Struggling with obsession?

[WindsChange]

Just wondered if anyone else was in a similar boat. It’s been pointed out to me my friends and family for a little while that I might be obsessed with exercising and at risk of injuring myself seriously. Initially thought they were being ridiculous but recently I’ve begun questioning myself.

I love to exercise. It keeps me physically and mentally in a really good place(I have adhd/ anxiety) but the comments have been playing on my mind and I would be interested in others opinions as to whether this seems excessive or normal.

I go for a run and walk the dogs daily.
I do boxing 3 days a week and weights 3 days a week. I do a couple of early morning circuits classes and a short yoga routine most evenings. I swim or bike at the weekend.
I probably exercise on average around 2.5 hours a day plus the walking.

I feel ok but am I doing myself harm?
Thoughts and opinions appreciated.

Is it affecting your non exercising life? Do you miss work or social occasions for it? Do you get stressed if you can’t exercise for some reason?

I don’t miss work because of exercising but I do feel very stressed if I can’t exercise for some reason. Having an injury or a cold is very frustrating to me. Most of my socialising is done at the gym / bike rides with friends as I’m not a going out sort of person. Seeing my friends at classes etc is part of the joy.

Just enjoy your routine, don’t worry what others say.

Sounds ok to me as long as it doesn't take the place of other stuff. I'd probably have the odd day off to rest but your weekends sound like rest days for you personally anyway.

I think the fact that you feel very stressed if you can’t exercise is a bit concerning. Do you think you’ve crossed into slightly unhealthy territory with it?
I’ve been very similar to you and had to learn to purposefully take rest days and find a way to be ok with them.

There's nothing that stands out to me. It's a lot but doing yoga/ walks etc isn't high intensity. If it's your thing then what's wrong with spending lots of time on it? And I would absolutely miss social events for training as I prefer it. People who don't do it are sometimes weird about exercise.

I'm obsessed with lifting, left to my own devices I probably would overtrain and injure myself. I have a programme and coach so I don't do that. But that would be lots and lots of intense strength training which is high intensity and needs rest.

If you're doing all that at 110% I suppose it could be an issue. Do you feel tired/achy/unable to sleep all the time?

Sometimes it’s useful to ask whether you could stop the thing- exercising in your case- for a week? If not, maybe it’s in charge of you rather than you being in charge of it?

Have you got kids? If you work and do 2.5hours of exercise a day that sounds a lot.

If other people have mentioned they think there's a problem I'd listen to them. Do you have any rest days?

Anything done to excess is a problem.

The body can manage a lot of movement and generally it's healthy and the bigger issue is people not doing enough for optimum health, and society underestimating how much movement we need.

However there can be too much. Feeling tired, niggles and injuries are all warning signs. You should be able to roll with life getting in the way for a little while, and that naturally builds in recovery periods which is healthy even if temporarily frustrating at times.
If something is being in the way such as being ill, do you adapt sensibly around it or try to push back to routine too hard, too soon?

It's worth looking up RED-S which is about over-training and seeing if it applies.

I can't sit still.
Heck, I spoke to a friend who was trapped indoors due to bad weather a few days ago, and she said she was climbing the walls a bit (all she ever does is 1-2 hours gentle walking for exercise).

These would be signs that you had a problem:

Being too skinny.
Repeatedly Exercising when you had an injury the exercise makes worse.
Obsessing over calories in and exercise out.

Not being willing to juggle your exercise routine around other commitments.

Talking about your exercise routine constantly.

Repeatedly Criticising people who don't exercise like you. Insisting that your exercise way of life was right & others should convert or change themselves.

Thinking about exercise obsessively & punishing or depriving yourself in some way if you missed a session.

Paying crazy money to exercise, or even getting into debt, or repeatedly spending lots money on things you don't need related to the exercise.

Declining other social occasions consistently just because they interferred with your exercise plans.

Insisting on only socialising with people who share your exercise attitude.

For "exercise" in above list, one can substitute religion, clean-eating, veganism or politics, btw.

I would build in some more rest days. You don't have to stay inside and not move at all but you need to allow your body chance to recover - can you have one day a week where you just do a dog walk and maybe some yoga?

Sounds great @WindsChange !

You might want to do something like yoga particularly for when you’re ill or injured. The breathing and focus on being in the moment is different from other kinds of exercise and could be a useful complement to all the other stuff.

Thanks everyone!

It’s been really helpful to have a read through other opinions.
I have a tendency to overthink comments that people make to me and it made me question myself and if I was doing myself harm.

I’m not skinny/ missing meals/ criticising others for not exercising etc so hopefully I’m not actually in a dangerous obsession!

I do take on board about a proper rest day with just a dog walk and some yoga - I will do that on a Sunday.

I think the anxiety builds when I can’t exercise but I’m not sure what I can do about that - apart from avoiding getting ill / injured as much as possible!

If you spent 2.5 hours an evening watching Netflix or ironing no one would think anything of it.

You only tend to get comments like this from people who don't do much.

It is a lot but if you feel well, recover well, sleep well and have energy and enthusiasm for other things, I wouldn't worry.

Some people have hinted that I exercise too much/am missing out/increasing chance of injury but I'm afraid sometimes it is about them, and guilt that they know they should be moving more. It is a hobby, a skill, and a social life for me too, as well as ticking the health box. I do socialise in other ways, have other interests, and take rest days when I need them but I have learned not to listen to casual comments from people who really don't know what they are talking about (and often hate exercise/the thought of gyms etc/won't understand at all that you enjoy the chat before and after and being part of a community). I agree with pp, we are designed to move and most people greatly underestimate what we should be doing. And people seem to have a much lower bar to start talking about obsession with exercise (and I agree it can happen) than they do for other pursuits.

I love what I do and miss it when I can't (illness or injury - I do exercise on holiday - love my holidays runs!).

Also, about anxiety. I've always struggled a bit with anxiety and exercise really helps. That''s a good thing, IMO and IME. Unlike all the other fixes, it is good for me, cheap, sustainable, sociable, no side effects....yes if I go away for a week I will want to fit a bit in or I get twitchy/grumpy but so what? That's perfectly manageable.

Do take your rest days sometimes (I have found about once a week works, but it does vary) and enjoy them! Listen to your body and enjoy your training and your rest 😀

I think it also depends how you're wired. I do lots of things on the obsession list from the PP, but I'm neurodivergent so I hyper fixate on things. I train on holiday, I will absolutely miss social events if they clash with training or I'm training the next day, but then I don't like social events. I get very antsy if I can't train for a few days because I hate to be out of routine and training helps me self regulate. The social interactions I have also revolve round lifting. But that's who I am and people are different.

I think it sounds fine. And healthy

I also don’t like to miss things, I don’t do as much as you due to time but I don’t think it’s harmful, more the stress element that you worry if you can’t do it. It is good to have a rest day, good for recovery purposes