Comments on Cranky Fitness: Time to access my inner babysitter

Constantly learning how exercise can help change y...

2008-10-07T08:21:00.000-04:00

Constantly learning how exercise can help change your body and help you 'balance' out your life is a great motivator. Take some courses, read some books, make fitness something that you incorporate into all aspects of your life! i.e. exercise nutritional options, exercise your brain by challenging yourself at work (rather than performing the same old monotony day in and day out), and of course exercise your right to vote and be up to date on the issues in the world (there are a TON right now!) ...p.s. dont forget to exercise your biceps and quads too ;)

Hmmmn... I kinda like that idea. Make exercise so ...

2008-10-04T17:01:00.000-04:00

Hmmmn... I kinda like that idea. Make exercise so automatic that the inner child comes to accept it as a matter of course.

I work out five or six days a week and I thoroughl...

2008-10-04T15:32:00.000-04:00

I work out five or six days a week and I thoroughly enjoy it. I'm not one of those naturally athletic people. My secrets are as follows:

1. I used to aim to work out 3 or 4 days a week and it was always a struggle -- I always argued with myself over whether or not today was a work out day. When I started working out 5 days a week, I stopped having the argument (no choice) and pretty quickly started craving the exercise.

2. I work with a trainer once a week. It means that I'm accountable and also that there's a strength training workout once a week that I don't have to think about. I love that he makes all the decisions for me and I get stronger.

I have always liked working out and how it makes me feel -- what I used to hate was the internal argument about whether to do it or stay in bed. The argument was the unpleasant part. Now that I'm not having the argument, it's all good.

I absolutely LOVE the bratty inner child. My inne...

2008-10-03T05:22:00.000-04:00

I absolutely LOVE the bratty inner child. My inner child is SUCH a brat! I just didn't realise it until now. I'm going to have to give her some tough love before she turns into a slutty teenager...

As far as my secret? Shit Merry, when I figure that out I'll let you know...

(Great post. Loved it.)

Wow, I am overwhelmed with all the terrific commen...

2008-10-02T21:47:00.000-04:00

Wow, I am overwhelmed with all the terrific comments! I've been busy taking notes on all the strategies you guys use. Very impressive :)

i have no secrets lately. a new job threw a wrench...

2008-10-02T20:55:00.000-04:00

i have no secrets lately. a new job threw a wrench into my working out and i haven't worked out in almost a week. oops.

My motivators:1. I had Sleep Apnea and the prescri...

2008-10-02T18:55:00.000-04:00

My motivators:
1. I had Sleep Apnea and the prescription was exercise
2. I've made good associations with exercise - it's my "break" and my "me time"
3. I love fitness goals - I love running further or faster each week, lifting heavier weights, etc. I love the feeling of jelloid/sore muscles because I know I've challenged myself.
4. I've made it a habit, like brushing my teeth. This is what I do at this time of day. Period.
5. I self-define as a Sporty Chick. An Athlete even. A Runner. A Badass. It's part of my identity and so of course you'll find me working out - it's what I do!
6. I really appreciate the changes fitness has brought to my body. I can do all sorts of things without sweating or getting out of breath. I have a spring in my step - I have tons of energy. I am more graceful. I've lost 100 pounds.
7. I think about the future and I think about my kids. I think "Use it or lose it." I want to live to be a hundred! This is my health insurance.

"So when my inner-child started whining about how ...

2008-10-02T17:51:00.000-04:00

"So when my inner-child started whining about how I'd been exercising forever and it was making no difference, I could look at the calendar and see that it had been all of two weeks."

LOL!! JavaChick, I do that same thing, for the same reason!!

Also, sometimes . . . I pay myself. Yeah, yeah, I know, but I don't pay myself by pounds lost or the amount of exercise I do; I pay myself for STICKING WITH IT.

The most effective thing I found cost me $100 a month. It had to be enough "play" cash at the end for me to feel like, "Wow! I'm RICH! RICH, I TELL YOU!!!!"

So if I worked out [x] times a week, I got $10 the first week, $20 the second, $30 the third and $40 the fourth week. If I missed a workout, I had to start back at the beginning. Since it was cumulative, right about the time I'd think about skipping, I'd remember, "Hey! If I skip I won't get my $30!" (It's always the 3rd week that's tough for me.) And since it stretched over the course of a month, at the end of the month I'd look at my calendar and feel like I'd accomplished something BIG, and that would motivate me to start the next ($10) week. (Because God knows $10 isn't enough to get me off my ass all by itself after that first week.)

So yeah. It's expensive, but when I can afford it, it's TOTALLY worth it. And the really cool thing is that I can adjust what I have to do to get the money. I can make my goals harder, for the same amount of cash.

