My Nemesis....boredom
Aaron_K123
Posts: 7,122 Member
As long as I find ways to keep weightloss or fitness entertaining I kill it, stay on top of it and keep it exactly on track where I want it. I set myself fitness goals, I keep on track of my intake and output and monitor closely with scale and calipers and ensure I lose at a consistant rate without affecting my overall lean mass. As long as I am paying attention, things go well...I lose weight, I don't lose muscle and I'm not hungry.
But...inevitably...I start to get a bit bored by it. Start to become listless, get tired of being more tired from the calorie deficit, tired of fitness resulting in maintained strength rather than gained strength. The weather gets crummy and being outside is more of a chore. If I get bored I can keep it up for a bit but generally something else more entertaining comes by and I put down my health and pick up something else instead (very myopic that way).
So question to the community, anyone else out there who has boredom as their main nemesis to achieving their fitness goals? How do you keep yourself "entertained" by your goals? Change them up? Take a break from weightloss and try maintenance or a bulk instead? Change your approach to dieting just to try something else? I had set myself a goal to reach by December 15th and I'd like to get there first if I can, but not sure if I try to push through this boredom or take a break in the hopes I'll come back to it later.
But...inevitably...I start to get a bit bored by it. Start to become listless, get tired of being more tired from the calorie deficit, tired of fitness resulting in maintained strength rather than gained strength. The weather gets crummy and being outside is more of a chore. If I get bored I can keep it up for a bit but generally something else more entertaining comes by and I put down my health and pick up something else instead (very myopic that way).
So question to the community, anyone else out there who has boredom as their main nemesis to achieving their fitness goals? How do you keep yourself "entertained" by your goals? Change them up? Take a break from weightloss and try maintenance or a bulk instead? Change your approach to dieting just to try something else? I had set myself a goal to reach by December 15th and I'd like to get there first if I can, but not sure if I try to push through this boredom or take a break in the hopes I'll come back to it later.
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Replies
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When I get bored from cutting this usually means I've been in my own little bubble of head space too much and its time to see what others are doing.
So I've been looking up the top experts works in the fitness industry, new studies and the people making strides on youtube.
I'm new to lifting so thats exciting seeing any progress to my body comp. I have been watching cross fit and power lifting videos of the sports and am very inspired by these people.
I'm focused and determined to lose this belly fat.
I've never had a flat stomach and my goal is to see if lifting can do what no amount of cardio has ever done for my body fat.
Theres so many aspects of the fitness realm, once you go down the rabbit hole you can find something new to keep your attention.2 -
I get bored and inevitably complacent at times. I try a variety of things to beat the boredom such as doing personal plank and/or push-up challenges. I change my gym routine or add in new, more challenging exercises.
I never consider myself on a diet but I am low carb so I try to eat seasonally and experiment with new vegetables throughout the year. Sometimes nothing really works and I'll focus my attention to other things in my life, follow my eating and workout plans out of habit and eventually the feeling fades.
Not a very exciting answer so I'll be interested to see what others have to say.1 -
Oh and I have discovered Pod casts
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I get bored and inevitably complacent at times. I try a variety of things to beat the boredom such as doing personal plank and/or push-up challenges. I change my gym routine or add in new, more challenging exercises.
I never consider myself on a diet but I am low carb so I try to eat seasonally and experiment with new vegetables throughout the year. Sometimes nothing really works and I'll focus my attention to other things in my life, follow my eating and workout plans out of habit and eventually the feeling fades.
Not a very exciting answer so I'll be interested to see what others have to say.
Yeah I'm trying out a pushup challenge right now. Hit a celling pretty fast though, just underlines the problems with calorie deficits and making actual strength gains. Part of what is frustrating about it.2 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »As long as I find ways to keep weightloss or fitness entertaining I kill it, stay on top of it and keep it exactly on track where I want it. I set myself fitness goals, I keep on track of my intake and output and monitor closely with scale and calipers and ensure I lose at a consistant rate without affecting my overall lean mass. As long as I am paying attention, things go well...I lose weight, I don't lose muscle and I'm not hungry.
