To think that you're really lucky if you enjoy exercise?!

[bumblebee1987]

I will preface this by saying that I'm really fed up because I've been dieting and exercising since March and lost a very minimal amount of weight despite really trying, and have now plateaued for weeks, so this is probably more of a vent 😆

I hate exercise. I always have, every since school, I am rubbish at it, am not remotely competitive, and I just don't enjoy it. I have tried many many different types of exercise, it's all the same, I don't enjoy any of it. I don't enjoy watching sport, hearing about sport or being involved in sport in any way.

I go to the gym 3 times a week because I feel like I have to, because I am overweight and I need to sort myself out, but I hate it. I know I need to do it, but I don't enjoy it, and I think this is really unfortunate. My DH on the other hand, LOVES sport, his entire career is based in sport, he loves nothing more than going for a 5 hour bike ride or spending an hour or two in the gym, it's his happy place. Which is great because obviously it's really good for him!

I keep seeing fitness influencers saying how important it is that you find the sport that you love so that you will keep it up, but I really don't think there is one for me?! So I think I am basically stuck with forcing myself to do something I hate a few times a week, despite hating every second of it.

So am I being unreasonable to suggest that it's actually really lucky if you enjoy sport and exercise?! I am not talking about being good at it, I appreciate that being good at it takes a huge amount of dedication and not luck etc, but if you really enjoy it regardless of whether you're good at it or not, then that's really fortunate, right?!

I appreciate that this is very much a first world problem and is meant in a light-hearted way!

Can you walk? Just go out for a really long walk. I enjoy that.

I do weights 3 times a week. It's not going to help you lose weight, but it's going to make you look good. I wouldn't say I 'enjoy' it bit I prefer it to having to be strict with what I eat. I do enjoy putting music on and I enjoy how good I feel afterwards.

I think you need to change what you're trying to do BTW. Do you do cardio at the gym? Like I said, weights won't help you lose loads of weight but they will help you get leaner and look better. Start doing some research on weights and take the leap. You won't regret it.

What else have you tried besides the gym?
There are so many different types of classes out there to try. I find the gym boring, I can't run to save my life and I'm not sporty.
I do however enjoy body combat & body pump.

I could walk, and I have got into walking in the past, but to be honest it kind of makes me feel sad now as I used to go with my dog but he's really old now and can't manage further than to the end of our road and back 😭 So I feel like I'll just miss my buddy!

I am actually doing a lifting workshop on Tuesday, so am going to give that a go! Maybe weights will be my 'thing?!'

I hate exercise too. My husband swam a mile a day and my son goes to the gym every day before work and is getting qualified in a fitness career.
Endless Sundays spent in the cold and wet watching him get bashed about (and doing a fair amount of bashing) playing rugby. He's the kind of person who sees a long flight of stairs and leaps up them.
I look at my one flight of stairs and sigh.
Battle of the budge is won in the kitchen though - use my fitness pal, ignore exercise calories and weigh everything.

I'd be bored just going to the gym as well. I definitely think some people genuinely enjoy it more than others, but most could find sonething they enjoy as theres such a variety. Long walk with headphones in, join a social sports team and meet people at the same time, get into running and enter different events...

Yanbu

I'm exactly like you

However I force myself to do a short exercise video each day with music usually half wower

I'm not competitive either and find sports boring

Agree - people get medals for doing things they like. I’ve never found exercise I enjoy, I’ve found stuff I don’t hate

I hate the gym. What else have you tried?

I keep fit by walking mainly.

Would you enjoy salsa dancing or tennis something within a group.

Even dancing around the privacy of your home will help.

If I was in your situation I'd hire a personal trainer cut out gym exercise and concentrate on weight lifting, light weights to begin with.

My friend went from a size 24 to a 12 for her wedding while eating 3000 calories daily within 6 months.

It's the fastest way to tone while allowing you to enjoy food.

Any of my weight lifting friends male or female enjoy the best of both worlds providing you like chicken, eggs, avocados.

Depends what you like. I dont like the gym but like classes. I go to body pump, body attack, combat, body balance and zumba. I've made friends through going to classes so it's as much about the social side as it is about exercising

It's unusual not to enjoy any firm of exercise. Regardless it's your diet not the exercise that is affecting your weight loss. It's 80% diet, try a combination of low calorie, keto and intermittent fasting. 1200 calories a day don't eat between 8pm and 12pm and plenty of healthy protein. You should lose 3-4 pounds a week easily.

There's a cruel irony that the more unfit and overweight you are, the more unpleasant you will find it to start exercising. Even the endorphins and other chemicals that make exercise rewarding for many don't really kick in until you have built a bit of a base. I think you can get from there to the point where it's less painful and more enjoyable but there is a huge mountain to climb at the beginning.

