Guest guest Posted January 10, 2012 Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 I was wondering how you all deal with the issue of exercise. As a chronic dieter, I had activity quotas and felt guilty when I fell short of them. Since starting IE in November, I let myself " exercise when I feel like it " and found that this is far less than I would like. How do I push myself without being pushy or guilting? This is one of the hardest things for me, as my Food Police were Exercise Police and are still very loud. thanks for your thoughts! Eden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 10, 2012 Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 I wonder if you are still thinking that exercise has to be HARD to count. Many years ago when I started exercising regularly,my sister in law said the best thing in the world to me, that has kept me going for over ten years. (I apologize for saying this again, for the folks who've already heard me say this). But she said that it's better to go slow than to not go at all. Every single time I go to the pool to swim laps, I tell myself that I can go as slowly as I want. I most often don't, but just the fact that I am " allowed " to is enormously helpful to me. I have found that I get really cranky when I don't exercise, and tht it always makes me feel good, and I sleep so much better, but if it's too hard, like the couple of times I tried to do a spinning class here at school, that I didn't want to do it anymore. But the feeling good when I do it, and cranky when I don't is enough motivation for me. But then I really have been pretty active most of my life, and exercise never figured into any kind of diet police mentality (a quick look at calories expenditures told me that I would never be able to exercise off what I ate, so I never bothered to try). But I have also been excising less since starting IE, though I think that has more to do with injuring my heel than anything else. Tilley > > I was wondering how you all deal with the issue of exercise. As a chronic dieter, I had activity quotas and felt guilty when I fell short of them. Since starting IE in November, I let myself " exercise when I feel like it " and found that this is far less than I would like. How do I push myself without being pushy or guilting? This is one of the hardest things for me, as my Food Police were Exercise Police and are still very loud. thanks for your thoughts! > Eden > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 10, 2012 Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 I wonder if you are still thinking that exercise has to be HARD to count. Many years ago when I started exercising regularly,my sister in law said the best thing in the world to me, that has kept me going for over ten years. (I apologize for saying this again, for the folks who've already heard me say this). But she said that it's better to go slow than to not go at all. Every single time I go to the pool to swim laps, I tell myself that I can go as slowly as I want. I most often don't, but just the fact that I am " allowed " to is enormously helpful to me. I have found that I get really cranky when I don't exercise, and tht it always makes me feel good, and I sleep so much better, but if it's too hard, like the couple of times I tried to do a spinning class here at school, that I didn't want to do it anymore. But the feeling good when I do it, and cranky when I don't is enough motivation for me. But then I really have been pretty active most of my life, and exercise never figured into any kind of diet police mentality (a quick look at calories expenditures told me that I would never be able to exercise off what I ate, so I never bothered to try). But I have also been excising less since starting IE, though I think that has more to do with injuring my heel than anything else. Tilley > > I was wondering how you all deal with the issue of exercise. As a chronic dieter, I had activity quotas and felt guilty when I fell short of them. Since starting IE in November, I let myself " exercise when I feel like it " and found that this is far less than I would like. How do I push myself without being pushy or guilting? This is one of the hardest things for me, as my Food Police were Exercise Police and are still very loud. thanks for your thoughts! > Eden > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 10, 2012 Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 I wonder if you are still thinking that exercise has to be HARD to count. Many years ago when I started exercising regularly,my sister in law said the best thing in the world to me, that has kept me going for over ten years. (I apologize for saying this again, for the folks who've already heard me say this). But she said that it's better to go slow than to not go at all. Every single time I go to the pool to swim laps, I tell myself that I can go as slowly as I want. I most often don't, but just the fact that I am " allowed " to is enormously helpful to me. I have found that I get really cranky when I don't exercise, and tht it always makes me feel good, and I sleep so much better, but if it's too hard, like the couple of times I tried to do a spinning class here at school, that I didn't want to do it anymore. But the feeling good when I do it, and cranky when I don't is enough motivation for me. But then I really have been pretty active most of my life, and exercise never figured into any kind of diet police mentality (a quick look at calories expenditures told me that I would never be able to exercise off what I ate, so I never bothered to try). But I have also been excising less since starting IE, though I think that has more to do with injuring my heel than anything else. Tilley > > I was wondering how you all deal with the issue of exercise. As a chronic dieter, I had activity quotas and felt guilty when I fell short of them. Since starting IE in November, I let myself " exercise when I feel like it " and found that this is far less than I would like. How do I push myself without being pushy or guilting? This is one of the hardest things for me, as my Food Police were Exercise Police and are still very loud. thanks for your thoughts! > Eden > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 11, 2012 Report Share Posted January 11, 2012 Thanks Tilley! I may be feeling like a have to have a " session " of fat burning rather than an enjoyable time of moving my body. i have been surfing posts and reading about everyone's approach to exercise and the best advice seems to be to make it intuitive as well, which embodies your sis-in-law's advice. Perhaps if I release the need to exercise to offset my