Food Control Discipline vs Exercise Discipline

Soopatt

I find it interesting that I find my food discipline much easier to manage and sustain than my exercise discipline.

I think this is because I know I will still lose even if I never exercise, so I am less motivated to get on my bike or whatever. If I don't control my food intake, nothing will happen, so that part is non negotiable.

How do the rest of you kick your butts about exercise, or are you also ok to take it or leave it?

I would like a firmer butt, but it is - I dunno... less critical.

FatRunningMan1966

I would prefer to exercise as I have a big appetite that I am struggling to control, so by cycling/walking and burning the extra calories gives me the ability to eat more.

Having said that, I have only been "dieting" for about 4 weeks so things might change as my weight has remained the same over the past 4 days

as for the firmer butt - that down to personal preference or partner preference ;;)

Patttience

You have to do quite a lot of exercise generally to override the tendency to eat back the calories you burn from exercise.

I have successfully lost my weight without exercise because in the past i found i would run out of steam after a few months of intense exercise and then i'd put all the wieght back on. Its easy to lose weight without exercise until you get to a low weight.

These days i am doing exercise. But its exercise i enjoy and i do it primarily for health. I'm over 50 now and some exercise is important for bone health. Its important for blood vessel health (dementia prevention and other things) and no doubt a whole bunch of stuff I'm not even worrying about. I have a lovely beach and go every day for a walk down there. I just bought a dog who needs a daily run down there. If i didn't have a dog, i wouldn't go every day. I'd probably go about four days a week.

Now that i have the dog, and am going to the beach I have actually and easily graduated from walking the whole 2-3 kms to running some of it. I started this gradually wiht a few short sprints and now i'm running about 1 km at a reasonable pace. I'm not putting myself under pressure to to become super fit. Its simply not necessary.

You may find watching the exercise video by michael Mosley insightful. Its on youtube. It has changed the way i think about it and what i do.

Whatever form of exercise you do, it should be enjoyable. if you have to force yourself and its a chore, i don't think that's idea. In my life, I am happier when i'm doing things becuase I enjoy it.

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

It sounds like you haven't found an exercise you truly enjoy yet. Keep trying different things.

seska422

My weight loss plan doesn't include any exercise. I know I won't exercise consistently so I can't depend upon it. If I get in some exercise, that's great. If not, I won't stress about it.

I have no problem with weighing and logging my food. I can do that consistently.

Hence, the only discipline I'm exerting is the one that I know that I can follow long-term and that's food control.

joinn68

Like you I do find food control easier than exercise discipline but 1) besides weight loss I also (maybe even mainly) want to be fitter and in general in better health 2) I want to develop the habit of exercising 5 to 6 times a week because it is crucial for maintenance (or so experts...the ones who've lost and maintained say)

I have someone I exercise with. Knowing they are waiting for me helps me get out of my BFA to go and move... That's 3x/week for 2 hours. I also have a few 10 mins exercise videos for weight training (youtube!), and a jumping rope so I can do 10/15 minutes here and there without leaving my house.

Jruzer

I like to eat a lot. A lot of exercise allows me to eat more. I often prelog 1000+ calories for snacks which gives me an incentive to do the exercise I need to eat what I want.

Finding exercises that I like has helped. 60 minutes on my bike flies by and hardly even seems like effort.

boricua3177

In my case, I have a harder time getting my eating in order. I have found exercise classes at my gym that I really enjoy. Plus, I also have made new gym friends that help keep me accountable with my exercise. My gym friends & I text each other several times a week to make sure we are going to make our class, I love them for that. My eating? Well, let's just say I log it in & if you looked in my diary you may judge me. LOL! For the most part I stay within my calories, but I do drink a lot of Cokes & get carry out more times than I care to admit. I am still losing inches but if I was consistent with my eating, I'm sure I could be where I want to be much quicker. :-s

nyponbell

I walk to and from work every day (30 minutes each way, 5 days a week) and have been moderately successful in doing my rehab work-out (weights, for my back and shoulders) 3 times a week, sometimes 2. So I'm not entirely confident in saying that I've got my work-out discipline down, but I think it's easier in a way to have discipline in my working out as I kind of "just do it", according to my plan. Sometimes I don't, and I do the rehab another time than planned or even another day, but it's easier to keep that under control than my food. It also helps that I enjoy walking (and I'm saving money!) and I can feel my back and shoulders getting stronger and not be in pain the more I do the routine.

I'm trying to get back to it though! But this post came just as I wrote about this on my own wall.

This despite the fact that I know that the exercise is more of a bonus to the "diet" part of weight-loss, but I find it much harder to log now than I did before the summer.

Best of luck to you finding an exercise you like!

cwolfman13

Soopatt wrote: »

I find it interesting that I find my food discipline much easier to manage and sustain than my exercise discipline.

I think this is because I know I will still lose even if I never exercise, so I am less motivated to get on my bike or whatever. If I don't control my food intake, nothing will happen, so that part is non negotiable.

How do the rest of you kick your butts about exercise, or are you also ok to take it or leave it?

I would like a firmer butt, but it is - I dunno... less critical.

i don't see it as less critical...i don't look at health and wellness as a matter of simply losing weight...being a healthy weight is only one component of being healthy. regular exercise is, IMO, an essential component of overall health and wellness.

beyond that, being fit is awesome.

I would also add that a lot of people I come across with this issue have a very narrow view of what constitutes exercise. find and activity you enjoy doing and do it...personally, i love riding my bike...and you'd never find me prancing about my living room to a DVD...i would be miserable.

Florida_Superstar

It's true -- you just have to find something you enjoy doing, otherwise it will be something you dread and you won't stick with it. I teach group fitness classes and this is the advice I give whenever someone asks me what "the best" exercise is. My answer is always the same: "whatever exercise you will do." On a good note, for weight loss it's better to be motivated in the area of food than exercise. Exercise has many other wonderful benefits of course.

shrcpr

Exercise and food control go hand-in-hand for me. If I'm eating right, I'm exercising. If I'm exercising, I'm eating right. If I'm not doing one, I tend not to do the other either. I have some mild depression so I just think I need the exercise endorphins to keep me from getting depressed and eating. So, maybe that means exercise is more critical for me. Hmmm. I just talked myself in a circle. LOL.

Soopatt

Thanks for all the tips - I think you are right about me not currently having something I enjoy.

I used to love going to the gym when I was younger (I might have got a little obsessive about it in fact), but I am off it at the moment as I don't have the confidence that I could get through a class without dropping dread and I am embarrassed to be in there with all those fit younger people.

I don't have much more weight to lose so it is not a matter of being shy or judged - it is more a case that I don't want to spend the money and then not make the most of it. I also travel a lot for work so my schedule has me out of the country a lot - sometimes as much as two weeks in a month, which makes it more difficult to establish a routine.

I realize these are all excuses. I need to find something fun that I can keep doing, wherever I may find myself.

My body is shrinking but without exercise I am not going to end up with the body I want.

bluefish86

Most of us eat everyday so by the time we grow up we know what we like and don't like. Exercise is the same. You need to do it everyday and keep trying new things until you find what you like.