Can You Really Enjoy Exercise?
Wednesday December 3, 2008
I get lots of emails from new exercisers who ask me, "Will this ever get any better?" When you start an exercise program or change your diet, it may seem like you're giving up so much - your time, your favorite foods and the life you've always known.
What you may not realize is that, if you stick with it, it really does get better. Moving your body and feeding it good food has a lasting effect, giving you more energy, more self-satisfaction and more confidence. The trick is not to give up when the going gets tough.
I talk about this in my article, Enjoying Exercise & Healthy Eating and I'm also curious about your experiences. Are you struggling to get past that rocky beginning? Or maybe you made it through a tough start and are now going strong. Either way, leave a comment and tell us what you think about enjoying healthy living. Is it really possible?
Comments
When I first started exercising I hated every minute of it. 90 lbs. lighter now, I love exercising. It gives me a high, seeing what my body can do now.My body is reshaping and I love the muscles. I feel in control. My couch potato family says I am obsessed with it. I love the way it makes me feel.
I have my up and down phases where I start off working out three or so days a week, then I slack off and forget for a while, then the cycle starts again. I like knowing that any steps I take while doing house work is considered exercise and I do try to walk when possible.
I work full-time, have a husband and two young children and I exercise 6 days a week for an hour each time. I love every minute of that time. It is what I do for me. I jog, walk, do yogo or strength training. I feel like it detoxifies me from the world’s junk. I will be around and able to run with my grandkids some day!
I love the high from cardio and now all the girls say I am Big and Strong, not Slack and Fat. What a ride ! PS Thanks for your good work. Your writing is very inspiring.
I am totally addicted to exercising, well I get annoyed if I do not get exercise.
Lately this is what is Happening. But I try my best to fit a walk or run during the day, but it does not beat a full body workout. I use to be stressed out and get stress related OCD. Once I hit the gym it goes away and I feel more confident, with that I was able to get a promotion!
Thanks Paige, and all of the other about.com sites
It totally changed my life.
We just sometimes have to give up something to suceed and I gave a lot to reach where I am and I don’t regret not eating that extra chocolate cake or even the sweets I get offered
When I first started back to the gym in 2007, it was difficult; especially with what seemed like almost constant soreness associated with “reawaking” my muscles and joints. Now, I really look forward to exersizing and I decide what will be sore tomorrow. When I can’t get my “workout fix”, my whole world seems sideways and I feel uncomfortably anxious.
Endorphins generated by moderate to strenuous exertion tickle certain brain receptors and reduce pain and produce euphoria. I’m addicted. I’ve been trying to keep fit for over fifty years and working out daily for twenty-five and I know that even if I’m down or sore and don’t want to lift anything more than a coffee cup, in twenty-five minutes, I’ll be getting the glow and earning the couple of beers I’ll be rehydrating with in the late afternoon. And like the preceding commenters, I too, enjoy and learn from your column. Thank you.
excercise has inspire me to push myself further than ever before. Looking back to when i was almost 100 lbs heavier keeps me going, because it is a beautiful thing to watch your body change. When you incorporate different diets, you can also see what kind of changes you get, and that also makes excercising interesting. Now I believe you have to squeeze the juice out of life!
I love every minute, even the minutes I’m cursing at the guy who thought up my program, I’m still loving it.
It’s a challenge every time I go to my basement to pick up those weighs and to see if I can break a new record (with proper form of course).
I also love my boxing bag. It’s a great feeling to be able to beat the crap out of it and know it’ll be there for me when I’m ready for another round.
I love to exercise..it makes me feel so incredible..a rush if you will…I tell my friends, it is my moments of zen. I have lost weight and so many inches since I took control in 2006..when I see the definition in my arms and legs, it truely is a wow moment. My sister says, why do you have to continue to workout, you have already lost your weight..she doesn’t get it.
I really do like to exercise. I wish I had more time available to workout. Of course this doesn’t just mean gym time. I wish I had more time to go on bike rides & stuff like that.
Of course, I hate running. It makes me feel good, but I hate every moment until it ends.
I now workout 7 days a week, and like all of the above commenters I love it. But I am still working off some weight, but have lost 30+ pounds this year, and now I look and feel great.
Yesterday a guy that I see at the gym pretty regularly asks me how much weight I’ve lost, which I’m sure he meant to be complimentary, and then went on to say that he is sure that it must be hard to keep going at it being a “bigger person”
I said to him, yeah it is. But when I went back to my bench all I could think about was how I should have told him is that I think its hard for everyone, fat, skinny, strong, weak, whatever, its hard to say no to cheesecake and an extra few minutes in bed for everyone, no matter. But then you remember how good it makes you feel and its all worth it! I think that applies to everyone!
I agree - it can be hard for everyone. No one has it easy all the time. Sometimes, my friends and family don’t understand, and think I’m crazy for working out and playing sports as much as I do. I love it. But, everyone has days they don’t feel like doing it; I think I had more of those days when I first started being active, though. Now, I have more days I’m psyched to be active.
I lift and hit the elyptical 4-5 days a week. Lifting isn’t bad, but I HATE the torture machine. Maybe it’s because I exercise 1st thing, and I’m not a morning person, but it is an extremely rare day when I don’t dread the experience. I do enjoy the results, but my wife and I are constantly questioning the sanity of those who claim to enjoy their workouts. From this forum I see WE are the odd ones.
I’ve changed my focus. It is not whether I am going to work-out but what work-out will I do? My new mind game is to find new routines—do cardio first then weights second, more time on step machine less time on other, sumo squats vs. regular squats, two sets at higher weight over three at lower weight. It works for me to challenge the brain as well as the muscle to relieve boredom and to eliminate avoidance.
I love exercising now that I have switched around my workouts to accommodate what I am currently enjoying the most rather than what I or some gurus think I should be doing since that seems to change more often than I can track. This tactic seems to have actually jump-started stalled weight loss while also benefiting me by not getting into a set pattern where there are minimal to no gains after a certain point.
I have been working out regularly since February 2006. It never gets easier! It is hard, and it is hard to keep motivation. Life is hard, nothing worh while is easy!!
I seem to be the only one disagreeing here. I used to run 3-9 non-competetive miles a day every day, spread out across morning, afternoon, and evening. I kept this up for three years when I finally had the epiphany that it made me completely miserable. It’s not like I ever enjoyed it persay, but I came to realize that the only days when I was actually capable of being happy was on the days where I didn’t exercise. So I stopped cold turkey.
My body is softer now, and my muscles are few, but I don’t regret the decision to quit running. Sometimes I look for other forms of exercise because it seems like I’m the only person I know who doesn’t get “high” from it. I’d run ten miles and when I’d finish I’d find myself feeling at best angry, at worst completely depressed till I fell asleep that night. So it seems, for those of us without the runners high genetics, exercise is something that is endured but not enjoyed.
I’m still hopeful that someday I will find some other sort of exercise that will allow me to feel the same way as everyone else when I work out, but since I’ve never met anyone else who gets the same way when exercising, I’m thinking it’s probably not particularly likely.
I have been jogging 3 times a week since 1972. After a seven mile jog today, I coined my latest maxim about running: “For every ‘wow that was a great run’, there are three, ‘wow that was tough!’” However, I am always glad that I am capable & able to get outdoors.