But...inevitably...I start to get a bit bored by it. Start to become listless, get tired of being more tired from the calorie deficit, tired of fitness resulting in maintained strength rather than gained strength. The weather gets crummy and being outside is more of a chore. If I get bored I can keep it up for a bit but generally something else more entertaining comes by and I put down my health and pick up something else instead (very myopic that way).
So question to the community, anyone else out there who has boredom as their main nemesis to achieving their fintess goals? How do you keep yourself "entertained" by your goals? Change them up? Take a break from weightloss and try maintenance or a bulk instead? Change your approach to dieting just to try something else? I had set myself a goal to reach by December 15th and I'd like to get there first if I can, but not sure if I try to push through this boredom or take a break in the hopes I'll come back to it later.
I have taken several breaks from dieting and eat at maintenance. During that time, I still continue to work on making progress within exercise to help with some recomp.
Right now, i have reengaged with going in a deficit but slightly different. I more aggressively cut during the week and save calories for Friday/Saturday. First weigh in I was down 2.4 lbs and broken even on second weigh in (but I had a wedding anniversary and a couple events to cause that).
ETA: if this doesn't work long term, I will just go back to recomp. It's fairly easy to maintain weight even without counting.3 -
I get this way, too. I have been losing weight at a slow pace, since I like to eat and I try to keep my deficit at 250-500 calories at most. The upside to this is having more calories to play with; the downside being that it takes longer and it is more easy to get bored.
I took a break for a few weeks that I'm just now coming back off of. I ate at maintenance without logging, but weighing myself each day so I could adjust my habits if the weight started creeping up. I did well, and it helped.
Other tricks I use to combat boredom:
1. Switch up my exercise. Exercise is a big appetite suppressant for me, and I find that starting a new higher-intensity cardio workout or switching up my strength training helps to get me excited about losing weight again.
2. Try new recipes. I will occasionally get stuck in a rut with what I cook, since my husband and I both work and my kids are picky. I get tired of planning out what to eat, and tend to stick to the same-old recipes. Finding something new to try, or trying out a more complicated recipe, helps. Plus, I feel like every time I try a new recipe, I *have* to use my food scale and enter it into the recipe builder. Since I already did the work to calculate the calories and macros, I may as well count it.
3. Try a new hobby. Getting into a new hobby, no matter how small, will help me take my mind off of how bored I am with my diet and stop me from eating mindlessly.
4. Meal prep. This is a new thing that I'm trying at the moment to try to kick my butt back into a deficit. I've found that planning out our meals and cooking everything on Sunday is kind of fun, and cuts down on the amount of work I have to put into cooking and tracking meals throughout the week. I'm also getting my husband and kids involved. Plus, with the fall weather, fall fragrances, and football, firing up my kitchen and cooking all day reminds me a lot of Thanksgiving.
I'm not sure if this is what you were looking for, and they're really generic and likely obvious answers, but they help me. Maybe they will help you too.
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My main aim is to try to set diet in the background so that I am not thinking about it. I find that having non-weight loss goals is important. Whether it is training for a 5k or aiming to lift a certain weight or increasing number of pushups or putting the Kindle away on time so that I get at least X hours of sleep a night, goals help me.0
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Aaron_K123 wrote: »As long as I find ways to keep weightloss or fitness entertaining I kill it, stay on top of it and keep it exactly on track where I want it. I set myself fitness goals, I keep on track of my intake and output and monitor closely with scale and calipers and ensure I lose at a consistant rate without affecting my overall lean mass. As long as I am paying attention, things go well...I lose weight, I don't lose muscle and I'm not hungry.
But...inevitably...I start to get a bit bored by it. Start to become listless, get tired of being more tired from the calorie deficit, tired of fitness resulting in maintained strength rather than gained strength. The weather gets crummy and being outside is more of a chore. If I get bored I can keep it up for a bit but generally something else more entertaining comes by and I put down my health and pick up something else instead (very myopic that way).
