Exercise? YUCK!

Before my mother died I decided to lose weight.  I went back to teach at the university level for the 2012/13 terms and found that I must have found my tipping point in terms of weight.  Five pounds later the problems I was having stopped but I decided to try and keep going using a planning tool I found on WebMD.

My mother's death probably made it easier because now I just have me to decide if I'm fat or thin not her random proclamations..

I lost a good amount, half of what I wanted to lose in the course of the two and a half years I've given myself.  My doctor was pleased, I was pleased, we looked forward to my blood work.

That didn't please us; it shocked us.  How could it have gotten worse?  My doctor's suggestion is to add in exercise.

Exercise? YUCK!

I hate exercise for two simple reasons -- it is boring and it is a solitary activity. Boredom is something I've fought against my entire life right from the second day of preschool.  As a freelance author I spent most of my day, every day, very much alone so something else that I can do alone just seems like more torture.

I've tried to workout with others -- either I can't find someone, we start then they have to drop out or are inconsistent, or I end up harming myself because our differences in sizes results in my over-extending myself.  Injuries result in more doctors' appointments and gained weight.  In fact I've injured myself so much over my adult lifetime that I have to be very careful of what exercises I do.

Which brings me to another problem with this entire "exercise" idea....

I do exercise, multiple times each, and every day.

I have stretches I have to do for my arms and my hips (past injury treatments that allow me to continue to function) and I have resistance/weight exercises I do for my arms (again another injury).  Actually my typing that I have to do for my career has to be broken down into a regime basically making it do double duty as career and exercise; this also limits the amount I can type every day a very annoying problem as an author.

So adding in more exercise?  When? Where?  How?

Some folks say exercising is a matter of willpower -- nah, it's a matter of schedule, it's a matter of emotional needs, and it's a matter of not injuring or re-injuring yourself.  Finding a balance isn't easy but given how unhappy I was with my blood work and how well the WebMD plan is working in terms of weight loss I don't want to change my eating.  The only thing left if I don't want to do medication is to try exercise.

As I wrote last time on this blog I'm trying to be more scheduled so I looked at my schedule.

I try to get up at 7am any way so could I fit a "first-thing" exercise into it which wouldn't interfere with other things on my schedule.  Moving some things back such as laundry doesn't work because that's an all-day thing and pushing it back even an hour runs into family time which is necessary for my emotional health. Then there's my volunteering at the IUAM and I need to have a firm schedule to make those plans.  Let's be clear traveling to any gym is a level of insecurity in terms of schedule -- traffic, weather, emergencies, these are too much to plan around and keep with the rest of my schedule.

In my basement is my recumbent exercise bike.  It doesn't aggravate my hip, it doesn't hurt my lower back, it is right here in this house, just steps from the laundry room and the rest of the things I have on my schedule.  It is easy to go from it to the shower and to get ready to go to the museum or out to shop or simply be ready to write for the day.

I started using it (again) this week and I'm aiming for 20 minutes, three times a week and getting up to 30 minutes by the end of this month.  Then I'll see how that seems to be working into my life, into my loneliness, into my health.  I've written it on my schedule, I've told my family, now I'm telling you.

Help me stay on track please and don't ask me to do things for or with you before 11am so I have the time to do this and still do my daily writing, previous exercises, and any chores that need to be started by then.  When you see me, ask me how it's going, let me know if I'm doing well, encourage me if I seem to be faltering (but don't nag or criticize because those are the fastest ways to get me to stop period).

Now you tell me what you need my help with in 2014.