Obsessed with exercise

Hi Karen,
I am almost 44, been exercising since March 3rd. been doing Cathe since April. I have lost 28 lbs, I am 5'2", and 110. I started at 138. I am not finished yet, I still am not exactly where I want to be, and I do exercise alot, about 2 hrs a day, sometimes 2-1/2. I will continue to do it this way till I get to my goal, then I will slow down some and maintain, but I will always exercise. I love these exercises of Cathe's, she really challenges you.
SO, don't let folks get to you, as long as your healthy, not skipping meals, and being careful, have fun with it :7 .. those who make comments are usually those who can stand to lose 50 or so lbs themselves ... blessing, Rhonda
 
Rhonda:

Good for you for losing that weight. I am trying to get my last 15 pounds off and know how hard it is. Great job!

What does your workout typically consist of? I was thinking about upping my amount of exercise to help get that last 15 off.

Thanks. Marcia :)
 
Both Wayne and Aquajock have great points. I do believe that poeple that work out get ridiculed alot for their choices in life, BUT I do think there is a fine line between exercising for health and exercising because it is a compulsion. I know when you start losing weight it fools so good, and if you really get "addicted", you can never want that "good" feeling to end.....therefore you keep WANTING to lose weight, sometimes even to the point of being unhealthy. Also, as you become more critical of yourself and more into exercise, you think..."I will he happy at 105 pounds". Then you get to 105 pounds and you say..." I will be happy at 100 pounds". Sometimes, you are never happy. That is a vicious cycle, and very unhealty. I think the trick here is to determine which category you fall into.

Great posts Annette and Wayne!!!:):)

Janice
 
Well Marcia,
I will tell you what I did yesterday and what I did and am doing today and tonight :7 .. I try to do 4 miles ever day on my treadmill which takes me about 68 minutes, on top of that last night I did the Terminator( minus the step bench stuff), plus I did 18 minutes of pilates AB sculpting, 18 minutes of pilates buns and thighs, and 15 minutes of AB hits, today the treadmill again, and tonight PS legs nad PS bisceps and back. There ya go :7 ... blessings Rhonda :9
 
Thanks Rhonda. Do you run in any races, too, throughout the year?

I ran a 1/2 marathon race this past June and it was one of the best experiences of my life.

Take Care, Marca.
 
Websters defines an obsession as "a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling."

Most people from this forum are probably advanced exercisers. That means that most of us have been exercising for quite a while, and most of us really enjoy exercising. From the many knowledgeable posts I've read, there are obviously many here who devote much of their time to reading about, talking about (at least here!) and of course, participating in fitness.

Does that mean we are persistently and disturbingly preoccupied with an unreasonable idea or feeling? Hardly!

The world is full of people who are passionate about many different things. Passion nurtures talents and creates expertise. I feel fortunate that fitness is one of the things about which I'm passionate, don't you?
 
And don't you just hate when people ask you this: "And do you still exercise every day?" As if there should be some sort of cure for that by now...
 
>And don't you just hate when people ask you this: "And do
>you still exercise every day?" As if there should be some sort
>of cure for that by now...

Hahaha - that was so funny!

And their next words are - "I just don't have enough time to exercise". Like I do! But in sacrifice to my body I am willing to haul my a** out of bed at 4am to give it some needed movement!
 
Everyone has some great ponits here.And I think all of us have been at some point where we have had to explain why we exercise.
My mom was on my case about 2 yrs ago.I worked out an average amount but I also ate really clean.Everytime she saw me she wanted to know if I was trying to become "see through".
I also run with a girl who is very slim.But she always has been and people always ask her why she runs."your already skinny,what are you doing that for"? She loves the benefits of it.Its not just the weight loss part of it.Shes 5'6" amd 108 lbs.Very tiny! When I look at her I can't beleive that I am 20 lbs heavier.
You just have to ignore negative coments,if you are happy with your life,then thats all that matters.
Lori
 
It seems like the people who think you are obsessed with working out, do not workout at all.x( Or if they try it they complain how much they hate it. I personally love working out,and the way i feel when I do it.I will always do it.:)
 
> I also run with a girl who is very slim.But she always has
>been and people always ask her why she runs."your already
>skinny,what are you doing that for"? She loves the benefits of
>it.Its not just the weight loss part of it.Shes 5'6" amd 108
>lbs.Very tiny!

