I want to be fit & trim - but HATE exercising!

[Kimela]

Can I get an amen or hell yeah!?

So I thought I'd start this thread to see how other women are working to improve fitness in this covid world. Some people find it easier to make time to work out or get outside for a hike while working from home, while others may feel so drained by the covid atmosphere that it doesn't matter HOW much time they have, their motivation is depleted and the only thing that feels satisfying is scrolling through social media. The average weight gain during covid is about 20 pounds (making it truly a near "covid-19" weight gain!). I know there are FB pages for women and diving, and women who dive and are trying to get into better shape. But why not use this space for some support, ideas, etc (fill in the blank there!).

So today I was on the treadmill, putting in my 2 miles that I really TRY to do 7 days a week (reality is usually 5), and listening to my workout playlist. The last song I listened to before finishing up was Britney Spears' "You Better Work Bitch" - and found myself substituting "you wanna hard body ..." with "you wanna climb that ladder? You better work bitch!". LOL!!! (video below)

So how can we help one another motivate to get in better shape? What are your stumbling blocks? Goals? Eat more healthy food? Have a healthier mind set? WhatEVER?

About me and my goals - I'm 60; 5' 1" and about 125-130 pounds. I'd like to be somewhere between 115 and 120. My antidepressant of choice is plain M&M's, followed closely by Whoppers - but I really try to stay away from them both because of the terrible side effects. I'm basically lazy and I have NEVER experienced that phenomenon people talk about when they 'exercise to the point of the happy hormones being released in their body'. Seriously? I'm not sure it actually happens - are they lying? Ok, I know they're not lying - but having never experienced it, and having no desire to ever work that hard, I never will. So I need to find a way to maintain what good health I have, maybe build some stronger muscles in my legs and upper body for diving, and generally maintain decent health. I'd love to be able to comfortably climb back on the boat in a 5mil, with 10 pounds of lead, with no assistance. Currently I hand up my weights and then take off my BC and hand that up too. I CAN go up the ladder - but my knees start to buckle and it scares me. I'll never wear a bikini again and look good in it - but that's not my goal. I just want to feel comfortable in my skin, not need to add more medications to keep me alive, and avoid more medical procedures ... and be able to go up the ladder in full gear without assistance.

How about you? And gentlemen, if you want to contribute please be super, super kind and encouraging.

 

[scrane]

See if there's a local hiking club in your area.

 

[DBPacific]

Usually the only exercise exercise that gives me that rush of happy is swimming. Sadly, with lockdown I no longer have pool access.

My problem with weight and lockdown has more been weight and muscle loss from losing track of time and forgetting to eat. I lost most of my muscle and about 45 lbs of weight over fall. I've done my best to put in mealtime alarms into my phone and go back to my old habits of meal prepping as much as my parents' food habits will allow (we have very different ideas of what proper cooking is).

Movement wise, I've tried to do a combination of daily walks (or whenever I remember too, still working on the daily part) around the property that's my alone podcast time, and I've taken on the project of cleaning out and organizing the barn. The barn project keeps me on my feet and lifting random power tools and saws to clean and reorganize.

A friend and I have started a virtual running club of sorts - we both found our baseline sustained running time and agree on which days to run and do 10 sets of that time minus about 5 seconds to avoid overexertion.

So far I've managed to get back to a healthy weight for me and while I'm not sure if I'm ready to lug a full kit of gear, I can once again safely lift my 100lb mother and carry her around without getting too tired.

 

[Ulfhedinn]

Honestly If you walk 3-5 miles at an easy pace ED or as often as possible you are well ahead of most people in the 1st world. Don't drink calories is an easy start to effect you calorie consumption. Simple changes is what helps people stay the path.

As for the walking.. yes it cuts into.. other things you can be doing but... When walking listen to audio books or carry a device to recorded ideas, etc. You can multi task when walking. If you are learning a new task always walk after you work on that task. Helps to reinforce the knowledge.


"My knowledge is based on working in the fitness industry for many years"

 

[diver0008]

Eat light and keep moving. Think of food as medicine; take it only when you need it, and never close to bedtime. And no sugar. Be realistic in your goals - you're 60.

 

[Bubblesong]

Tv Set to werewolf series, or Arrow or Breaking Bad. Something high adrenaline. treadmill at 4 MPH. Pro tip, wear the sexiest workout clothes you can find, a variation on “Dress for Success”!
My joints won’t let me work out hard like a youngster, but I can work out twice a day, to keep metabolism up. I also follow a diabetic exchange diet.

 

[pauldw]

I'm not an expert, and I always figured that weight is a calories in versus calories burned thing, and you could either drop calories by eating less, or increase calories burned by exercising more, and probably either would do, about equally. But then a few years ago on the machines at the gym I noticed how the calories burned estimators always seemed to take so long to rack up very many calories burned. And it's not like a half hour on a machine gets rid of the equivalent of a whole meal; maybe a whole hour of hard work does. That's depressing, if it's accurate. Then it occurred to me that simply dropping a meal would be the equivalent of, and easier than, an hour at the gym. Or, that it would greatly augment the gym work. So I dropped second dinner, which used to take place around 9:00 p.m. That helped. But more recently the pandemic put more than 20 pounds on me, and just Monday I started seriously trying to knock that back off. And today my wife wants to figure out how to do something about her situation. So it's on our minds, and I feel for you. My own personal experience, again not as an expert, is that eating healthy foods and dropping the soda pop and other junk helps you be healthy and is the easiest and best way to maintain decent weight. Exercising is how you keep your body strong and fit. Both are important, and they're separate but related.

