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Am I exercising enough?

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Replies

  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
    Kiyomoo wrote: »
    try2again wrote: »
    It makes me sad & concerned that a 21 year old woman would only be leaving the house a few times a month. :( I think it's great you're making more of an effort to be physically active, but speaking from experience, being young and rarely leaving the house is an issue you should address as well, as isolation is terrible for your mental and physical health.

    Edited to add: My comment was made with the assumption that you don't have any particular conditions limiting you. You haven't mentioned anything to that effect.

    Thank you for being concerned. I am doing a lot better today than when I was a teen. When I was 15, I dropped out of school. I had severe anxiety. From ages 15-17, I only left my house once every two months to see my med management doctor. Sometimes, it would be so bad, that I would cry when I had to leave the house.

    When I turned 18, I started driving myself places, and that helped my anxiety a bit, and I started going to the store occasionally, and to the library, and even volunteered at a pre-school for a while (until the anxiety become too much and I stopped).

    Today, my anxiety is a lot better. Just being able to actually go outside and walk is amazing. For so many years, I would think of the question "What would be the first thing you would do if you were invisible?" and my answer would to that would always be to go outside for a walk. Simple as that. I always thought it would be amazing to be able to walk in public without anxiety.

    I got my GED this year, and should be going to college next year. I am going to begin volunteer work at a hospital soon as well. So those two things alone will be getting me out of the house much more often, and give me chances at socializing with others. My depression has gotten better as well, I do not have as many negative thoughts, and I hate myself less and am learning to forgive myself for the mistakes I make.

    I do not have any physical conditions (aside from being overweight and out of shape). But the mental issues were a real setback in the past. Nowadays, my walks are very rarely interrupted by anxiety. (Sometimes, this couple will be walking outside too, so I have to go back inside until they are done, for example - but even that is just a minor setback in comparison to the past.)

    Congratulations for dealing so well with your issues, mental health issues as no less "real" than physical health issues!
    Maybe you should start by separating exercise from being outdoors. You need physical activity so that your physical health does not suffer, especially long run. But this does not mean you have to also push yourself to do more outdoors when you are not ready. You can try simple exercises with bodyweight, cardio videos or even just walking in place.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 2,038 Member
    Another option would be to add a short walk at another time during the day. I find the idea of setting aside 60 minutes to walk a bit - um, painful - but breaking that up into a few smaller walks throughout the day has helped me increase my daily step count by a LOT without it feeling overly intrusive on my life.

    I go to the gym as well, but found that outside of that, I was a SUPER lazy and had a very low step count each day. I'm finding smaller ways to add steps to my day to get me out of the completely "sedentary + gym" category.

    May be a way for you to add some activity without having to tack it on to what you're already doing.
  • Kiyomoo
    Kiyomoo Posts: 354 Member
    LKArgh wrote: »

    Congratulations for dealing so well with your issues, mental health issues as no less "real" than physical health issues!
    Maybe you should start by separating exercise from being outdoors. You need physical activity so that your physical health does not suffer, especially long run. But this does not mean you have to also push yourself to do more outdoors when you are not ready. You can try simple exercises with bodyweight, cardio videos or even just walking in place.

    Thank you. I have some small weights, so I'll look up some YouTube videos and hope that I follow along correctly, lol.

    HoneyBadger155 wrote: »
    Another option would be to add a short walk at another time during the day. I find the idea of setting aside 60 minutes to walk a bit - um, painful - but breaking that up into a few smaller walks throughout the day has helped me increase my daily step count by a LOT without it feeling overly intrusive on my life.

    I go to the gym as well, but found that outside of that, I was a SUPER lazy and had a very low step count each day. I'm finding smaller ways to add steps to my day to get me out of the completely "sedentary + gym" category.

    May be a way for you to add some activity without having to tack it on to what you're already doing.

    Yeah, I've broken it up sometimes. Thank you for your advice!

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