increased eating I can learn to do it for reasons that I enjoy. I know that I am still holding on to my dieting mentality and need to be kinder and gentler to myself. > > > > I was wondering how you all deal with the issue of exercise. As a chronic dieter, I had activity quotas and felt guilty when I fell short of them. Since starting IE in November, I let myself " exercise when I feel like it " and found that this is far less than I would like. How do I push myself without being pushy or guilting? This is one of the hardest things for me, as my Food Police were Exercise Police and are still very loud. thanks for your thoughts! > > Eden > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 11, 2012 Report Share Posted January 11, 2012 Tilley, I like that a lot. I have been struggling with the idea of exercise for a while now. I have been told so many times that if it's not very difficult or if you are not ready to drop at the end you are not really doing anything and shouldn't bother. I have even been told (by a trainer no less) to not bother walking because it was not exercise and would do nothing beneficial for me. I know that these statements are dead WRONG, but I can't pull myself away from this thinking yet. Mimi Subject: Re: ExerciseTo: IntuitiveEating_Support Date: Tuesday, January 10, 2012, 10:36 AM I wonder if you are still thinking that exercise has to be HARD to count. Many years ago when I started exercising regularly,my sister in law said the best thing in the world to me, that has kept me going for over ten years. (I apologize for saying this again, for the folks who've already heard me say this). But she said that it's better to go slow than to not go at all. Every single time I go to the pool to swim laps, I tell myself that I can go as slowly as I want. I most often don't, but just the fact that I am "allowed" to is enormously helpful to me.I have found that I get really cranky when I don't exercise, and tht it always makes me feel good, and I sleep so much better, but if it's too hard, like the couple of times I tried to do a spinning class here at school, that I didn't want to do it anymore. But the feeling good when I do it, and cranky when I don't is enough motivation for me. But then I really have been pretty active most of my life, and exercise never figured into any kind of diet police mentality (a quick look at calories expenditures told me that I would never be able to exercise off what I ate, so I never bothered to try).But I have also been excising less since starting IE, though I think that has more to do with injuring my heel than anything else.Tilley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 11, 2012 Report Share Posted January 11, 2012 What a good reminder of incorporating " exercise " into daily life, like dancing around the kitchen and even singing a little song maybe. Sandy , Reading your post reminded me how much fun I used to have doing the same thing, dancing around while doing my household chores. I always felt better mentally, as well as physically. I don't know why I got out of the habit of it, but thank you for the reminder! Ann To: " IntuitiveEating_Support " <IntuitiveEating_Support > Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 9:10 PM Subject: Re: Exercise I didn't realize exercise was such an issue for me until I read that if I exercise compulsively with the secret intent of offsetting a binge, the exercise is actually considered a form of purging. This hit me right between the eyes! I realized that when I felt annoyance toward someone/something interferring with my exercise time, it had very little to do with a " committment to good health " --much more to do with a committment to a small mountain of sweets! (I had a rather severe sugar addiction going.) After reading how exercise should be viewed thru IE eyes, I knew I needed to throw my " plan " (cardio these days, weight lifting these days, etc. etc.) completely out the window and try a paradigm shift. At first I was afraid I wouldn't want to exercise at all--it had become such an absolute CHORE and suddenly I was giving myself permission to only do it when I WANTED to, knowing at the same time that I had no piles of sweets to offset. To my surprise, I found myself looking for every opportunity I could find to just take a brief walk--walking suddenly felt good! I more joy in taking a few deep breaths of fresh air while walking briskly than I ever had in food. Then I discovered the utter joy of zumba! (Shocking consider my utter lack of dance skills!) Then I discovered my toddler quite enjoys doing Wii Fit with his mommy, and that his baby brother enjoys watching us both. Without making a hard-core " plan " , I'd managed to find 3 avenues of exercise that I actually ENJOYED doing and looked foward to! Was this possible?! Then things got to a whole new level thanks to a sound bite from the Tesh Radio Show. He talked about how study after study is revealing how many calories people burn when they fidget--and something clicked. There may be numerous life phases which make carving 30 min out of my day for a workout near IMPOSSIBLE (reference above-mentioned munchkins), but there's no reason I can't move throughout my day. I started experimenting with doing simple step touches while doing tasks which don't require precision...drying my hair, sauteeing meat, bathing the baby, washing dishes, etc. After about a week of consciously doing this, I realized my body was starting to do it automatically. Then I realized my weight loss had picked up speed in response. But it gets better...I soon realized I wasn't just moving anymore--I was DANCING! My simplistic little step-touches were morphing into a salsa, a samba, the charleston, and several fun little variations I made up along the way. Did you catch the key word there? FUN! Even in moments of extreme stress, I'll turn up the music and feel my body catch a rhythm as I go about my daily tasks. I no longer stress about whether I " worked out " on a particular day--b/c I know that I moved and experienced joy in it! Oh and yesterday was the absolute icing on the cake (pardon the pun)...on my way home from work, I realized I was craving something--not an iced coffee, not a taco, not a cheeseburger--but EXERCISE! I came home and danced along with the Wii and the toddler, thoroughly enjoying the experience and thinking to myself " How was exercise EVER a chore? This feels GREAT! " IE has truly changed my life and my perspective in everything from food to exercise. I am SO thankful not to have jumped on a diet bandwagon again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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