Confession: Exercising and gym never made real sense to me

[Virtual ghost]

I see that people here struggle with weight problems and USA is known for its weight problems and therefore I will just leave here my way of dealing with the whole weight problem.


When I wonder through the internet I on regular basis encounter advertising for exercising manuals, discounts for gym and exercising devices, lists of health foods etc. In other words: since offer is so big that means that the demand is also big. However I do not understand why people care about this and even spend plenty money on this ? Gyms and excercises are a real chore and I do not like these activities at all. They cost, you relatively quickly get tired and you do not spend that much calories, you have to travel into gym and park your car, after you are so sweaty that you have to shower afterwards ... etc. This strikes me as a real piece of work that you have to do all the time and I find this frustrating. If I were to focus on these methods I would get frustrated about the whole thing and eventually get fat as a result, just as other people.


I have entered my 30s but I have never in my life been fat, also I was never going to the gyms, I have never bought a book about health ... etc. Plus I am only one of two people in my family that has never been fat so you can't really blame genetics for this. Instead I make sure that I count my calories and I have a list about how much the most common types of food have calories. Therefore everday I do the math of intake and consumption. Also I make sure that I walk at least hour and a half each day and I do other physical activities when possible. If it happens that I start to gain weight I right away increase physical activities and maybe reduce the most caloric food types. What overal allows me to have constant weight with a few pound going up and down all the time. Never in my life I had more than about 10 pounds extra.


In my mind exercising and gym is possibly the worst way to losing weight right after the "magic pills". In my worldview the process of lossing weight must not be conscious and that means that it is best that you do something physical and completely forget that you are burning calories. (what is impossible to achive in a gym) I for example tend to take long fast walk around my city which can last for hours as my most basic way of losing weight. Therefore instead of going into gym I think that it is better that you buy yourself a museum/zoo ticket and spend calories walking and looking something that actually interest you. What will take off the focus from the burning calories and since physical intensity is much lower you can in theory spend whole day like this and that will burn much more calories than 20 minutes of strong workouts. (after which most fat people drop dead)


Also if you have no real desire in becoming a hardcore bodybuilder you do not need any weights for lifting. Therefore instead that I spend my money on gym, weights and ways of getting there every day I am spending them on tools and home/garden improvement materials, which really do not cost that much these days. Some things you can't do on your own but there is plenty of what you can do. What is good on so many levels because you are burning calories with physical work, repair/maintain your spaces, gain self confidence and probaly save money because you do not have to pay good money to someone else who will do it for you. What then makes it easier to buy more quality food. Even in the case that you do not know anyone who can show you how to do any of house repair work you can search for guidelines in various magazines and online. The easiest thing to do is to probably painting of walls and small furniture, however everyone that has tried to paint walls with large rollers probably knows that for this you will have to use your muscles quite a bit and that you will get quite a bit of gym effect by doing this. Another extra benefit of this is that by doing small home improvements you will make your living space much cleaner, what will effect your general health for sure. Why spending money and time on stupid things when you can burn those same calories by cleaning and maintaining your home ? Also when you eventually fix everything that needs to be fixed and it is easy enough for you to fix you can pass to the living spaces of your family members or friends if they agree. Or you can even gather them all in a group and try to repair something that you all like. The only problem with this is that you need to know what you are doing and that you gather enough information before you start anything. What is actually a pretty good way for making the sync between mind and body that is basically the foundation for inner peace.


Therefore when I want to lose weight I eat my normal diet that is 1800-2000 Kcal a day but I increase spending to 2500-3000. Therefore I get minus of about 700-1000 per day and that allows me to lose few pounds that are extra in a week or two and then I return to my intake spending ratio of 1:1. What allows me to keep my metabolism active and feel good about myself since I do not starve myself in any part of the process. If you have large weight problems this process will take some time and perhaps it is not best that you lose everthing in one piece. However if you keep the math calory under control and you do not have any other large health problems except your weight you should be able to get in shape in fairly reasonable time. (unless you have 200 punds extra). The whole trick of this approach is that you try to detach from the weight problems and focus on other things, what in my opinion is best solution because this greatly reduces stress and frustation of the whole weight process.


However there is one little extra trick in all of this and that is if you have a life of typical first worlder you can't drink large amount of soft drinks every day. Such drinks have 40-70 Kcal in one deciliter. What means that only a few large glasses have over 500 Kcal and that means that you will be starving if you plan to eat 1800 Kcal a day. (1500 Kcal for women) Therefore if you do not want to exercise few hours a day and kill yourself in order to lose wight you must give up on sweet sugar drinks for the most part. This could sound hard but probably as any addiction after a few days you will probably experience that you do not miss them that much. As a matter of fact I try to eat as little of unprocessed food and drink as possible because that way I also keep various chemicals and hormones out of my diet. To be honest I do not mind paying a little bit extra if that would mean that I will not eact junk. Also I would rather give up on something that I do not need or want that much just so that I eat mostly healthy food. For me personal health is possibly the most important thing a person has and therefore it should be protected at almost any cost.



