Stop Dieting Forever

Image via Wikipedia

When I owned my publishing business, I spent 50 to 60 hours a week sitting in front of a computer. By 2000, I reached a point where I couldn’t go on without doing something to change my weight and my life.

I tried almost all of the popular diets and had consequently ballooned up to over 275 pounds. Losing the first thirty pounds wasn’t too hard. I changed what I ate, gave up fast food restaurants – yes, I haven’t had a McDonalds hamburger or fries, anything from Burger King or any form of Taco Bell combos for eleven years – and started drinking more water.

I didn’t exercise in the beginning. I think the shock of decreasing my daily calorie intake to something closer to what it should have been got my body moving on a fast track. There came a time, though, when I had to face the dreaded exercise issue.

I hate to exercise.

I joined a gym. I hated every minute of it. I mapped out a one-mile course through our neighborhood. I didn’t like that any more than the gym. It all felt like more work added to the end of my already exhausting day.

Exercise, by its definition, seems to be forcing yourself to do something you dislike so you can lose weight faster and get in shape. I don’t like doing things I dislike.

Then, one day I was at the park with a friend. We just finished walking the 2.2-mile lake perimeter – which I didn’t think I could do – and were sitting at a picnic table, watching people pass by on foot, rollerblades, skateboards and bicycles.

Something clicked in my head and I had one of those “Ah Hah” moments.

I love walking the lake with my best friend. We talk and laugh the whole time and it goes by quickly. I watched the rollerbladers with the wind in their hair. I could tell they were loving it and I thought about how much fun it would be to try it.

Click.

The problem with exercise is the word “exercise.”

Any activity put on a list called “Exercise” automatically becomes something I don’t want to do. Running, lifting weights and circuit training go into that category. I never thought of walking the lake as exercise just as I never thought of practicing Tai Chi as exercise. These are just physical things I enjoy doing that make me feel better.

If you can make that perspective shift and start looking at exercise not as something you have to do, but as getting out and doing fun things such as riding a horse, playing a round of golf, bowling, volleyball or learning how to rollerblade, “exercise” will be something you look forward to.

We need to find a new name for exercise. Something like “Recess” or “Playtime.”

We only have a few hours a day that we can call our own. I don’t know about you, but I plan to spend those hours with someone I like, doing something I enjoy. No more exercise for me.

Until next time,

Susan