Exercise burnout

[Guest guest]

Tonite's WW meeting was about " yo-yo dieting " - but I had a real

revelation tonight about exercising...It occurred to me tonight that I

yo-yo exercise!!

If you read my post about how I trained so hard for the Avon 3 day walk,

then you'll know, I worked HARD. But then when the walk was done, I just

kind of quit working out and haven't done anything for 2 years! (Of

course, I can give you a million excuses why I don't work out now!)

But it never hit me until tonight that just like I have done in the past

with diets...threw myself into some restrictive diet, lost weight fast,

quit dieting.....then gained it all back....I do the SAME THING with

exercise...I hit it really hard for a time then quit completely.

This is just another example of " all or nothing " thinking (which I am

working on identifying and reducing!)

So, what I realized at the meeting is just what you are saying

Maureen...I'm going to start slow, find something I enjoy, and make it a

part of my life. No more bingeing on exercise. Easy does it!!

" Today I give myself permission to start slow, be kind to my body, and

focus on progress - not perfection "

:-)

in CO

Re: RE: Question of the day 6/23

Congratulations on walking that many miles! That is great!

I think that we all have to just find something that we really enjoy

doing (walking, jogging, running, swimming, aerobics, etc) and then

build on that slowly so we don't get burnt out on it. I go through

periods when I really love working out and can't wait to do it and then

other times when it is just ok, and still others when I hate it but do

it anyhow. I know that if you are having trouble with knees, etc you

should try something that isn't weight bearing to start and build from

there. Water aerobics is great if you are able to take a class at the

gym or Y.

Maureen

RE: Question of the day 6/23

Q: Do you make sure to fit exercise in as a health and weight loss

priority or do you fit it in when you can? What exercise do you do

(enjoy)?

A: I am working on making exercise a priority. Three years ago, I

spent

a year training to walk 60 miles over 3 days (the Avon Breast Cancer

3-day walk) That year I lost 50 lbs and looked F-I-N-E!! (If I do say

so

myself!)

I walked daily starting with 1/2 a mile a day (that's all I could do

when I started) and by the end of the year I was walking 5-7 miles

daily

and 16-18 mile walks on Saturdays and Sundays.

I completed the Avon walk (1st day 19 miles, 2nd day 22 miles, and the

3rd day -19 miles) It was the most amazing experience of my life. I

raised 3,000.00 to help in the fight against breast cancer, walked the

walk, and met the most incredible women.

But after the walk...well, I don't know what happened to me. My knees

started troubling me after the walk, so I couldn't exercise the way I

was used to (5 days in the gym a week weight training and walking 5

miles a day.)

That made me get depressed I guess (and other life events were

happening

at that same time that contributed to my downward spiral) and soon I

ended up on 2 anti-depressants and sleeping pills.

80 pounds later...here I am.

But I'm off the pills (thank God!!) and I'm making my way back to a

healthy life.

What exercise do I like? I don't know yet.

Obviously, I like to walk. :-) I used to love lifting weights, but

I'm

bummed out about my knees, so I don't even do the upper body stuff

anymore. (can't afford the gym now anyway)

I didn't like Curves that much because I'm not very peppy when I'm

exercising and just kind of want to be left alone. So the

" social-ness "

of Curves didn't appeal to me (no offense to Curves lovers!).

Is Tai Chi considered exercise? I always thought I might like to take

a

class and learn that. Yoga hurts my knees...heck, just about

everything

hurts my knees.

Right now I use my treadmill occassionally - I'm experimenting with

the

Weight Watchers video workouts, and walking when I think to do it. I

definately want to build exercise into my life on a more regular

basis,

but I'm not there yet.

in CO