Shallow, but it works. :)

I am cheap. I know I have paid for a month's memb...

2008-10-02T17:38:00.000-04:00

I am cheap. I know I have paid for a month's membership at the gym already, and it kills me to waste that money, so I drag myself to the gym. Then I work out (some days are a little lame, I admit) and feel better when I am done.

Hmmmmm....1)Guilt - lots of guilt. If I don't go t...

2008-10-02T17:07:00.000-04:00

Hmmmmm....

1)Guilt - lots of guilt. If I don't go to training I feel like I'm skiving off work only worse

2) Fear of getting my face caved in by my next opponent - that is a strong motivator to train

3) Love of my sport. Whilst I've put that last, and it's often the last reason that comes to me when I'm bitching and whining about going to training, it's really the basis for my motivation as a whole. Training and competing are a massive part of my identity and without it I feel lost and somewhat hopeless.

However, I still go through periods of not being arsed to train and putting on weight and having to lose it again. Rapidly ;p

Three parts for me 1) Habit, simply do it everyda...

2008-10-02T16:02:00.000-04:00

Three parts for me
1) Habit, simply do it everyday and it becomes part of your routine.
2) Running keeps me sane, honestly I don't know how to say it any better, I become a grumpy, stressed out person without it
3) Fear of gaining weight, I eat everything in sight most of the time, so I'm sure if I stopped I would gain weight.

THANK YOU for that pic of Harding, it made my day!...

2008-10-02T15:03:00.000-04:00

THANK YOU for that pic of Harding, it made my day! :D

My "secret" is *some* good genes and a young athletic dog that my hubby and I walk a couple miles mostly daily (at the really fast forced march pace he sets), and a pretty healthy diet, pretty much all home cooked veggies and some meat, very low salt and fairly low fat. Last night was taco night, all fresh ingredients, but of course there was cheese.
Because we are 50 and have beat our bodies up in sports when younger, if we don't walk at the minimum, we are afraid we will freeze up in our joints or lose what muscle we have.

We were riding mountain bikes regularly, but I have not ridden much since I crashed and burned in June. I hurt pretty bad for quite awhile, the road rash and deep bruising made sleeping difficult, and our urban area is seriously dangerous for biking, even where we have "bike paths". We used to throw them in the van and hit the trails every weekend, but now he is so stressed he does not have the ability to do much without getting headaches, and he ends up hooking a finger in my belt loop and I pull him sometimes on the beach bike paths. I am still good for about 12-15 miles but used to do 30 a few years ago, and used to lift weights too, but broke some vertebrae in my lower back in 2002 and just had too much pain for years, undiagnosed, while they fused back up. It's better now, and I have been doing yoga for it for a few of those years. Since my wreck I have gained 4 pounds since June 1! About 1 a month.

However my inner kid is eating Milano cookies right now with her coffee while immensely enjoying your hilarious post, and not feeling the least bit guilty.

Part of my secret is regularly kicking my inner critic in the teeth.

OK, so motivation...I have it, but it always falls...

2008-10-02T13:59:00.000-04:00

OK, so motivation...I have it, but it always falls by the wayside. I told myself I was gonna be in a waaaaaay cute VS bikini by the time we went to Hawaii...well, I'm back and I wasn't even close. However, I'm not giving up. I will be in that thing sooner or later. It keeps me going, not to mention the boyfriend.

He pushes me to do things that I never thought I could. 105 on the benchpress? Not a problem. 4 full plates on the leg press? Easy. And that gets me going and excited. Him seeing me push through and kick the other skinny ass prissy girls in the gym asses gives me that extra drive.

I can handle the extra 20 lbs, for now, if I can bench your ass and get laid for it when I get home...

Was that TMI?? Sorry...

TYVM, I had SO managed to forget about the gyratio...

2008-10-02T13:45:00.000-04:00

TYVM, I had SO managed to forget about the gyrations of Tonya Harding after all this time. Now that horrible burgundy outfit is going to start haunting my dreams again!!!!

(BTW, I'm baaaaack. Hand surgery was not NEARLY so painful this time, and I'm already out of the cast, and thanks so much to all well-wishers.)

I was told that there would be cupcakes.The ratio ...

2008-10-02T13:37:00.000-04:00

I was told that there would be cupcakes.
The ratio of people to cupcakes is too high...
I tend to rein in my inner toddler. 95% of the time.
Occasionally tho I let her run free...especially lately as I've been overworked and tired I have let her have a bit too much attention I think. It feels good to reward yourself after a long 16 hour day...when there have been too many in a row, that's too many rewards.
I'll have to start being more strict. Hopefully my husband doesn't kill her when she throws a tantrum...:)

Got tired of being a typical, dumpy middle aged wi...

