I don't like to write about exercise, but a few people have emailed asking what I'm doing for exercise these days now that I've gained weight back. To be honest, not much.
I'm a firm believer in the saying, "bodies are made in the kitchen". You can work out as much as you want, but if you aren't eating right, it won't matter. Personally, anytime I've wanted to lose weight, it's been about changing my eating habits, not my exercise habits.
I used to kill myself with exercise. I was constantly in pain. I wore compression socks 24/7 and it was even so bad that I had to bring a foam roller on vacations to get over walking around for a day. It was horrible. Over-exercising had such a negative effect on my life and it's hard for me to talk about. It ruined vacations because I was too sore to do anything fun and all I could think about was when I could get a workout in. I wasn't fun to be around and it obviously had an affect on the other person enjoying their vacation as well.
It took a long time to get over my extreme exercise habits. Even when I was trying to gain weight, I was still exercising like a fiend. I was an addict! I don't know what made it suddenly click, but one day I was putting in an exercise dvd and I just sat down and watched it. It was early, I was tired and I had just had it. I put my head in my hands and cried. I had just moved into my current apartment and my emotions from moving so many times, the realization that my relationship with my ex was actually, finally, really over and that my exercise and food habits had a huge part in the breakup just hit me all at once. I finally cried over everything I had gone through, then threw the dvd in the trash. I was done. I had conquered the food part of it and that morning I conquered the exercise part. I just stopped. I didn't work out for two months. I didn't gain weight and I didn't lose muscle tone. I stayed the exact same. In that time, my body recovered and I FINALLY wasn't sore all the time.
It was mid-summer at that point and I wanted to get out and meet people. I joined an online hiking group and started hiking once a week. For a while my once a week hikes were my only exercise. It's not hiking season anymore and I've been slowly increasing my workout sessions. I go for a long walk two mornings a week and do yoga or a Core Fusion dvd two other mornings. I don't work out consecutive days because I'm afraid of feeling like I'm in a routine again. I'm not ready for that at this point.
My pants were getting really tight last month from too much pizza and alcohol with friends so I stopped eating pizza and drinking alcohol for a few weeks and ate more vegetables. My pants went back to feeling comfortable. I don't believe any of these crazy, insane workouts really make that huge of a difference. Not for me anyway. I don't want the perfect body, I don't want to look like a bikini model. My goal is to be able to walk around the city on a Saturday afternoon without having to stop because my legs are sore from working out like an idiot all week. It's fine if others get into high impact workouts and I know a lot of people really enjoy tough workouts. They're just not for me and I don't think they're necessary for weight maintenance or good health. To each they're own.
To recap: I'm a recovered exercise addict. They should have a rehab for these things because there are days I could use a meeting.
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22 comments:
i'm going through the same thing...I was exercising 6x a week (which is normal I know) but my hunger was through the roof which made my binging worse...so i've cut back lately and see where my hunger takes me...plus I enjoy just WALKING and enjoying myself vs staring at a clock at the gym. great honesty in this post melissa.
Thanks for this post. Hoping to write my own some day in the future...first, I need to find one of those meetings. I could use one about 50 times a day.
Great post. I know exactly what you mean about being sore all the time, but for me it was being achy all the time. I actually forgot what it felt like to NOT be achy. Now I work out fewer days a week (but I still LOVE my workout and the classes I take -- I just take them less often) and my muscles (and brain) feel so much better.
Hugs. I've never really been an exercise addict, but if I miss a few runs I get really down on myself and want nothing to do with it. I skip more, end up depressed about that and it becomes a vicious cycle. I was also thinking about joining a hiking group in the spring! Did you like it?
I am with you, and would be happy to listen to you vent if you ever need to. I have to be super careful with any exercise I do because I quickly become all or nothing. In the olden days, my equation was basically that I didn't deserve to eat/sleep/have fun unless I worked out until I was sore. That included running on injuries, in dangerous heat, etc. I am glad those days are over, but I definitely have to keep an eye on myself still.
I'm so glad you were able to get through that. It seems like you're in a much better place!
Thanks for sharing. It is definitely a slippery slope between exercising for mental and physical wellbeing and becoming compulsive. I don't work out to the extent of soreness but do definitely feel guilty if I skip lots of days... something to think about for sure.
This was a great post. Its so easy to make exercising a negative thing. The minute it stops being a positive for your body and mind is the minute we need to reassess why we are doing what we are doing and how we can change it. You're quite a strong lady.
I really love that you talk about this. Sometimes I have to really take a step back and focus more on my eating habits instead of being like "oh I can just run an extra mile or two tomorrow". It's way easier to just not eat that piece of pizza that will make my already full stomach explode...