So question to the community, anyone else out there who has boredom as their main nemesis to achieving their fintess goals? How do you keep yourself "entertained" by your goals? Change them up? Take a break from weightloss and try maintenance or a bulk instead? Change your approach to dieting just to try something else? I had set myself a goal to reach by December 15th and I'd like to get there first if I can, but not sure if I try to push through this boredom or take a break in the hopes I'll come back to it later.
I have taken several breaks from dieting and eat at maintenance. During that time, I still continue to work on making progress within exercise to help with some recomp.
Right now, i have reengaged with going in a deficit but slightly different. I more aggressively cut during the week and save calories for Friday/Saturday. First weigh in I was down 2.4 lbs and broken even on second weigh in (but I had a wedding anniversary and a couple events to cause that).
ETA: if this doesn't work long term, I will just go back to recomp. It's fairly easy to maintain weight even without counting.
Yeah if I take a break it would be a bad idea to just stop because then I'd be unlikely to start again in the near future. By break I mean basically what you said, go to maintenance in terms of calories and focus on strength gains or fitness for a bit. Had hoped to hit 155 by mid December so part of me doesn't want to go to maintaince, but I suppose I don't "need" to do that, especially if it ends up making me just quit.0 -
when I got bored this year (early summer) I switched it up...
not sure if helped tho....honestly.
I got back to lifting and it's not as much fun as it used to be...might be the program...might be me...might be the goals...
what I plan to do this time is not worry about the scale...keep at it...add in some extra stuff and keep doing my cardio.
we will see if that helps..
Maintaining weight I think might be boring...no real goals to hit unless you purposefully make one like run a 5k etc.1 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »Aaron_K123 wrote: »As long as I find ways to keep weightloss or fitness entertaining I kill it, stay on top of it and keep it exactly on track where I want it. I set myself fitness goals, I keep on track of my intake and output and monitor closely with scale and calipers and ensure I lose at a consistant rate without affecting my overall lean mass. As long as I am paying attention, things go well...I lose weight, I don't lose muscle and I'm not hungry.
But...inevitably...I start to get a bit bored by it. Start to become listless, get tired of being more tired from the calorie deficit, tired of fitness resulting in maintained strength rather than gained strength. The weather gets crummy and being outside is more of a chore. If I get bored I can keep it up for a bit but generally something else more entertaining comes by and I put down my health and pick up something else instead (very myopic that way).
So question to the community, anyone else out there who has boredom as their main nemesis to achieving their fintess goals? How do you keep yourself "entertained" by your goals? Change them up? Take a break from weightloss and try maintenance or a bulk instead? Change your approach to dieting just to try something else? I had set myself a goal to reach by December 15th and I'd like to get there first if I can, but not sure if I try to push through this boredom or take a break in the hopes I'll come back to it later.
I have taken several breaks from dieting and eat at maintenance. During that time, I still continue to work on making progress within exercise to help with some recomp.
Right now, i have reengaged with going in a deficit but slightly different. I more aggressively cut during the week and save calories for Friday/Saturday. First weigh in I was down 2.4 lbs and broken even on second weigh in (but I had a wedding anniversary and a couple events to cause that).
ETA: if this doesn't work long term, I will just go back to recomp. It's fairly easy to maintain weight even without counting.
Yeah if I take a break it would be a bad idea to just stop because then I'd be unlikely to start again in the near future. By break I mean basically what you said, go to maintenance in terms of calories and focus on strength gains or fitness for a bit.
Some of my best body composition changes have occurred over the past year where I focused mainly on lifting as opposed to calories.2 -
Maintaining weight I think might be boring...no real goals to hit unless you purposefully make one like run a 5k etc.
Yeah I absolutely suck at maintaining because of this, since boredom is my nemesis and maintenance has no clear goal or endpoint I quickly get bored with it. Just hoping that if I up my calories to maintenance I might entertain myself with making progress on strength goals.2 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »
Maintaining weight I think might be boring...no real goals to hit unless you purposefully make one like run a 5k etc.
