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I HATE exercising! What Should I do?!



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I am so happy to have found this thread. I have been exercising since pre-op (over a year now). I remember people telling me that I will start to love doing it. And they were wrong! I still hate it.

But it does make me feel better. So I carry on...

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I wasn't crazy about the idea of "exercise" either, I didn't like sweating, hurting, or feeling exhausted from the effort it would take. So, I only did a couple of things that I felt comfortable with. Walking and a swim fitness class, both 2 -3 x a week. I loved the fresh air and feeling of accomplishment of a good walk, and then on other days the warm Water and the hot tub afterwards. Both were a huge factor in my weight loss success. Later I tried other things as lost weight, but only as long as my body was ok with it. For a time, I ran, now its Pilates, swim class, walking , and golf. So start off on some things easy, and see where you go !! Good luck !

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I too am not a exerciser. my doctor who is aware that I have many ortho problems told me it wasn't necessary to lose the wt. but he would like me to be active during the day. so I walk my 2 acres sometimes a couple of times even 4 times once when I had a stuck issue. lol and I do housework, cooking, gardening just about anything to keep on my feet and be active. I just dusted off my treadmill and have been just doing a quarter of a mile a couple times a day. anymore and my knees are grinding. as soon as I get to below 200 lbs I will be having a knee replacement on one side and the other a bit later. I hope this helps in my walking therapy.

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It is important to get a fair amount of physical activity daily. Physical activity is a combination of exercise and physical labor. I am not big on exercise. To me it is more like wasted effort. I drive for a half an hour to go to the YMCA to swim for 30 minutes and then spend another half an hour driving back home. But I am big on manual labor. So I consider work, manual labor, as a good alternative to exercise. Last year I moved by hand over 100,000 pounds of gravel and 50,000 pounds of concrete blocks. This year I did about the same. I am 28 months post-op RNY and am 66 years old. The surgery restored my stamina (ability to perform physical labor) so I can do what I did when I was a 30 year old.

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.

Edited by caligul

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Thank you for all the responses and ideas!

My husband and I went on a hike on trails through the woods yesterday. I really enjoyed that! There are few trails like that, so for now we'll stick to that one until we find other trails.

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Great job @Sunshine3073. I love my walks/hikes with my husband - it's a great time to reconnect. We also have times where we don't say anything at all, we just walk.

Keep up the great work!

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I hate exercise. And as an awkward white girl with ZERO rhythm or coordination, I don't want to join any aerobic/dance groups at a gym. So I found "fat girl zumba" videos and different 10 minute dance workouts I can do in the privacy of my own home where only my dogs judge me. They get me sweating, and they don't kill me. If it gets boring, I can switch to another video/style.

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I'm completely with you! I hate exercise too. Plain and simple. My beautiful and smart daughter told me something though that has stuck in my head since surgery... she said "dieting makes you look good with your clothes on, exercise makes you look good with your clothes off." And unfortunately, she is right. It is the exercise that does the toning and firming. What I discovered is that I like yoga, I enjoy walking my dogs, I like dancing around my living room with my grand kids to old Michael Jackson music, and I really like hiking to beautiful places in nature. Those things don't seem so much like exercise to me. Not like mindlessly clicking off minutes on an elliptical trainer or treadmill while staring at a wall. So I can do those without hating them and I find that I've made them part of my life. Also, to tone up, I set my weight bar next to the back door and every time I take the dogs out, I do a few weight moves while they potty. I simply can't tolerate a long weight workout routine. haha! Seems to be working. :)

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I have never been a big exercise fan, although I used to do some run/ walking before my knees started to give me trouble. The funny thing is, the more weight I lose, the easier it is, and the more motivated I've become. I am fortunate to live in the southwest and we have a pool, so I began to do Water aerobics ( I have my own routine from some classes I took) and pretty soon, I started to feel so much better, it wasn't such a big deal. It has helped me get leaner, faster. Since muscle is necessary to efficiently burn fat, you'll do great if you just do strength training combined with some walking.

Just bought a total gym, since it's fall and soon will be too cool to swim. I'm going to begin to use it next week to make the transition easier. If I listen to music or audiobook, I'm counting on that distracting me enough to get a 30 minute workout.

Find some activity you love, because anything you'll actually do is better than " making yourself" exercise????????????????

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You have to sort of "get over" not liking it. I used to hate it years and years ago. You have to find what you love to do. I found biking and cycling.. crossfit.. hiking.. kayaking.. there are SO many ways to get in some movement and cardio.. what is it that you don't like?

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@@Sunshine3073 I'm with you on this. I hate exercise and I keep telling myself I need to start yet I can't get motivated to do it.

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I've never been a gym rat but now that I'm down 40 pounds since my surgery, I'm feeling more confident about working out...and the trick for me was I found something I LOVE. I do a circuit training kickboxing workout twice a week that I sincerely look forward to. The other days, I hop on my treadmill or my elliptical for 45 minutes to an hour and watch something on tV at the same time. Do I love that?? Not so much...but I can do it without pain and I feel amazing afterwards.

Find something you love. Do some research - try different things - our Community Education offers a ton of recreation for kids and adults...that's an inexpensive way to try out some activities.

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I'm in the same boat. I HATE exercise! I'm also not an "outdoors" person. I will walk my dog. I have a gym membership that I will use after surgery (Sept 16th) when the doc ok's it.

My biggest problem is I am a quilter. I can get involved and not move from my quilt machine for 2-3 hours. I am going to HAVE to set an alarm to tell me to get up and move.

Weather wise, I'm glad my surgery is when it is, and by the time I get the ok for exercise, it will have cooled down. I cannot stand the heat. I'm in southern Arizona, and it gets HOT here.

Just walking is good.

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I find that making an appt w/ someone I want to see and walking with them and catching up works lots of times. This Especially works well if we meet at the gym

If it is at our houses in the afternoon....

Uh. ...sometimes it's just a cocktail and no walk????

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
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    • KimBaxleyWilson

      Three months and four days ago... I was in Costa Rica having a life changing surgery! Yesterday we had a followup visit with Dr. Esmeral via video chat and this morning my middle number changed.  I'm down 47lbs and two pants sizes. I can wear a Large tshirt for the first time in like... 14 years! Woot!! Everything is going great. I have zero regrets. I went down to the riverwalk with a friend and walked 2 miles on Monday without even getting fatigued. And no more snoring or chugging pickle juice for crazy leg cramps! I need to go to the gym more... I'm making new shirts next week so that will motivate me. LOL But I'm also just not as TIRED all the time! I have a LONG way to go...but seeing the progress on the scales and in the mirror is a huge motivator!! Thank you all for cheering me on and supporting me!!
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    • bellaamey

      https://alluniqueguide.com/java-burn-coffee-reviews/
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