Oh can I ever relate to this one! I am almost the same size as your friend (5'7" and 110 lbs).
People are constantly asking me why in the world I work out and run if I don't need to lose weight.
I just tell them that my skinny arms would be even skinnier if not for my Cathe workouts! :p
 
I think the mere fact that you aren't lazy and DO workout is a slap in the face to all of the slugs we have in our society. And most of our society are extremely lazy about exercise. It's these same people who will cause, and are causing right now, our health costs to rise because they are constantly sucking the system dry because of constant illness, injury etc. Stuff that could be avoided if they were in shape. And people like us will pay the price.
Where I work, every month we have these ridiculous safety meetings where we go over injury reports and I swear to God it seems like all of them involve some muscle pull or something that had to do with the person(s) not being in decent shape. Usually involving some clown who is a union worker but that's another story. Anyway, I feel like standing up and recommending that these people be required to GET IN SHAPE! Instead they will spend countless hours investigating how we can buy gadgets and/or tear our facility apart to try to make it easier for these people. One example: the people in the laboratory area which supports our production plants were complaining that they were pulling muscles/hurting their hands trying to open sample jars!!!!! So our fool safety dept. went out and got these straps to wrap around the jars to make opening easier!! These take forever to use so the end result will be lowered output from that area. I tell you what, I am pretty strong, so what I do now is when I send samples over(rare since I am in Tech Service/ R and D) I wrench the lids on so tight that no one is getting them off. These people don't wanna be in decent shape then screw 'em. They are gonna pay.
As far as obsession, I think that word is used selectively by people depending on what they want to be doing. For instance the "hours in front of the tv" example is a good one. Sounds obsessive to me. I do think 6 days a week is too much however, but I guess it depends on your schedule. I try to streamline my workouts and workout smarter and not necessarily longer or more often. If you are doing 6 cardios a week that IS way too much.
Anyway sorry to be wordy.
Trevor :)
 
Yeah, she just ingnores people now when they ask her.She said that she use to be smaller before she started running.She was 94 lbs when she graduated from high school so I don't understand why people in this town think that she has an eating disorder, or obsessed with exercise. Probably b/c she has two kids people think she should be bigger.
I have to say she looks good.I think that the people who think that she is to unhealthy looking are just jealous.Now some people can be the same weight and height and look sickly but it is all about bone structure in my opinion .Running as really built up her calve muscles as well. There is your proff there that muscle weighs more then fat.We all think that b/c we started working out that we are going to weigh less, when really we are building wonderful, heavier muscles.;)
Lori
 
"It seams like the people who think you are obsessed with working out, do not work out at all"

Wow! Isn't that the truth! There are two women who I work with that are "obsessed" with what I eat (because I always turn down their offers to have pizza or McDonalds for lunch) and how much I exercize. I am sorry I ever told them. One time I walked into the lunchroom and caught one of them telling somebody else that I work out 6 days a week. The woman she was telling said "What's this I hear about you working out 6 days a week?", but she said it like "What's this I hear about you smoking crack every night?" Haha! I just said "Yeah, I do. Is that a bad thing?" Then they both realized that they were sounding pretty stupid and got embarassed.

My husband used to harass me about working out so much, but after I finally convinced him that I am doing it because I love it, he is very supportive. The other night I came home with some heavier weights than I had been using and he said "Your on a mission, go for it!" ;-)
 
This whole country is known for being obsessed with diet - look how fat the people are in this country compared to others - Americans spend billions of dollars every year to lose weight - now is that an obsession? Well, is it working for them? Everyone wants a miracle pill to lose weight they all want exercise in a bottle - every year new pills come about to help people lose weight and they claim eat all you want and do not exercise!

So, we (the 3% - 5%) of us who do it the right way by trying to eat clean and exercising on a regular basis are called obsessed - who is really obsessed - we have the answer. Would I want exercise in a bottle if I could? NO WAY! I love working out and how I feel during and after - I will never give it up.

I am 47, soon to be 48, a mother of 10 children with 7 of them at home and I home school and I work out every day - big deal - I do not explain myself anymore - my husband works his whole schedule and our whole family for that matter over watching his sports on TV - so what is the difference at least I am doing something healthy for myself.

I know people who are addicted to donuts, coffee they cannot even function without it in the morning - I would much rather be addicted to my exercise fix which is much healthier for me than donuts and coffee!

