Is it easier....

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  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    I started by walking to the 1 mile marker at my local park. Of course I was happy to make it there (plus I had to walk all the way back), but I felt like a schmuck when other people would keep going. You really begin to question yourself in those kinds of moments. Why can't I go all the way? Why can't I be that person jogging the whole 4 mile trip? Why can't I be that skinny b**** running along the side of the road when I drive to the gym (see my profile about the skinny b****, lol) Why, Why, Why? And then it struck me. All of these people started somewhere. Did they start at the same exact spot as me? Maybe, maybe not. But the point of it is, to START and keep going.

    That's great...and it's good that you realize that everyone starts somewhere and that you just keep going because really, you're never done. I'm pretty fit at the moment and I'm training for a metric century right now...and I'm like "dammit...why am I bonking at 32 miles?" For other cyclists, that's just a "well it's Saturday, better get out for a ride."...for me, it's a long ride right now...in a few months, it'll be more or less child's play.

    moral of that is, as awesome as you are...you can always be more awesome and there will always be someone more awesome than you...which is what is the thing that drives me even greater heights of awesomeness.

    Exactly. I don't even bat an eye at that 1 mile marker anymore. It was such a big deal then, but now it's a thing of the past. It's a great feeling. You just have to keep going and keep challenging yourself. It doesn't matter how athletic you are, just keep going and keep building it up, and before you know it, you ARE that athletic person.
  • Natmarie73
    Natmarie73 Posts: 287 Member
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    I definately think it is easier for someone who has had a lifetime of doing and enjoying excersise and knowledge of nutrition etc etc to lose weight than for someone who has not. It would be the same if a skinny person had to gain X kilo's in X timeframe by overeating and not excersising - I imagine someone who has been overweight and inactive previously would succeed a lot quicker than someone who has always been fit and thin. Mainly because they have had the experience before and it is familiar to them in both cases. Reinventing yourself and changing your whole lifestyle would be so much harder than just going back to what you once were.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    After giving this a bit more thought last night, I think "easier" or "harder" is incorrect verbiage. To say it's "easier" sort of says that not much work was put into it...which in my case isn't true at all. Someone who is sedentary might say to me, "it's easy for you to ride your bike 30 miles."...but it's really not that simple...I didn't just get on my bike and ride 30 miles easily...I had to start somewhere and I had to put in the work along the way. I think saying it's "easier" discounts that effort.

    I do concede that there are certain advantages that I may have given my background. Given my background I know how to train and I know how to eat to support that training and have always had a pretty good grasp of proper nutrition and the kind of nutrition I needed to fuel my training. Mentally I don't have to conceptualize what it feels like to be healthy, fit, and strong...I've been there...I know exactly what it feels like. Same can be said for my body and aesthetics...I don't really have to guess at a goal BF% or weight...I know that I'm most comfortable in the 15-16% BF range and I know from prior experience just how that looks and what it feels like.

    So, definitely certain advantages to having a past that involved a great deal of activity and sport...but it doesn't really make the work easier...work is still work...you still have to get 'er done.

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