Day 39 - The Beck Diet Solution

On Day 39, Beck talks about "Keeping up with Exercise".  She acknowledges that is harder for some people than sticking with their new way of eating (yeah, that would be me!) and suggests some strategies for overcoming the "I don' wanna exercise" blues.

I actually read this chapter about 2 months ago (I'm so behind on posting) and implemented some of her strategies to get me into the habit of exercising 5-6 x a week, even though I still don't like it or really look forward to it.

1. Focus on how you'll feel after you finish exercising.
2. Put exercise in the NO CHOICE category (this is the one that works for me the most!)
3. Meet a friend or trainer.
4. Give yourself lots of credit (I am so bad at this)
5. Focus on your progress (this one motivates me, to beat myself and to challenge myself)
6. End your session with something positive (chocolate? - just kidding!!, the end is positive enough for me!)
7. Make sure you're doing a type of exercise you like. (Um..sure.....there might be one out there....)

I don't like formal exercise. I don't like "having" to exercise. I love hiking,  I love walking through a beautiful park in the Fall or along the lake on a summer's day.  These things are specific and I don't like doing them if they're not perfect, does that make sense?

I've gotten better at fitting spontaneous exercise into my day. I park furthest from the mall or store entrance, I walk a few blocks to pick up groceries, I get off  the bus or subway a few stops early and walk the rest of the way, not that I use public transportation very often..but when I do, I make an effort. I take the stairs as much as possible. I actually run up and down our stairs at home now, I could barely walk up them this time last year.

I don't know if I will ever love exercise. The feeling aftwards, that endorphin rush....sure it's nice for a while, but its really not a motivator for me. I like to challenge myself with my pedometer, to see if I can do 500 more steps than yesterday, or on my treadmill - beating my time by 30 seconds over a week or going farther in the same amount of time. Mindgames like that keep me interested, yet I am not competitive with other people. I don't want to race someone or "win". That just turns me off.

Mostly I just tell myself, there's no choice. You have to do this. Just do it, get it over with and then you can do what you really want, usually read :)