YOU are the one that actually turned me on to core fusion DVDs and I am forever grateful. At first I hated them because they were "too slow" and I felt like if my heart wasn't pumping, it was a waste of my time. Now that I've learned to appreciate exercise I find myself loving CF so much more. It's relaxing..makes me feel stronger...and forces me really focus my intention inward. I can't imagine myself ever running.. again. And I don't want to.
I'm really appreciate you wrote this. I severely struggled with this a few years back, and even today find myself wanting to slip back into those old practices. I wrote a post today about trying to balance half marathon training and yoga teacher training. As much as I want to be able to maintain both, I'm trying to be realistic to the amount of hours in a day and make a healthy choice for me now. Seriously, thanks for keeping it real up in here.
this definitely gives everyone a lot to think about. I agree with a lot of your points. I hate to work out!!!
what an honest and well written post, melissa :) I am so happy that you have reached a happy medium with both exercise and nutrition. It is so hard to find that balance sometimes, and I have dealt with some people on both ends of the spectrum from over training to under eating etc. I really love your writing and your life experiences because I am SURE so many people can relate to you. You're the real deal and I admire that. Aaron told me he emailed you the program so hopefully you received it and like it!
I appreciate that you're so honest about this, but I disagree that exercise is not necessary to maintain weight loss.
It's definitely necessary for me. You're right that I could maintain my weight loss by focusing simply on eating and food. I'd have to restrict a lot more to maintain my 60 pound weight loss. I'd rather workout 5-6 times a week than be super restrictive about eating and count every calorie (or point, since I did Weight Watchers) to make sure I don't gain.
There might be another strike against people who have lost a lot and are trying to maintain it. Our bodies fight the weight loss. I might be burning less calories for the same activity as another woman my height and size who did not lose a significant amount of weight. (see the NTY Magazine's The Fat Trap).
I understand that some people can become addicted or obsessed with exercise just as I understand that some drinkers will develop a dependency on alcohol. If you need a meeting, just remember "one day at a time." (I grew up with lots of AA lit as my father is a recovering alcoholic. He's still sober.)
@cindylu: Like I said, to each their own. Everyone is different and everyone's body reacts to workouts differently. I can only speak for my own body and from my own experience. Thanks for sharing yours!
Good for you Melissa! It sounds like you are in a place where you are able to consciously act against the things you know trigger your addiction (i.e. "routine"). I think this shows incredible self-awareness and interpersonal strength.
I don't know what factors your fibro (I think I remember you mentioning this?) has played in your exercise. I know for me, certain exercises (most exercises) hurt and I cannot do them without feeling like crap. However, I credit physical therapy and those specific exercises to restoring my functionality closer to where it was prior to developing chronic pain. Just curious if you'd ever felt a need to balance your exercising in regards to you pain?
I'm sort of sorting out the same thing right now, but I'm in a much earlier stage (and not sure I want to move beyond it). I still enjoy my "addiction", for the time being at least.
I totally agree with the "bodies are made in the kitchen" thing, and I wonder where the misconception about the effect of exercise on weight-loss comes from. I generally have to cut DOWN my exercise if I want to lose weight.
And yet 95% of the people I talk with (mostly those who don't work out) seem to assume that exercise is THE path to weight loss, and that if you exercise you can eat whatever you want. I don't even bother to explain it anymore.
(These days my own exercise - or "overexercise" - is motivated by its antidepressant qualities. Through (extensive) trial and error I've found this to be the most reliable solution. And I do enjoy it too. If it wasn't for these two factors I probably wouldn't bother).
For me, exercise is about toning and feeling better. I know that the only way I lose weight and maintain it is by eating the appropriate amount of food and making good choices about what I eat.
I wouldn't say I'm an addict, but there are definitely days when I beat myself up over missing a workout when I really need to just calm the f down and enjoy a rest day. I really appreciate your honesty about it though, I think a lot of people have similar issues and don't realize it.
Amen, girl! The most important thing you said is that it works for you. We need to do what works for us. I know for me, nutrition and diet has to do with 90% of that. Exercise is just a feel-good endorphin boost bonus.
I think this is so perfectly written and so completely true. I see trainers talk about working out with clients and not once talk about the details of the importance of diet. It's a simple equation of equal in and equal out. If you want to eat the pizza then you need to step up the workout, if not than no worries (not that you have to worry over pizza, but you know what I mean). I am an exercise addict, but I do it to be stronger. With my past health issues, I strive to be stronger. I did have a time when I worked out too much, but that was more of a control thing than actually working out. I stopped and re-evaluated myself. Then I came back to it, but for enjoyment and health, not as my OCD. Love this post Melissa!
I love this.
I've been all over the spectrum with exercise addiction. I have such an unhealthy metabolism due to various auto-immune disorder stuffs, so I really do need it more than most people. I gain when I don't exercise, I lose when I do...but it's always a slippery slope.
What time is that meeting?
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