No, not leaving the Keys. I’m talking about my increased movement. I’m not walking marathons, but on a daily basis, I can see how much more willing I am to walk at all. Even short distances had become an effort months ago but already my body has changed enough that I can do more.
Even though I’ve mentioned it all before, it’s worth repeating. Besides seeing the weight loss in the mirror and in my clothes, feeling it in my body with the increased mobility is a self-reinforcing boost. It builds on itself because the more that I move, the more I feel the changes, the more I want to move.
The more I move, the better I feel each time. I need to focus on this and build up more consistency. I can still lapse into mental laziness, meaning that my mind tells me I’m too tired after work so I just want to sit down and rest for a minute. I need to call bullshit on myself. 😀
So, goals for this week are to walk or swimercize more days. We also had a break from Tai Chi, but I’ll return to that on Wednesday and Saturday.
What do you do to motivate yourself to exercise more frequently? How well does it work?
Weighty Matters 
I do better if I do things BEFORE I sit down after work. If I come home and do it, it’s fine. If I sit down and get distracted and reading and…oh, the evening is gone and it isn’t happening! 🙂
I leave for work too early (between 4:30 & 5 a.m., no I’m not getting up earlier!) to exercise before work, so the “right after work” is my best time.
Oh! And it’s also helpful to have a small, healthy snack on the way home from work (I have a 45 minute drive) so that I am not starving or cranky when I get home and feel good about exercising.
I moved my exercycle into my bedroom and put in a small flat screen TV that swivels. I’ve always resisted TV in the bedroom, but heck I’m enjoying it. I even did the ironing in there yesterday. : 0
For me, it’s Curves three times a week, ride the bike and do abs and weights at home two times a week, on the other two days it’s a two mile walk around the lake. Every day I exercise in some way. I know I could do more, like swimming, which I enjoy, but this year I’m staying out of the harsh sun and for some reason by the time I think of a swim the temps are already hitting triple digits.
I’m finding that I look forward to exercise more, now that it is so much easier to move and I’m seeing such good benefits. I still have days where I’m feeling lazy, but yesterday I got through the day at work in part by anticipating a walk on one of the local greenways. And I even got frustrated with my beloved last night … we walked 3 miles, but I wanted to go for 4 or 5 miles; unfortunately, he wore the wrong shoes and no socks. Grin. I have walked 3 miles in one sitting, twice this week. 3 miles is a 5K. I think back to when I started and realized that a 5K used to be a huge deal; now it’s something I can do pretty easily. I push my pace and work up a bit of a sweat and get my breathing & heart rate up, but realizing that I could easily go at least another mile or two at that pace really makes my heart sing.
Ditto with my swimming … I’m up to over a half a mile on any given session, and the only reason I didn’t keep swimming on Wednesday night was because it was getting a little late and my beloved had finished his work out.
I’m growing less resentful of the time exercise takes away from my more sedentary pursuits, and actively pursuing more types of exercise – tomorrow we are taking a kayaking lesson! I even find myself, at odd moments, thinking about jobs that directly involve exercise. Or being able to work part time so I would have more unfettered time to really get into some of the exercise I’d like to do.
My goal is to manage at least 4 exercise sessions each week, and last night I made that goal. Tonight we are taking off to do other things, although I might sneak in some weight work at the house; then tomorrow it’s kayaking and perhaps another walk on the greenway, or gardening, on Sunday, which means I will exceed my exercise goal. And I’ll do it happily, instead of as a chore.
That’s one of the coolest things, that exercise is becoming more something that I enjoy and less of a chore that is a necessary evil.
I do think, though, that variety and experimentation is a key, at least so far. Sometimes I like walking/running on the track at the gym, but sometimes not, because there’s nothing new to see. Sometimes I like the options of working on the machines (stair stepper, elliptical, etc). I can walk around the neighborhood, on the greenways, or on the sidewalks around my work. I like swimming in the pool, but there’s also horseback riding as an option; hopefully I’ll enjoy kayaking and THAT will become an option. I’d like to do some hiking, and maybe some rock wall climbing. There are exercise DVDs, the Wii, a yoga studio nearby.
It’s amazing what variety of options exist, and how I’m becoming more and more open to finding ways to work them into my schedule.