Perspective Change - Don't exercise for weight loss

One of the frustrating things about committing to an exercise program is the fact that I feel I never lose weight, which has always been my goal. I never liked exercise and never got the endorphin high that many do, so if I am not losing weight I become discouraged easily.

So what was I getting out of exercise if I wasn't losing weight, which was my purpose?  As you can see with that line of thought it was very easy to stop the exercise program.  However, even as I stopped and started I knew logically that I needed to continue it was important for me to do this, so I needed to come up with a new motivation.

I sat and thought about some truths and accept my reality.
  1. I am never going to have those endorphins I have to accept that and I need to stop working for that.
  2. I know that when I exercise consistently my overall mood and happiness is elevated over the long term this is not a short term play for me.
  3. I know that for my emotional health, how I deal with stress from work and let's face it my kids (love 'em but they can be stressful)
  4. I know that exercising helps me keep my blood pressure under control
So now I have begun my perspective change, I will exercise and try to hit the goal of exercising 5-6 times a week for my mental and physical health period.  Sure weightloss will help my physical health but there are other benefits to my physical health such as dealing with stress better, controlling my blood pressure better, stretching and using muscles, etc.  I am not a doctor or a health professional these are just some common sense thoughts.  I do imagine that over time I may see some weight loss but you know what that will be just a side benefit and not my focus.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What to do when it seems that the world is on fire?

 First of all DO NOT PANIC!  Nothing good ever comes from panicking. Second, take a deep breath and then say a prayer, then count your blessings.  People that lean into their faith are happier.  Here and here Third, focus on your small circle what is going on there and focus on that.  So the stock market is crashing you really can't do a how heck of a lot about that other than don't panic.  So focus on what you have been doing to care for yourself and your family, use this time to identify an area or two to be frugal.  Being wise with your money is always a good thing, and this is a way to make lemonade. Fourth, largely ignore the news especially that of overseas tragedies.  Humanity sucks, but it is also beautiful.  We were not designed to have all of this information especially horrific information coming at us 24/7/365.  There is absolutely nothing I can do about some far off place to make it better, if I focus on those areas I feel ...
Read more

I am losing my momentum...

in many different areas.  I am still in showed up mode just skating by and maintaining but not breaking out of my rut. In some ways, I want to say it is ok because I spent two weekends in NJ visiting my Aunts and helping clear away some things at their house and the funeral.  I think everyone in this house has been sick not all at once so it seems like it has lasted forever.  So yeah there has been a lot of stress and uncertainty. I spent a good chunk of today focusing on some business-related things that I am really hope come to fruition.  I have also been doing some planning on Pinterest to try to incorporate some fun with my boys.  One of my fears is that as a 'Boy Mom' that I don't engage with them as much as I should or could because quite frankly I love them to bits but their interests don't really align with mine.  As the parent I know that it is my job to focus on them and come up with ways to join their interests, I get a lot of support from ...
Read more

Success...Happiness...Preconceived Notions....Letting Go

I am not really sure where I am going with this but I have been toying with this idea that success doesn't lead to happiness but it can sure enhance it.  So what exactly is success and really shouldn't I define success for me and ignore what "others" define as success? I have been thinking about this a lot and not really going anywhere partly because I am afraid of the answer.  But really I need to think about this for my own happiness, I get to decide what is right for me.  I also need to accept that I do not live in an ideal world so my vision of what I thought was success, probably isn't going to exist in the real world.  I need to adjust my idea of success to match reality and not what I wish, I have done it in other areas... Example of shifting expectations and ideals So I had this idea of how I would be as a parent before I had children, in fact I was an amazing parent and then I had kids.  The the kids came into my world and life changed in so many...
Read more