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 My goal This year around exercise is to move consistantly so I have set the intention to move every other day for at least 30 min. I have found that if I do more than 30min. I usually hurt and then don't want to do it for a couple of days. If I do more than 1 day at a time I get burned out and/or I hurt. It is a balance for me between getting exercise in at all vs. Not over doing it. 30 min. Every other day is doable to me and feels good. What it consists of is Where the intuition comes in, sometimes it might be the treadmill, the bike, elliptical or a zumba class or the wii or a walk on a nice day. Hope this helps. When I am compulsive with my exercise it usually relates to underlying feelings of being incapable and not good enough and I have to deal with those feelings and baby myself. Alana Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone --- Original Message --- From: edenhinshaw@... Sent: January 10, 2012 1/10/12 To: IntuitiveEating_Support Subject: Exercise  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 , 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...
Guest guest Posted January 11, 2012 Report Share Posted January 11, 2012 I bet you have made a baby step away from that type of thinking by just having brought it to your awareness ;-) I do hope that when you do walk, just for the pleasure of movement, you smile and think of how WRONG those 'experts' are :-) ehugs, Katcha IEing since March 2007 >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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 11, 2012 Report Share Posted January 11, 2012 I bet you have made a baby step away from that type of thinking by just having brought it to your awareness ;-) I do hope that when you do walk, just for the pleasure of movement, you smile and think of how WRONG those 'experts' are :-) ehugs, Katcha IEing since March 2007 >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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 11, 2012 Report Share Posted January 11, 2012 I'm totally with you here, Sandy. Being present is what life is all about. That and balance...I'm working on both. " Progress, not perfection... " > When I walk I try to notice nature because that's what > gives me pleasure and joy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 11, 2012 Report Share Posted January 11, 2012 And that's what IE eating is all about too isn't it? Being present and finding balance. Easy to say but not so easy to do. Like you said progress, not perfection. Sandy I'm totally with you here, Sandy. Being present is what life is all about. That and balance...I'm working on both. " Progress, not perfection... " > When I walk I try to notice nature because that's what > gives me pleasure and joy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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