getting there is only half the battle

[gwyn_r]

Started off week 3 of the exercise effort with a trip to the gym with mlyn to help me figure out how to work the elliptical machine. I got brave last week and tried it out, but it was excruciating and left my thighs a burning mass of rubber. A bunch of people barked at me this weekend about how I needed less resistance and a lower level, but I hit

Comments

[ixchel55]

(I was watching those minutes tick down like a buzzard waiting for someone to die)

This is exactly my feelings toward exercise. I've managed to keep doing it on a fairly consistent basis but I will never, never be one of those people who enjoy exercise. But you're right, whether you lose weight or not you'll feel better.

My suggestion is to get yourself an MP3 player to listen to music or podfic. It does make the time move a little less slowly.

I'm a grazer, too. Having diabetes this is both good and bad for me. Being a diabetic you're encouraged to eat 5-6 small meals instead of large ones, but to wait 3 hours or so between 'meals' to keep your blood sugar even. But once I start eating I want to keep on and that keeps my blood sugar at an elevated level. When I become distracted I can easily go for hours w/o the desire to eat, especially during the day. But that will make my blood sugar spike, too. So I eat something small but then have the insane urge to nibble for hours *sigh* Kinda sucks. Having to re-teach myself how to eat and not just diet has been one of the hardest things.

Good luck with the diet and exercise regime. I'll be over here in the Midwest commiserating with cheering you on!

[gwyn_r]

I really hate exercise. I mean, I hate the whole going somewhere to do this sort of thing, but clearly walking everywhere and eating less and whatnot aren't working. At some point, if I ever have money again, I will buy myself some kind of cardio machine to use in the garage, but that time is not now.

To be honest with you, one of my huge motivating factors is diabetes. Since I don't know my birth parents' medical history, I have no idea if it is in my family, and I'm terrified of it - my dearest friend for years has type 1 and it is slowly destroying him, and my dad has type 2 and his life has been such a mess because of it these past few years, although he's doing pretty well for an 84-year-old. So fear is my great motivation, which I suppose is as good a motivation as any! And I know what a difficult struggle that was when you were going through the initial stages, and it was valuable insight for me.

I'm not sure I will ever enjoy it, but... I get tangled up in my iPod wires all the time so I haven't brought one with me, but the ellipticals are unfortunately over by the sports-all-the-time TVs at my gym, and at least CNN is on the other one, except the bad part is that it's only near the bikes. The rowing machines are there, though, so I think I will add rowing once I get up more speed.

[ixchel55]

One of the things I've learned about diabetes is that if you don't have the gene for it, no matter how over-weight you are or how bad your diet, you're not going to develop it. Unfortunately you don't have a way to check for that history.

Loosing weight is important and will help deter diabetes if you're prone, but watching your carb consumption which helps keep your blood sugar from spiking and your body from developing a resistance to insulin is more important.

Fortunately that means if you're not diabetic or pre-diabetic (that can be tested for), you can indulge a little bit with fat content. It's when you can't have very much fat or very many carbs that things begin to get kinda boring. ):

Has your doctor checked your fasting blood sugar?