Let me also say that a few year ago I volunteered on a team that camped weekends on a popular local mountain and helped people having problems hiking it. One day a girl turned her ankle while playing on rocks by a lake, with her friend, while staying behind midway and resting as their families were ahead trying to summit. It didn't look like she would make it down the mountain on that ankle. The problem is, her parents were a mile up the mountain, still going up but moving slowly because of an ankle injury of their own. We could wait hours for them to get back down to her, but at that rate people would eventually end up hiking in the dark. We opted to start down with her, and figured her family would probably catch up to us near the bottom. We could have called in the SAR team's wheeled litter, but that would have put us into nighttime also. Instead, we piggy backed her, taking turns. Her friend, the same age, piggy backed her also. Now, this friend of hers was a distinctly chubby girl, and although the ankle girl was more comfortable piggybacking on her than on us stranger guys, I didn't think the chubby girl would be nearly fit enough to carry her much. But she was! She was a trooper! I learned that day that being heavy doesn't mean you can't be fit. It may be harder on your knees and ankles, but exercise and attitude can take your body a long way, after it's shaped to whatever degree it can be by eating healthy food.

Of course, maybe I'm just trying to psych myself up here, because being 59 and male but having trouble hauling my gear to and from shore diving sites now, is troubling.

 

[Johnoly]

There is no greater self motivation than 1/4" squares on a sheet of graph paper with a 45 degree diagonal line drawn, then taped infront of your bathroom scale for you to place a dot on each morning. Ohh yea and zero alcohol for 60 days.
Try it..........

 

[DBPacific]

I'm not an expert, and I always figured that weight is a calories in versus calories burned thing, and you could either drop calories by eating less, or increase calories burned by exercising more, and probably either would do, about equally. But then a few years ago on the machines at the gym I noticed how the calories burned estimators always seemed to take so long to rack up very many calories burned. And it's not like a half hour on a machine gets rid of the equivalent of a whole meal; maybe a whole hour of hard work does. That's depressing, if it's accurate. Then it occurred to me that simply dropping a meal would be the equivalent of, and easier than, an hour at the gym. Or, that it would greatly augment the gym work. So I dropped second dinner, which used to take place around 9:00 p.m. That helped. But more recently the pandemic put more than 20 pounds on me, and just Monday I started seriously trying to knock that back off. And today my wife wants to figure out how to do something about her situation. So it's on our minds, and I feel for you. My own personal experience, again not as an expert, is that eating healthy foods and dropping the soda pop and other junk helps you be healthy and is the easiest and best way to maintain decent weight. Exercising is how you keep your body strong and fit. Both are important, and they're separate but related.

Let me also say that a few year ago I volunteered on a team that camped weekends on a popular local mountain and helped people having problems hiking it. One day a girl turned her ankle while playing on rocks by a lake, with her friend, while staying behind midway and resting as their families were ahead trying to summit. It didn't look like she would make it down the mountain on that ankle. The problem is, her parents were a mile up the mountain, still going up but moving slowly because of an ankle injury of their own. We could wait hours for them to get back down to her, but at that rate people would eventually end up hiking in the dark. We opted to start down with her, and figured her family would probably catch up to us near the bottom. We could have called in the SAR team's wheeled stretcher, but that would have taken put us into nighttime also. Instead, we piggy backed her, taking turns. Her friend, the same age, piggy backed her also. Now, this friend of hers was a distinctly chubby girl, and although the ankle girl was more comfortable piggybacking on her than on us stranger guys, I didn't think the chubby girl would be nearly fit enough to carry her much. But she was! She was a trooper! I learned that day that being heavy doesn't mean you can't be fit. It may be harder on your knees and ankles, but exercise and attitude can take your body a long way, after it's shaped to whatever degree it can be by eating healthy food.

Of course, maybe I'm just trying to psych myself up here, because being 59 and male but having trouble hauling my gear to and from shore diving sites now, is troubling.

BMI as a fitness metric is the greatest lie of all time because it doesn't take into account body type.

If you're breathing fine and can do moderate exercise without difficulty and can do the activities you want without injury or overexertion, chances are you're fairly fit.

Changing food/calorie intake is I think medically the best way to actually lose weight, exercise just helps you build muscle and stamina. On its own exercise can be very ineffective for actually losing weight. If you cut out sugary drinks, up the veg, lower the processed carbs, and increase non-red meat protein, usually that can get people pretty far.

 

[Jcp2]

Trans fat (partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, aka crisco) elimination will do wonders for cardiac health. Leg strength can come from body weight squats. Bone strength can come from light run walk run sessions, with the benefit coming from the run portion.