I have two sisters who are obssesed about laying in the sun and going to tanning booths which isn't for me ( I hate what it does to age my skin) does that mean I say things to them about it? NO, I do not - and laying in the sun isn't good for you.

Here I go rambling - I feel very healthy and look great for having ten children - I get tons of compliments when people find out I have that many children.

Besides, the exercise helps me to relieve the tons of stress I get from having all of these kids - teenagers - my children range from 2 to 29 (she wil be 30) soon. I also have a son who was hit by a car 18 months ago (he is 26) he has a traumatic brain injury - I need exercise to get me through it all !

Cheryl
 
Hi Rhonda,

WOW!! 28 lb weight loss, that's great and in such a short period of time. Exercise has saved me from not gaining any of my weight back, I beleive that's 75% of the battle for me. I eat pretty much what I want. If you're exercising 2 to 2 1/2 hours per day, do you take in considerable more calories than you normally would?? Do you eat a lot of protein as opposed to carbs?? Just curious.

Anyway, thanks for your comments. One reason I love reading these forums is people helping people keep on the straight and narrow. It's nice to get a new perspective on how we are feeling. We're not as alone as we think.

Thanks,

Karen

I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Phil. 4:13
 
HI Cheryl..
WOW, you have 10 children.. that is absolutely amazing!
I have 4 and until now I have been one of the biggest couch potatos there is.. 3 years ago it was very differnt.. I was a fierce lover of my exercise and was always the one who had a 'problem' because I was so 'obsessed'.
People said I was even a bad parent because of it which is nonsense of course.
The reason I felt compelled to respond to you is that I have also have a child who is ill , my daughter April (9) has brain cancer and has been fighting her fight for almost 2 years and winning, I might add.
You are so right.. you NEED the exercise to get you through all you have to do (and no one is going to do any of it for you.. you HAVE to do it yourself!)
You have inspired me so much.. I let my plight as a parent (albeit, a single one) take me over and overcome me and I suffer for it now. And no one is saying that I am a bad parent or obsessed when I buy my absolutely unhealthy food that I consume or comment on the 30kg that I have to carry around now!
It is crazy.
Anyway, I just wanted to tell you how much you affected me and to wish you , and your family all the best from our home to yours.
Kelly.
:)
 
I won't even talk about it with my friends or my dh family. My family on the other hand compliments me all the time and my mom brags about me to anyone who will listen. My inlaws look but don't say much. My FIL did come to me and ask me to help him lose wt. I desighed a program for him and he lost over 20lbs ( does not need to lose more). While my FIL was doing this, my MIL was pretty nasty about it. Oh well.

Only once I had a rude remark made by a friend/co-worker. We were eatting lunch and she said "I bet you go home and exercise like crazy, don't you"? She said this in front of a group, I just smiled and said "No". I do come and exercise, but not like crazy.

I work in the cardiac/pulm. rehabilitaion dept. at the hospital. I spend all day educating of CAD (coronary artery disease) and working on an exercising program for my patients. I love my job. :D
 
I was "obsessed" with exercise.

I have lost a lot of weight (over 80 lbs). I started exercising soon after I began my weight loss program (WW). I found that my weight losses correlated to how much exercise I was completing in the week. As I continued along my weight loss journey, I wasn't losing as much (natural slowing from less weight to lose). I began to exercise more and more believing that this would result in losses again. NOPE! It didn't happen. I became obsessed with exercising to the point that I worked out before work, would go to the gym for another hour at lunch and then, do some more after work. I would easily work out for 840+ minutes a week. That is way too much! I would pass on going out with friends because I couldn't miss a workout session.

My BF commented on my "obsession" and I got angry with him. I didn't believe him. How could exercise be bad?! I believed that he didn't want me to lose anymore weight. In reality, he wanted to see me have a healthy attitude towards exercise.

It took a while for me to realize that exercise can become "too much of a good thing". I now allow my body rest dayS!and have found that the weight loss has resumed!

Tamikka
 
I just got the "obsessed" comment today! I was giving some exercise videos and DVD's that I don't use any more to a colleague/friend, and she was concerned that I was giving her too many out of my collection (For someone with a collection that keeps topping out above 100, no matter how many I seem to get rid of, the 7 or 8 tapes I gave her are a drop in the bucket. LOL!) When I responded by saying I have a lot more at home, she said "you're obsessed." I simply said "it's not a bad obsession though, is it?"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top