Notes for today's appointment with the fitness coach
Before we actually start talking about any exercise plans, I need to give you some background on my personal body issues & explain what I'm hoping to accomplish, because my situation may be different from what most people need.
I have a pretty bad relationship with my body, since I have a long history of feeling like it’s “letting me down.” When I've tried to lose weight in the past, I have usually tried to do too much, which led to me feeling overwhelmed, which then quickly led to me feeling bad about myself and my body because I couldn’t keep up with all the goals I’d set, which then quickly led to me giving up entirely.
I need help MODERATING my instinctively frenetic pace, so that I can build a long-term fitness improvement plan, rather than just wearing myself out right away & giving up again [or having a nervous breakdown, which has been the other result of this tendency of mine, but I don't think some random fitness coach needs to be informed about the full extent to which this approach has fucked up my life in all kinds of different areas].
1. I want to lose weight, but I need to start slowly, make it easy to start with, and increase my effort when my body tells me I’m ready, rather than forcing myself too hard and ending up HATING both the exercise and myself. Let's just start with some easy cardio & I'll increase my efforts as feels appropriate.
2. I tend to exercise too hard in order to feel like I'm exercising "enough,” and I think this is a big part of why I’ve ended up hating exercise. I'd like to use machines that integrate a heart rate monitor, because I think knowing my heart rate would help me learn what "exercising enough" means for ME & what it feels like from the INSIDE.
3. I'm wanting to start out with just cardio, mostly on the exercise bikes. I'm interested in training for better bike endurance, especially on hills, so that I can ride with Shannon.
4. I would like to learn how I can use the computer screens on the exercise bikes to help motivate me. What things can they do?
5. I’m also curious about the elliptical machine, which I've never used. What are its pros and cons?
6. I plan to do yoga and weights in the future, but those are not my immediate priority. Perhaps I could make another appointment to help me set up a weights routine in a month or so, when I've gotten into the habit of my cardio workouts?
I have a pretty bad relationship with my body, since I have a long history of feeling like it’s “letting me down.” When I've tried to lose weight in the past, I have usually tried to do too much, which led to me feeling overwhelmed, which then quickly led to me feeling bad about myself and my body because I couldn’t keep up with all the goals I’d set, which then quickly led to me giving up entirely.
I need help MODERATING my instinctively frenetic pace, so that I can build a long-term fitness improvement plan, rather than just wearing myself out right away & giving up again [or having a nervous breakdown, which has been the other result of this tendency of mine, but I don't think some random fitness coach needs to be informed about the full extent to which this approach has fucked up my life in all kinds of different areas].
1. I want to lose weight, but I need to start slowly, make it easy to start with, and increase my effort when my body tells me I’m ready, rather than forcing myself too hard and ending up HATING both the exercise and myself. Let's just start with some easy cardio & I'll increase my efforts as feels appropriate.
2. I tend to exercise too hard in order to feel like I'm exercising "enough,” and I think this is a big part of why I’ve ended up hating exercise. I'd like to use machines that integrate a heart rate monitor, because I think knowing my heart rate would help me learn what "exercising enough" means for ME & what it feels like from the INSIDE.
3. I'm wanting to start out with just cardio, mostly on the exercise bikes. I'm interested in training for better bike endurance, especially on hills, so that I can ride with Shannon.
4. I would like to learn how I can use the computer screens on the exercise bikes to help motivate me. What things can they do?
5. I’m also curious about the elliptical machine, which I've never used. What are its pros and cons?
6. I plan to do yoga and weights in the future, but those are not my immediate priority. Perhaps I could make another appointment to help me set up a weights routine in a month or so, when I've gotten into the habit of my cardio workouts?