You might enjoy Dan Lieberman's book Exercised, which sets out why exercise is such a weird thing to do and why we're so reluctant to do something our bodies need so much. His tips are to make movement necessary (say active commuting or errands) and sociable. I'd add audiobooks or podcasts to keep your mind busy.

Unfortunately I have social anxiety, so anything team/social related is a no for me as it will throw me into an anxious mess and I wouldn't cope.

I use MFP every day and I weigh and log everything I eat, but the weight won't budge. My doctor even suspected an interactive thyroid, but turned out it wasn't that, I just don't give up the fat easily!

I'm giving weight a try, I've got a class on Tuesday so I'll see how that goes.

I personally find at the gym, unless you’re going to classes, the seconds tick by so slowly and I just want to leave. I shout in my head ‘I AM DOING EXERCISE, THIS IS WHAT I SHOULD BE DOING’!

I don’t know whether I’d say I enjoy running but I do enjoy moments of it. I do love the parkrun, mainly the last few seconds before you cross the finish line! It’s impossible not to be competitive with your own time from the previous week. I would say I have become quite ‘good’ at it, not amazing or top 10 people there but I can sometimes get top 3 female if I really go for it. Those small wins are what keep me going! I’m training for a marathon and don’t enjoy the training at all but it’s like I have no choice but to do it. If I don’t do it I know I’m signing myself up for a very uncomfortable day trying to make my way round a marathon with no training and that’s usually enough to make me go. People love to dramatise it when they hear how far ive ran in training runs saying oh I couldn’t run the length of myself, I could run 5k etc. Well, have you tried? Were you out today trying to run 5k and didn’t manage it? The point I’m making is I’m only getting better at it because I’m doing it. I’ve lost 4 stone in the last year and wore a dress to my friend’s birthday recently and had people saying ‘oh you’re so lucky to be able to wear that’ ‘I couldn’t get away with that’ and I kind of think, well for the last year I’ve been out plodding away in the rain or cold to lose 4 stone while you haven’t bothered to do anything 🙈 Sounds harsh but I think people can be too quick to say how ‘lucky’ people are to be good at something or slim or whatever, when they haven’t actually tried at all. This isn’t any kind of dig at you btw, just off on a tangent 😂

I do classes. I've discovered I don't like being shouted at. So Zumba and jump are good for me. They shout a little bit but usually a single word it two.

I also hate being hot. I've got a squirty bottle to spray my face with.

I've literally been doing 1200 calories a day and not eating between 8pm and 12pm, and I lost nothing in 3 weeks. Literally nothing!

I work out at home, using the Body Project on YouTube, around three times a week, each one half an hour. And I calorie count using an app called Nutracheck. It's really good, I've lost all the weight I wanted to and I've been maintaining successfully for about six months. I'll not say I enjoy it, but half an hour goes by quickly.

I'm similar, I've been to the gym a few times in my life and just felt really self-conscious, so I don't stick at it.
I don't mind walking to get somewhere, but I don't like walking for the sake of it, particularly as there is no longer a dog to take.

I do like swimming though, particularly in lidos, so I do that as often as possible, but that's not very often.
I've recently started doing some exercises videos (on You Tube). I don't mind those and am going to try to stick to them.

I've literally been doing 1200 calories a day and not eating between 8pm and 12pm, and I lost nothing in 3 weeks. Literally nothing!
Honestly stop this, you're torturing yourself and you're going to mess up your metabolism.
When weight training you can eat a decent amount while toning.
Life is to short.
Watch some YouTube videos on weight training for beginners.
Stock your fridge with high protein foods.
You can do this.

I have hated exercise all my life. Tried everything and found nothing I like.
I've never had any kind of weight problem so no incentive there.
Now in my 60s and have osteoporosis. If I could tell my younger self one thing it would be this. Exercise is not just about weight. It builds your bones. Impact exercise is vital, do it even if you hate it.

When I turned 30 I vowed I would stop pretending I would go to the gym and stop trying endlessly to try and lose weight. Im so much happier. I stay activie by walking places abd chasing after kids! Life changing! Why fight against stuff its pointless. I hate exercise too x

I've tried, walking, swimming, running, Zumba, dancing, bootcamp style outdoor things, yoga, Pilates, spinning, I have in the past tried team sports (netball, hockey etc) but I have social anxiety and I can't cope with team activities mostly. I have got a wiifit and a ring fit but I can't motivate myself to workout at home. Usually now I either go to classes at the gym (body pump, body combat, LBT etc) or I do cardio, I never do the same thing because I'd find it even more boring!

You are right, but people who actually like low calorie food and don't like alcohol are even luckier.

Exercise bike in front of the TV to take your mind off it? Walking and listening to podcast or audio books?