As one who abhors exercise, a conclusion that I’ve recently reached pains me greatly. However, there is no way around it: it’s time to get my ass back to the gym. (To clarify: “back to” is rather generous. “To” would be more like it.)
The frustrating thing is, I used to work out all the time. I ran regularly and participated in 10K and 10-mile races, I got my money’s worth from my gym membership, and I even took the occasional pilates and yoga classes. Overall, I felt that I was strong and fit — sure, I wanted to drop a few pounds, but by no means did I need to.
As summarized in “Food for Thought“, I gained a bunch of weight over the course of a few years, then lost it once I made the switch to a vegan diet. Of course, here is the irony: I have never been less in shape than I am now, even though I weigh the same as I did in 9th grade. This is the joke about losing weight through diet alone: it doesn’t mean you will look or feel any better. I may be 20 pounds lighter than I was a few years ago, but in some ways, I think I looked better back then when I had muscle tone, as opposed to flabby parts I’m rocking now.
(Please, take a moment now to recover from your image of my beauty.)
I know this is the oldest excuse in the book, but somewhere along the way, life just became too busy. As you know from “Waking Up is Hard to Do“, I am NOT a morning person, which rules out a.m. workouts. And given my busy professional life, hitting the gym after work would result dinner no earlier than 9 p.m., and even less time to spend with my husband.
So what’s a girl to do? Nancy Hellmich of USA Today summed up the dilemma pretty succinctly in her article last week: “Time to exercise, eat well and ditch the excuse of ‘no time’“. At this point, I figure I have the eating thing as good as I’m ever going to get it … so that just leaves the “exercise” and “ditching the excuse of no time”.
Hmmmm. Who needs sleep, right?
I would love to hear your advice / recommendations on how to get motivated and moving again – please share in the “comments” section!
Workout with a friend… or an at home gym…
You really don’t need much to have an at home gym… some dumbbells and a ball and you’ll be good to go… so, you can come home and workout with James. Or do what I do on occasion… workout while drinking my evening wine… Yes, I know that sounds counterproductive… but, at least I’m strengthening and toning some… You only need to do it 3 times a week, and then go for a walk or run the other days… you’ll save money and commuting time… and you don’t have to buy cute gym clothes… I watch TV while working out and wear just a sports bra and shorts… sometimes I do it barefoot… whatever it takes for me to do situps, lunges, bi’s and tri’s, chest and shoulder presses… you can get a pretty decent workout… the challenge is sticking to it, and not finding other excuses… like that bottle of wine isn’t going to drink itself… I honestly don’t miss the gym… I found it annoying when people would sit on machines for a long time or people would give you dirty looks at whatever workout move you were doing… it’s just nice to workout in the comfort of your own home… (I also just bought two sets of kettle weights which haven’t moved from the place where I took them out of their box at the end of my sofa…)
Good luck, my friend! I struggle with fitting time in to work out every day. Between work and school right now, I’ve had to cut down my runs or break a longer run into two shorter runs. With how busy we all are, I figure any exercise is better than non:-)
That should be none:-) Hit send too fast.
Twenty pounds! That makes the vegan lifestyle VERY appealing. Maybe I should do that and add in a pinch and smattering of exercise to boot. Good for you, Laura!