I hope this makes sense.

 

[Tilt]

Yes. If you are industrious enough, you can just google stuff. The basics of exercise science is to just keep moving your body on a consistent basis and changing it up. If you do the same thing over and over again, your body adapts to it and your metabolism gets more efficient. This means that it takes less energy for you to do what you did previously and then you plateau.

 

[geedoenfj]

As long as you keep healthy weight and proper exercising, healthy lifestyle in general, you're good to go..
The gym is to enhance your look and release your inner pressure and burn extra calories..
I used to do aerobics at home but now it's only jogging and dancing, it uplifts my mood..

 

[Unkindloving]

Hm it varies from person to person how one tends to utilize or "require" gyms. Some people jive with a gym and will only become active if they have a membership somewhere. Some need friends or trainers to exercise with. Some can't absorb the information on their own and need to be guided through a routine. Some are perfectly well and good doing workouts or unintentional workouts at home or locally.

I also think it can depend what a gym provides to a person, and what they enjoy doing. If people join a gym that has basic equipment, but they enjoy fitness classes - then they may not push themselves to actually attend, and vice versa. I personally do more at a gym than I ever would at home. I can spend hours at a gym between cardio and weights, but I won't do crap in my own house lol. I'll just find distractions that aren't productive.

Also, contrary to popular belief, weight training/strength training isn't just for body builders and it's actually quite beneficial to continuous calorie burn over a longer period of time than what general cardio provides. That, and helps in terms of how there is degeneration of the muscles with aging, and stabilizing exercises with free weights/ bosu/ etc. Sure one can buy their own equipment or ghetto it with household items, but I do think the appeal is in not having to do that and seek out various items at home. It's all in one convenient spot... Aaaaaas long as one actually gets there.

For me, I hate cardio at the gym and I'll do it when I'm there, but it's a pain in my ass for little expenditure. It's why I did Zumba a lot for a number of years, and when I fell out of that my cardio went down the drain. Otherwise, I'm bored to tears and it seems to be triple the struggle to burn as much as the Zumba classes that felt "effortless". They distracted in the right way, so I'd forget I was working out and not just having fun. I'm sure an elliptical or arc trainer could do me right, but I'd be likely to just barely tolerate it the whole time.

The psychology of it is important, imo. If someone hates what they are doing, it's not liable to stick. Goes for both the gym and local ways of trying to keep active.
As per food, the US issue is that the cheaper foods seem more easily attainable, least time consuming, and are the worst for you overall. We get hooked on excessive flavor that's established with a lot of fats, carbs, and sodium primarily and have difficulty breaking from the routine or grabbing something quick and easy and unhealthy if we are busy.
Then there's issues with people calculating caloric intake of what they are eating. I can eyeball a lot of things and make a sound guesstimate of calories. My Dad is always about 500 calories off or better on his guesstimates. The only times I get fouled up are certain items at restaurants: one place had battered green beans, which were really solid green beany green beans and maybe 30% covered in batter when prepared. Green beans are like Minimal calories, but somehow this plate of green beans is 1000+ calories on their nutrition facts. That kind of shit baffles me because I have to wonder How these green beans are both retaining full green bean flavor and juiciness while being inundated with calories. So basically: MERICA and our food can be ridiculous at times.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Hm it varies from person to person how one tends to utilize or "require" gyms. Some people jive with a gym and will only become active if they have a membership somewhere. Some need friends or trainers to exercise with. Some can't absorb the information on their own and need to be guided through a routine. Some are perfectly well and good doing workouts or unintentional workouts at home or locally.

I also think it can depend what a gym provides to a person, and what they enjoy doing. If people join a gym that has basic equipment, but they enjoy fitness classes - then they may not push themselves to actually attend, and vice versa. I personally do more at a gym than I ever would at home. I can spend hours at a gym between cardio and weights, but I won't do crap in my own house lol. I'll just find distractions that aren't productive.

Also, contrary to popular belief, weight training/strength training isn't just for body builders and it's actually quite beneficial to continuous calorie burn over a longer period of time than what general cardio provides. That, and helps in terms of how there is degeneration of the muscles with aging, and stabilizing exercises with free weights/ bosu/ etc. Sure one can buy their own equipment or ghetto it with household items, but I do think the appeal is in not having to do that and seek out various items at home. It's all in one convenient spot... Aaaaaas long as one actually gets there.

