One day, you will not long quite so much to fit into those cool, skinny jeans. You will be happy about having improved your eating (more whole foods, less junk food) and increased your physical activity but you will also find it easier to accept who you are, including your lumps and bumps.
And maybe, just maybe, you will exercise because you know it makes you feel good and it's good for your overall health, not just because you've burned x calories in x minutes...Because, honestly, success is not just measured in calories burned and good health is not just measured in pounds lost.
I'm off to breathe now.
Bad and Getting Worse
1 day ago
"Hammer, meet Nail!"
ReplyDeleteYou are spot-on yet once again!
....Keep breathing!
I exercise to keep my cholesterol and blood pressure down, to keep my heart healthy, and to keep my serotonin levels up. Of yes and as a side effect I may actually lose some weight!!
ReplyDeleteSomewhat for weight, somewhat to keep myself sane. It seems to keep depression from overwhelming me, and I crave it, and the way it makes me feel. I seem to come from nervous, high energy people, everyone in my family appears to be "addicted to exercise". Heart disease and diabetes are also popular in my family, and those who don't exercise and mind their diets seem to come down with it.
ReplyDeleteI also don't sleep well without it, but that's possibly because my body's so used to it. Most of all, I think if I want to be a limber old lady who can still pull myself up from the toilet, I'd better keep my body working. Plus, I enjoy the discretionary extra few hundred calories I can eat, if I feel like doing so.
Well I really don't.
ReplyDeleteI play volleyball weekly in spring/summer because I absolutely love it. If I had more $ I'd join more leagues.
But besides vball, I don't do anything else. I need to find something else I love that's free and that I can do in winter.
Cindy in CO
Great post. Exercising isn't about losing calories or shedding the pounds...it's about gaining energy and increasing confidence.
ReplyDeleteI currently think about exercise as : I need to do it for the sake of my body. I have a sedentary job in IT, I must move my body for its health. My back aches or shoulders ache when I don't move them, so that's my rationale!
ReplyDeleteI exercise to find "me". As corny as that sounds, I have truly found myself through running.
ReplyDeleteAerobic exercise is my antidepressant of choice... Hard as hell to fit into my schedule on a lot of days, but even if I only manage to squeeze in 20 min on elliptical, it does my mental attitude [if nothing else] a world of good!
ReplyDelete