I was trying to come up with a plan that would help me to exercise more and stick to it. I'm writing my thoughts here to see if they make sense to anyone and also to myself. My idea is to start VERY slowly. I have a treadmill, so I decided to go 2.0 mph which is extremely slow. I'm about 50lbs. overweight. I thought well, in the past I would say, "I'm sick of being fat, I'm going to walk ONE WHOLE HOUR on the treadmill EVERY DAY, and walk fast"-which to me is about 3.0 mph. Well, I would do it every day for THAT week and then stop completely. I kept thinking that it was too hard and for too long of a time.
So, getting tough did NOT work. I thought, why doesn't it work?
Well, I'm overweight so I would want to start slower (2.0 mph). I need to go for less of a time so that I can handle it and not be discouraged. I picked 20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes if I wanted to.
It's funny-me and other overweight people at the gym would be thinking we need to lose weight so we need to go faster and workout harder and longer. Now, I no longer believe that is true. IT WILL ONLY DISCOURAGE ME AND POSSIBLY YOU! I think the key here is to make exercise enjoyable, not too tough on the body and not for too long of a time. Gradually building up to faster and longer exercise times is the key.
(Remember, this is just my opinion, I'm not forcing it on anyone.)
Here's my schedule on the treadmill. 2.0 for 20-30 mins for at least 6 workouts before I increase it to 2.2. Hopefully, it will be 3x a week or more. Sounds slow but there is no race here. Also, to watch a show I'm interested in while working out.
Just a sidenote-my brother exercises EVERY DAY so that he doesn't have to have "the exercise argument" about whether or not to exercise. He just does it. He also does everything he can to keep his mind off food.
Well, guys I have to be honest. I've only worked out once on Sept. 5th, 2003 for 30mins. But typing this has really helped me. Thanks for reading.
Oh yeah, more extra stuff. A girl I worked with years ago wanted to lose weight. She could send me instant messages on the computer. I used to laugh because she would type "tonight is swimming night at the Y" or "tonight is treadmill night at the Y" or tonight is aerobics night at the Y". She was also journaling at the receptionist desk each day.
I was thinking, "Why is she telling me this?" Well, later I found out she liked me. The moral of this story is that in 3 months she managed to lose forty (40! pounds).
I'm not laughing at that! She would laugh at me now if she saw me!
Oh well, tomorrow is another day to try the exercise plan....

Jimbo,

When I take on new clients for exercise and fitness training the first thing I do is start them off very slow. (Unless of course they have been working out before hand)

Reason is twofold:
1) If you are not use to working out, then neither is your cardiopulmonary or cardiorespiratory systems.
2) It prevents injury.

You have to re-condition your cardio system to carry oxygen and blood to the muscles. Sure they do that right now as you sit here looking at the computer monitor, however increasing the blood flow and breathing puts a pretty big load on an unconditioned system. You can put yourself at great risk by going all out, not only that but as you found out, you can also be your own worst enemy by doing too much too fast and losing interest.

Thanks for the advice and and confirmation of my thoughts agony. Nice going with your weight loss too!

Jimbo, congrats on your decision to exercise!

May I make one small suggestion? I was a very reluctant exerciser, too, but the one thing that turned it around for me was finding music that I love. I don't allow myself to listen to that music at any other time--only when I'm working out. So what used to be tedious is now a real pleasure and something I crave every day. You could do this with your tv show, too--just make a promise to yourself that you HAVE to be exercising in order to watch it.

Good luck!

Great idea Rose! Thanks. I will find my Walkman and do it!
Thanks again.

Jimbo