Just a few thoughts, from my horribly vast experience!
"1. That you have to exercise outside your comfort zone (in the "pain zone", really pushing yourself), to get any benefit from exercise?"
I think this depends how unfit you are. If you're just starting out, staying active with walking or swimming can work wonders. But once you get going, you'll need to start pushing yourself more, because your body seems to get used to the exercise :( You should be careful of pain though: working to a level of discomfort is recommended, but pain is NOT good. You can really screw up your joints or spine doing high impact exercise when you're overweight, and you can tear muscles trying to do too much too soon.
"2. That you have to rid yourself of all processed foods, entirely, to be healthy? And that 'diet' foods are more chemicals than food and thus, to be entirely avoided?"
I'ld agree with this. I used to eat "diet" foods (weight-watchers meals, SlimFast, those low-fat cereal bars) and my blood-sugar levels got so high that I had to go to hospital and be tested for Diabetes! The nurses accused me of binging on cream cakes! Going "cold turkey" is a useful exercise - it's surprising how addictive some processed food can be (fructose syrup, salt, MSG...). I'm actually a Vegan now, and I'ld recommend giving it a go. If you don't feel that's right for you, you may still find it helpful to bulk up on vegetables and eat low fat like Nurse Quigg said.
"how do you push yourself that hard without a trainer to motivate you, or a group of super-fit friends to keep up with?"
I take the martial arts approach: compete with yourself. Each day or week run faster, lift more or lose a little more weight than the day before. And the end of the day, we're all doing this for ourselves ;-)
"1. That you have to exercise outside your comfort zone (in the "pain zone", really pushing yourself), to get any benefit from exercise?"
I think this depends how unfit you are. If you're just starting out, staying active with walking or swimming can work wonders. But once you get going, you'll need to start pushing yourself more, because your body seems to get used to the exercise :( You should be careful of pain though: working to a level of discomfort is recommended, but pain is NOT good. You can really screw up your joints or spine doing high impact exercise when you're overweight, and you can tear muscles trying to do too much too soon.
"2. That you have to rid yourself of all processed foods, entirely, to be healthy? And that 'diet' foods are more chemicals than food and thus, to be entirely avoided?"
I'ld agree with this. I used to eat "diet" foods (weight-watchers meals, SlimFast, those low-fat cereal bars) and my blood-sugar levels got so high that I had to go to hospital and be tested for Diabetes! The nurses accused me of binging on cream cakes! Going "cold turkey" is a useful exercise - it's surprising how addictive some processed food can be (fructose syrup, salt, MSG...). I'm actually a Vegan now, and I'ld recommend giving it a go. If you don't feel that's right for you, you may still find it helpful to bulk up on vegetables and eat low fat like Nurse Quigg said.
"how do you push yourself that hard without a trainer to motivate you, or a group of super-fit friends to keep up with?"
I take the martial arts approach: compete with yourself. Each day or week run faster, lift more or lose a little more weight than the day before. And the end of the day, we're all doing this for ourselves ;-)
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