Yeah I absolutely suck at maintaining because of this, since boredom is my nemesis and maintenance has no clear goal or endpoint I quickly get bored with it. Just hoping that if I up my calories to maintenance I might entertain myself with making progress on strength goals.
you are lucky. I have no interest in lifting too heavy or breaking records or bulking...
I just want to be me...do some chinups do some pull ups etc...
I already did the 5k not interested in 10ks...
*sighs* book marked this so I can see what others do as well...other than my hobbies like gardening I am at a loss too.0 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »
Maintaining weight I think might be boring...no real goals to hit unless you purposefully make one like run a 5k etc.
Yeah I absolutely suck at maintaining because of this, since boredom is my nemesis and maintenance has no clear goal or endpoint I quickly get bored with it. Just hoping that if I up my calories to maintenance I might entertain myself with making progress on strength goals.
you are lucky. I have no interest in lifting too heavy or breaking records or bulking...
I just want to be me...do some chinups do some pull ups etc...
I already did the 5k not interested in 10ks...
*sighs* book marked this so I can see what others do as well...other than my hobbies like gardening I am at a loss too.
Lol well one might say then that you have already attained the strength that you wish to have, which I might point out is a good thing. I can see how not having clear goals makes maintaining more difficult though.0 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »
Maintaining weight I think might be boring...no real goals to hit unless you purposefully make one like run a 5k etc.
Yeah I absolutely suck at maintaining because of this, since boredom is my nemesis and maintenance has no clear goal or endpoint I quickly get bored with it. Just hoping that if I up my calories to maintenance I might entertain myself with making progress on strength goals.
you are lucky. I have no interest in lifting too heavy or breaking records or bulking...
I just want to be me...do some chinups do some pull ups etc...
I already did the 5k not interested in 10ks...
*sighs* book marked this so I can see what others do as well...other than my hobbies like gardening I am at a loss too.
I am not interested in breaking records (too old and broken for that), but my goal is to be as strong as I can be and beat myself each week.0 -
I get bored too, I did a lifting program for 12 weeks, I got bored during that, saw some strength gains, but not enough to keep me excited. Generally, my workouts are varied, I have a trainer that writes me 3-4 workouts a week that are all over the place and then I add a day of swimming and a class of some sort.
When I was getting close to my goal weight, my trainer had me start working on fitness goals. I chose a triathlon...I have done 5 sprint triathlons now. Fitness goals keep me motivated in the gym. I need motivation to eat better
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ummijaaz560 wrote: »When I get bored from cutting this usually means I've been in my own little bubble of head space too much and its time to see what others are doing.
So I've been looking up the top experts works in the fitness industry, new studies and the people making strides on youtube.
I'm new to lifting so thats exciting seeing any progress to my body comp. I have been watching cross fit and power lifting videos of the sports and am very inspired by these people.
I'm focused and determined to lose this belly fat.
I've never had a flat stomach and my goal is to see if lifting can do what no amount of cardio has ever done for my body fat.
Theres so many aspects of the fitness realm, once you go down the rabbit hole you can find something new to keep your attention.
Yeah I like videos on calesthenics, that is my kind of strength. Don't have any aspirations towards powerlifting but to be able to do those sorts of things with your body and the strength that takes to be so fluid with your bodyweight is impressive to me. Seen the "zero gravity workout" video? That is crazy. I do find those both motivating and demotivating at the same time though depending on my mood.3 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »ummijaaz560 wrote: »When I get bored from cutting this usually means I've been in my own little bubble of head space too much and its time to see what others are doing.
So I've been looking up the top experts works in the fitness industry, new studies and the people making strides on youtube.
I'm new to lifting so thats exciting seeing any progress to my body comp. I have been watching cross fit and power lifting videos of the sports and am very inspired by these people.
I'm focused and determined to lose this belly fat.
I've never had a flat stomach and my goal is to see if lifting can do what no amount of cardio has ever done for my body fat.
Theres so many aspects of the fitness realm, once you go down the rabbit hole you can find something new to keep your attention.