2008-10-02T13:25:00.000-04:00

Got tired of being a typical, dumpy middle aged wife and SAHM. I hate exercise, but I hate being flabby and tired all the time worse.

messymimi

That hour is MINE. I have 3 children...two of the...

2008-10-02T13:23:00.000-04:00

That hour is MINE. I have 3 children...two of them are disabled. My hubby once said that maybe he'd get up with me and workout. I told him "Maybe you WON'T" that's MY time.

Also, I get up at 4:30 am. The alarm is on my hubby's side..so I can't hit snooze. If I'm not going to workout, I still get up. Then, I usually wind up working out..you know, since I'm up :-)

Oh Merry. Your inner child and my inner child have...

2008-10-02T13:14:00.000-04:00

Oh Merry. Your inner child and my inner child have spent too much time together I think. Mine is a huge whiny brat and she gets her way so often.

What a great post. Staying motivated and keeping y...

2008-10-02T12:40:00.000-04:00

What a great post. Staying motivated and keeping your self to a workout routine can be really hard sometimes. But its so worth, planning out my weekly workout at the beginning of the week helps me stick to it.
I have been working on a site where people can find and share all sorts of great health information, www.peoplesmd.com. There is tons of information on exercise and fitness. I think you guys could find some great information there.

-Mike

Initially for me, it was fear. The whole reason I...

2008-10-02T12:10:00.000-04:00

Initially for me, it was fear. The whole reason I started to Do Something about my weight and lack of fitness was fear about sliding fully into diabetes and heart disease - my blood test results two years ago were making promises of that ilk.

Now that I've gotten two years of weight loss and gotten to a point where I can say I've achieved a decent level of fitness, it's a combination of habit and a sort of competitiveness - not with other people, but with myself. That is, can I increase the weight on this lift just a little bit this time? Can I jog just 1/4 more mile?

And I feel good physically now. That's amazing to me, and deeply pleasurable.

There are a couple of things that keep me going, e...

2008-10-02T11:48:00.000-04:00

There are a couple of things that keep me going, exercise-wise: living in California (we don't do winter around here), and sanity. Exercise keeps me sane.
You really do need to find something that's enjoyable. I also bought a bunch of workout DVDs thinking they would be The One: The Workout That Made Me Hot!
I use many of them, but only because I enjoy doing them.

They still haven't turned me into a hottie.

What I'd like to say is that I work out for the he...

2008-10-02T11:42:00.000-04:00

What I'd like to say is that I work out for the health benefits, the endorphin rush, the way it regulates my moods & my weight...but those are all the side effects - not the reason for doing it (still trying to figure out how to make them the reason). The reason I work out? I sign up for races, and I am super competitive- with myself. I have to beat my previous time, or my previous distance. Without those races, I would sitting on my couch downing a bottle of red wine (which is what I did last night...stupid PMS).

If anyone can tell me how to translate benefits into incentives, I'd love to know. All those race entry fees get expensive.

Oh you mean other than the self-flagellation? I us...

2008-10-02T11:33:00.000-04:00

Oh you mean other than the self-flagellation? I used to sign up for races, but that hasn't worked in a while.

I tend to just get up and do it first thing before anything gets in my way. Once you do this consistently for a while, it becomes a habit and part of your day. Holidays and vacations are the worst and that's when I tend to throw it all to the dogs. So at that point it becomes mental.

I also stopped killing myself with exercise. I used to run every morning and the pain got so unbearable, I stopped. (I even gained weight.. hows that for irony?) Now I just move. But I move for an hour every day.

Yes, it's a lot of time to devote, but right now I'm loving the variety and the low-impact and I feel so much better. And I've dropped some poundage.

For now this is working.

To be honest, I got super exercise crazy when a bo...

2008-10-02T11:28:00.000-04:00

To be honest, I got super exercise crazy when a boyfriend broke up with me in January. My motivation was very much "ha I'll show you and you are going to regret this". Cry over a tub of ice cream? No way. I was running and had perfect nutrition and everything. In a way I guess I should thank him for becoming a healthier person... lol.

Did you hear about how Japan was going to start firing people for having waists above a certain number of inches? As an incentive for weight loss. There was an article about it over the summer but I never checked to see if they followed through with that concept...

Working out regulates my moods. If I don't do it a...

2008-10-02T11:20:00.000-04:00

Working out regulates my moods. If I don't do it at least 5 days a week I become a crazy person no one wants to be friends with. It's self monitoring because everyone wants friends. :p