For me, I hate cardio at the gym and I'll do it when I'm there, but it's a pain in my ass for little expenditure. It's why I did Zumba a lot for a number of years, and when I fell out of that my cardio went down the drain. Otherwise, I'm bored to tears and it seems to be triple the struggle to burn as much as the Zumba classes that felt "effortless". They distracted in the right way, so I'd forget I was working out and not just having fun. I'm sure an elliptical or arc trainer could do me right, but I'd be likely to just barely tolerate it the whole time.

The psychology of it is important, imo. If someone hates what they are doing, it's not liable to stick. Goes for both the gym and local ways of trying to keep active.
As per food, the US issue is that the cheaper foods seem more easily attainable, least time consuming, and are the worst for you overall. We get hooked on excessive flavor that's established with a lot of fats, carbs, and sodium primarily and have difficulty breaking from the routine or grabbing something quick and easy and unhealthy if we are busy.
Then there's issues with people calculating caloric intake of what they are eating. I can eyeball a lot of things and make a sound guesstimate of calories. My Dad is always about 500 calories off or better on his guesstimates. The only times I get fouled up are certain items at restaurants: one place had battered green beans, which were really solid green beany green beans and maybe 30% covered in batter when prepared. Green beans are like Minimal calories, but somehow this plate of green beans is 1000+ calories on their nutrition facts. That kind of shit baffles me because I have to wonder How these green beans are both retaining full green bean flavor and juiciness while being inundated with calories. So basically: MERICA and our food can be ridiculous at times.

Well the only thing I was trying to say is that exercising in its classical definition/form strikes me as a bad way of trying to deal with weight problems. Especially since it is so fake/synthetic activity.



In USA there are no open food markets where it is possible to buy food directly from producers and pesants ? (and it is even possible to bargain for the price)

 

[Tilt]

Well the only thing I was trying to say is that exercising in its classical definition/form strikes me as a bad way of trying to deal with weight problems. Especially since it is so fake/synthetic activity.



In USA there are no open food markets where it is possible to buy food directly from producers and pesants ? (and it is even possible to bargain for the price)

Yes, there are local farms, co-ops, farmer's markets, and organic grocery stores.

 

[Grand Admiral Crunch]

Never in my life I had more than about 10 pounds extra.

Oh yeah? Well I hate you and want you to die! Just kidding. Good for you. I avoid the gym also. Sick people go there in the winter, and in the summer, I can exercise outside. Plus I had a really bad experience of someone cornering me in the restroom and wanting me to rub lotion on their pimply back.

 

[Unkindloving]

Well the only thing I was trying to say is that exercising in its classical definition/form strikes me as a bad way of trying to deal with weight problems. Especially since it is so fake/synthetic activity.



In USA there are no open food markets where it is possible to buy food directly from producers and pesants ? (and it is even possible to bargain for the price)

The basis of most exercises is to mimic the movement or muscle utilization from other activities, so I can see how it can come across as a jip in a sense as its substituting the "real deal", but it's better than zero activity, better for reinforcing activity, and good as long as it has a positive connotation.

And yea we do have markets and fresh produce, but I'd say that also varies from region to region how accessible and cost effective they can be. Some places have really great access to produce and a really good value for it. Others not so much. I know around here I'd have to travel a fair amount to find a good and inexpensive place. Or talk to the kale hippies lol. America would benefit a lot from people not just saying "you need to eat better" and leaving it up to them to fall back on not finding a good resource, but being able to say "hey! Go to these places to eat better"

I don't think I touched on how I don't buy into all the crazy supplement and diet fads, and would never recommend them to people. I think it's awful to try to tell people there's a miracle way to lose x amount of weight and not define it with the science behind it and with the need for an overall lifestyle change. America throws so much of that into the knowledge base and it pollutes it for everyone who is trying to tell people legit facts about how the body works.
People are a bit loopy out here. How many times I've heard "oh I lost a ton of weight and I work out and only eat a meal or a meal and a half a day" and I friggin Cringe. Like glad for your weight loss, but do you know what else your body is up to with that??!

 

[Lark]

I love the gym and exercise.

I've owned exercise equipment before now and it always winds up as expensive clothes horses, so I figure its better allowing the club to supply the machinery and hardware, there's also studio classes available to me on my subscription if I want to take part, which I dont most of the time but still, I have the option.

The minor small bits of equipment I own, dumbells and kettlebells, dont take up space and I can and do use them daily, even, and especially, when I'm not at the gym and not doing any other exercise besides.

I'm trying to diversify my exercise habits, although I'm not sure towards what, besides archery (not physically strenuous) or swimming or trekking or running, I'm not interested in much else. Its not as easy to go dancing from the mid to late thirties onwards, people settle down, the singles scene isnt so good, its usually coupled to drinking a lot of booze etc.

Although, I dont think of exercise as being about arresting weight gain or fitness per se, I see it as being in the same category as Teddy Roosevelt's Strenuous Life essay and what that idea means for my own search for meaning in life.