Yeah I like videos on calesthenics, that is my kind of strength. Don't have any aspirations towards powerlifting but to be able to do those sorts of things with your body and the strength that takes to be so fluid with your bodyweight is impressive to me. Seen the "zero gravity workout" video? That is crazy. I do find those both motivating and demotivating at the same time though depending on my mood.
Ditto! There are so many body-weight exercises I'd love to be able to do but when it comes down to actually putting in the work to do them I tend to get lazy.
I think it's time that I just pick one that I'd like to do and then work on it until I succeed and then move on to the next. Overthinking things is my downfall.2 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »
Maintaining weight I think might be boring...no real goals to hit unless you purposefully make one like run a 5k etc.
Yeah I absolutely suck at maintaining because of this, since boredom is my nemesis and maintenance has no clear goal or endpoint I quickly get bored with it. Just hoping that if I up my calories to maintenance I might entertain myself with making progress on strength goals.
you are lucky. I have no interest in lifting too heavy or breaking records or bulking...
I just want to be me...do some chinups do some pull ups etc...
I already did the 5k not interested in 10ks...
*sighs* book marked this so I can see what others do as well...other than my hobbies like gardening I am at a loss too.
More gardening then! I'm moving and was busy all weekend moving plants and making a new bed for shade plants. I'm exhausted and my back hurts.
I'm in Massachusetts and while there is certainly less to do this time of year, there's still raking leaves to mulch garden, dividing those types of perennials that like to have this be done in the fall, giving away plants that spread too much on freecycle, collect morning glory seeds, prep beds for the spring, etc.2 -
Instead of focusing on exercising for the sake of exercising, why not try to find a sport as a hobby? Like tennis, badminton, hiking, swimming, martial arts, etc.
If you find a sport you love, it won't feel like a chore. Plus, if you join a club for it, you might end up finding a few friends, which will make the sport more enjoyable! 3 -
@Aaron_K123 I know you walk a lot but don't remember where but am pretty sure it's outdoors. I like to do trail maintenance as a change of pace. At my favorite place, it's just me and one other person so there's always plenty to do, especially after a storm. I always bring my little clippers and sometimes the big ones or the bow saw. I've recovered a few overgrown trails which was a lot of fun and gave me a nice sense of accomplishment. As the leaves fall, traces of these hidden lost trails emerge.
Some other things I do to change up walking:
1. Make new playlists
2. Listen to the news
3. Go to different trails. I have my favorite, but I also have four backup locations when I need a change of pace.
My reward for voting in the primary this spring was discovering a new (to me) trail head, and after looking it up on the map seeing yet another one across the river.4 -
kshama2001 wrote: »@Aaron_K123 I know you walk a lot but don't remember where but am pretty sure it's outdoors. I like to do trail maintenance as a change of pace. At my favorite place, it's just me and one other person so there's always plenty to do, especially after a storm. I always bring my little clippers and sometimes the big ones or the bow saw. I've recovered a few overgrown trails which was a lot of fun and gave me a nice sense of accomplishment. As the leaves fall, traces of these hidden lost trails emerge.
Some other things I do to change up walking:
1. Make new playlists
2. Listen to the news
3. Go to different trails. I have my favorite, but I also have four backup locations when I need a change of pace.
My reward for voting in the primary this spring was discovering a new (to me) trail head, and after looking it up on the map seeing yet another one across the river.
Yeah I do a lot of walking and all of it outdoors (Can't imagine how mindnumbing it would be to walk on a treadmill). Joining trail maintenance crews is a good idea.1 -
Honestly... I just make activity a part of my routine. I stopped weight lifting because it bores me to tears, I don't progress (I'm pretty much always on a deficit except for those 10 days before my period), and it's just plain frustrating... I do push ups but that's pretty much it. Instead I just hop on my exercise bike if I'm going to watch some TV (and I watch a lot of shows), go for a walk after lunch when I would otherwise just sit down and not do anything... On week ends I go to the gym but it's to give me a break from my whiny kids too, and I just listen to music and play Solitaire on the treadmill or something... or I go hiking when possible.
