To have gone off any form of exercise?

[Floppityflop]

I think than January must bring out my inner rebel. I am fed up with all the diet and fitness fads around at the moment. It seems unless you're starving yourself two days a week and doing an Ironman triathlon you're a lazy f*. What's wrong with sensible eating and a bit of exercise? I am normally an enthusiastic participant in various forms of exercise, but I am beginning to wonder whether there is any point. I'm even thinking of selling my racing bike because i am beginning to wonder whether tgere is a point in carrying on with it (spellcheck just corrected that to "raving" bike, which is kind of the mood I'm in...).

Err... YABU?

Give it a rest for January and then pick it up again when you feel like it.

The weathers not exactly great for biking.

When Spring comes you will want to again.

I totally understand what you are saying! I am so fed up of being bombarded with the latest fad diet or ridiculous exercise class.

I run 3 miles 3-4 mornings a week before work and count my calories on myfitnesspal and I have been steadily and healthily losing weight for the last few weeks.

If one more 'well meaning new year fad addict' tells me I am doing it wrong I might start screaming!

Yabu to let what other people say get to you. Have more confidence in yourself to believe that what you are doing and seems to be working is best for you.
Other people should not have that much influence over you to make you want to stop doing any form of exercise.

There is an increasingly amount of rubbish talked about exercise. I am fed up with the various 'iron (wo)man' races that seem to involve running a short distance round a muddy field jumping over dustbins and falling into ponds to prove how desperately hard you are. It's not said dustbins and ponds that bother me, it's the 'I need to prove I'm tough' mentality. It suggests that the whole thing is so.... JOYLESS. I would have no problem if it was called FUNATHON and the people jumping over dustbins and falling into ponds if they were doing so in fits of laughter because, let's face it, that's what exercise should be about.

(This is not to take things away from people who achieve genuinely mighty feats of endurance in sport. Hats off to anyone who has done the Bob Graham, for instance. I just imagine those runners kind of enjoy what they are doing to be able to have the stamina to train that hard).

Please don't let it put you off exercising and just having fun in whatever way you enjoy... that's the best revenge!

YABU if the fact that other people want/need to do something different to you puts you off 'sensible eating and a bit of exercise' - and having a racing bike - if that's what suits you.

"I would have no problem... if they were doing so in fits of laughter because, let's face it, that's what exercise should be about."

That is news to me.

Imho exercise is about pushing my body to its limits, increasing strength & endurance at every session, and enjoying the euphoric buzz afterwards.

I honestly never thought fits of laughter were required during exercise.

I can recommend a zombie run and a colour run for fun!

if they were doing so in fits of laughter because, let's face it, that's what exercise should be about

I exercise for many reasons, and laughter isn't one of them!

I exercise to keep fit, because I enjoy being outdoors, I like the clear head exercise induces. I play a a port which I enjoy getting better at, I do like the social aspect of being on a team but laughter doesn't feature during matches so much! I love riding my mountain bike and you might see me with a smile in my face at the end of a fun downhill section but I'll have been too busy concentrating before then, and too busy breathing on the uphill!

Exercise should lead to a net increase in your quality of life. Ride that bike or climb a mountain or sail a boat or just enjoy running about or carrying your kids (and eventually grandchildren) or not struggle to carry your shopping or climb the stairs - the 'exercise' may be the pleasurable thing of itself or the enabler. That's the point, I think.

Either you're demotivated at the moment (anything in your life getting you down?) or your simply the sort of person who rebels against being told what to do. It's the same reason why smokers immediately want to light one up when told they really ought to quit (that used to be me until 8 years ago ).

If you're a person who is eating healthily and taking regular exercise, you are in a exalted minority already. So exercise/diet mad people are either disproportionately represented in your social group or you're simply being exposed to too much body-focused forms of media. My guess is the latter and I'd recommend trying to find ways to filter it out. Media has such strong associations with advertising that you have to be very selective about what you pay attention to - first create a problem and then sell the method to solve it... If you don't think about it, it seeps into your subconscious and does its work.

Self-sabotage is something we all indulge in from time to time, and such strong media-driven focus on the perfect body (which is always about what you look like rather than about health ) actually tends to be counter-productive IMO because it's so unrealistic that it encourages people to give up - exactly as is happening to you in fact.

Find your own bubble and stay there. It's why despite being a dedicated runner who takes diet and exercise quite seriously, I belong to no clubs, never go to the gym and don't buy any magazines.

The problem at the moment is, as the OP mentioned, just that its January - New Year's resolutions, post feast penances. But also it's reckoned to be a month when people can feel blue. Cheer up Floppity - the weather will turn and you'll be able to go for some lovely rides on that bike for pure pleasure.

Build the exercise into a routine and part of your life. Fit it into fun things too. The human body is designed to be active, not using it properly will shorten your quality of life in older years. Just look at pensioners that have been active all their life, and those that haven't !

I don't care about how people exercise or the amount they do-but I also can't stand the braggers. Nobody wants to see your gym selfies or flexing poses or endless boring FB posts about how much you haven't eaten or how far you have run. I am fit and healthy, I go to the gym a lot and run, but I don't feel the need to generally tell people about it-it's dull for anyone other than me. Don't worry, most of the braggers will have given up by Feb/March anyway :)

So you're going to sell your racing bike because you no longer feel like it's some public achievement to be seen riding it -- because everyone else is doing it now?

"Whether there's any point in carrying on with it" Hmm.. do you even like cycling? If so, then ride your bike. If not, then don't. Or find something else that you like to do instead.

I honestly don't understand the OP, but maybe that's because I exercise because I enjoy exercising. It's an end in itself, not a means to an end for me.

Yanbu in a way. Have a break and then reasses. I used to be obsessed with running. I did it all the time, entered loads of races, ran a running club at my school, ran with loads of friends...really obsessed. Then I became ill and couldn't run for 2 years. I was so distressed at the time. However, interestingly I started developing other hobbies, and exploring a different side of myself. I actually felt sort of freed from the pressure of "having to train" for a race when in fact I was imposing that on myself! I still do the running club at school but other than that I just take my dog out to walk an hour a day and do a bit of pilates. I feel just as good as I did when I was running if not better! Listen to your body, enjoy a break and then come back to it later.

You know, I do love riding my bike, just not fancying it with all this wind and I am just so fed up of the January stuff and bored to tears with the extreme endurance crap that I am feeling rebellious! It's not about public validation, although I did used to think that what I was doing was enough for my health. Now I am tending think that actually it's probably about the same as walking to the shops and, well, if that's cheaper and easier, why bother doing more as I will certainly never ride to Paris in one day, survive on air two days a week or whatever - I'm only human! (That said, I'd love to do an audax if it wasn't solely the preserve of old men on steel bikes.) The people I know do love to go on about their fitness though and go on at me about what I should do. I want to say to them that I do exercise but I just don't go on about it and just because I am a bit tubby doesn't mean I can't! Hmm, maybe it is about public validation...

Incidentally, what is a zombie run?