind on laundry and had to take a few baskets to the laundromat to catch up I thought I was about to die from all the lifting and carrying. I did it again a few days ago for the first time since I started exercising and I didn't struggle at all with the baskets. I didn't even get winded, and it was really hot out! It was AMAZING. I felt like superwoman!
Now I am thinking all sorts of odd things... like.. am I going to become one of those exercise fanatics? surely not. Also, I started wondering... I've lost weight before, I've exercised some (though not the amount I am doing now!), but I've never done them TOGETHER. I wonder how my body will change this time with the toning, muscle building, and fat burning cardio going on at the same time as the calorie reduction and healthy eating? Will it make a big difference. I feel in my heart that it really will, and I am SO excited about it. I can't wait to see where this is going to take me. I have a vision of myself, healthier, stronger, more fit than I've ever been. I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me, so why not this? I have such an incredible amount of weight to lose (from my starting weight of 242 I need to lose at least 100 to be at what is considered an acceptable weight for my height) that it is very hard for me to look in the mirror and see that girl that might be there some day. I really have nothing to go on. I've been skinnier, but I've never been fit. What will MY best body look like? I don't know. It will be a delicious surprise to find out!! I like to think that I'm slowly slowly unwrapping a present of a thinner, fit me. I can only see a little at a time..... as I peel off the fat wrappings I catch a glimpse (oh, what's that, a curve at my waistline?) or feel a corner (oh, what's that, a rock hard calf muscle?) ... how many months will it be until I can see the me inside the wrappings? Not too many I hope.
Join me in some exercise today. It may not be against your nature after all...