So I don't really have much to get bored of.
For food, I just plan my meals around what I feel like eating anyway, so I don't get bored of that either.
I did try a lot of programs while losing and inevitably got bored after a month... so I just decided to do what I know I can stick with.0 -
This may be way out of left field but would you want to volunteer or teach anything regarding fitness?
I have no idea what kind of person you are (how busy, how patient, where you live) but it seems like you have a lot of knowledge, maybe it would be good to share!
Or knit tea cozies.2 -
kshama2001 wrote: »@Aaron_K123 I know you walk a lot but don't remember where but am pretty sure it's outdoors. I like to do trail maintenance as a change of pace. At my favorite place, it's just me and one other person so there's always plenty to do, especially after a storm. I always bring my little clippers and sometimes the big ones or the bow saw. I've recovered a few overgrown trails which was a lot of fun and gave me a nice sense of accomplishment. As the leaves fall, traces of these hidden lost trails emerge.
Some other things I do to change up walking:
1. Make new playlists
2. Listen to the news
3. Go to different trails. I have my favorite, but I also have four backup locations when I need a change of pace.
My reward for voting in the primary this spring was discovering a new (to me) trail head, and after looking it up on the map seeing yet another one across the river.
How do you find a trail maintenance group? This sounds right up my alley!0 -
Or what about shifting your focus to nutrition -- other than calorie counting? like taking healthy cooking classes, or ordering a meal service like Blue Apron that takes an eternity to prepare each night, but where you get to taste all kinds of different foods. For fitness during the cold winter, maybe long and hard hikes. Have you tried Pilates Reformer? Great way to build core strength and focus on flexibility to change things up.0
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This may be way out of left field but would you want to volunteer or teach anything regarding fitness?
I have no idea what kind of person you are (how busy, how patient, where you live) but it seems like you have a lot of knowledge, maybe it would be good to share!
Or knit tea cozies.
I feel confident enough in what I know to provide advice on an internet forum, but I don't consider myself a proffessional and wouldn't think it right for me to try to sell or even provide for free my "advice" out in the real world. For one thing I think when people seek out a personal trainer they have some expectation of what they would look like, and I don't look like a personal trainer :-).2 -
I always like to set new fitness goals for myself. First I wanted to be able to do a pull up. Once I was able to do that, now I want to be able to do 5.
I wanted to be able to squat my own body weight. Once I could do that, I wanted to break 200 pounds. Same with deadlift. Once I maxed out at 225 on the deadlift, I wanted to be able to do 2 reps instead of one.
I hired a trainer because I wanted to learn how to do snatches and cleans. Now I want to do those exercises at my body weight.
I watch Parkour videos and want to learn how to do a handstand and human flag. These goals are very challenging and I know I have to keep at it or I will never succeed.
With the calorie counting, I eat whatever I want, as much as I want, but I log everything, even 20 grams of baby carrots. Do I go over? Yes, all the time. And when I weigh myself, I see that I have gained. So then I get careful and stick to my calories, then weigh myself and it goes down. It's just a battle I will always fight, but if the most I ever gain is 3-5 pounds only to lose it a few days later I am ok with that.1 -
I suppose I should mention that as of now I'm about 167 pounds and about 17% bodyfat. So I'm no longer overweight, right now I'm just getting leaner. One can argue therefore that any extra weight loss I'm doing is for aesthetics and to be that much lighter for hiking or other physical activities and not an immediate health concern.2
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Have you considered a program like you are your own gym or convict condition? Or is structured not your thing? I know I was a big fan of programs like P90X when I first stated.2
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Have you considered a program like you are your own gym or convict condition? Or is structured not your thing? I know I was a big fan of programs like P90X when I first stated.
Structure can do it for me, last time I got into shape in 2014 I did one round of P90 followed by one round of P90X and that got me from February to July and my profile pic progress was from that so yeah that worked for me.
This time around its been less structure, just walking and dabbling.0
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