more thoughts on exercise

[Guest guest]

Where I'm at right now is really reframing exercise at the same time

that I'm desperately trying to reframe food. I think it is vital

for me to do both.

I'm not even sure which I place more emphasis on. Like Xanadu once

said, I tend to spend a lot of time 'doing and undoing'. Food and

exercise are so intrinsically related in my mind that one is always

compensating for the other. So last week I put parameters on my

exercise- something I have done before and benefitted greatly from.

Now, it's a daily battle to eat according to my hunger and bodily

desires w/o considering first - was my workout hard enough. Mainly,

b/c my parameters are set so that nothing is going to be

excruciating - and I got rid of all my measuring tools. I had been

given a GPS system that calculated calories burned, miles run etc.

Now, I'm choosing activities that I don't know the calorie burn for

and I'm doing my exercise based on a time limit and doing the

activity I feel like that day instead of operating on a week long or

month long plan, preparing for a race or running a certain number of

miles.

a couple other things I've determined for my own health:

1. I am NOT a runner (calling myself that causes me to feel like I

HAVE to run or HAVE to prove something)

2. I will not explain or justify my hunger or lack there of based

on activity

I read this old post somewhere in NE and I really needed it. Right

now I'm learning so much just from reading what others have gone

through and 'proven to themselves' and using it as a starting place

for myself. Just knowing that 'someone has done it.

" And separate eating from activity. Although we have had it drummed

into our heads that activity ( " exercise " ) burns calories, I think

it's best to keep them separate. Eat when you are hungry,

regardless of your level of activity. Your body will let you know.

Sometimes after a 10-mile run I am not at all hungry. Often the

next day, or later that evening, I'll get hungry. Your hunger has a

lot of different sources, and " exercise " (GOD how I hate that word)

is only one of them. Hormones, work, weather, what you've eaten the

past few days, etc. can all determine how hungry you are. "

Adding on to this discussion from way back in May...

I find that even at Stage 4, I'm somewhat troubled by the belief

that my current level of exercise is all that's keeping me thin.

More to the point: Any diversion from my current level (say, being

sick with the flu, missing a day, having to walk outside instead of

at the gym) creates anxiety that I will put on weight almost

instantly. This is not surprising; I've thought about exercise in

these rigid terms my whole adult life.

Now, I am really eager to address this head-on; it's a vestige of

all our culture's sicknesses about food and weight that I soaked in

during my eating disorder. Any suggestions?