Motivation or insanity

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andybr
andybr Posts: 6
in Introduce Yourself
So... I have started swimming everyday and my body, my whole body, HURTS! So the only thing that keeps me going is the fact that if I do not workout, I can't eat everything I want to eat... Like when I got home from work yesterday I REALLY wanted a strawberry shortcake. I knew however that if I ate that delicious treat, I would have been over my daily calories. Off to the pool I went and 40 minutes later that treat was mine! Problem is I can't move my arms this morning! Is this bad?

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  • Genie30
    Genie30 Posts: 316 Member
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    Hiya,

    Sounds like too much of a good thing to me! You should be aiming to vary the exercise you do so that you work different muscle groups on different days. Also rest days are really important to allow your body to recover from exercise. I aim to have 2 rest days a week.

    Maybe you could try alternating swimming days with some walking/jogging or a weights session?

    Hope thats useful to you!

    Gxxx
  • bmontgomery87
    bmontgomery87 Posts: 1,260 Member
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    Hiya,

    Sounds like too much of a good thing to me! You should be aiming to vary the exercise you do so that you work different muscle groups on different days. Also rest days are really important to allow your body to recover from exercise. I aim to have 2 rest days a week.

    Maybe you could try alternating swimming days with some walking/jogging or a weights session?
    This.
    And don't overuse excercise so that you're able to eat junk food. Avoid the junk in the first place, and excercise to feel better.

    Use the 400 calories you've earned to eat good foods, instead of cake.
  • greengraci
    greengraci Posts: 8
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    This.
    And don't overuse excercise so that you're able to eat junk food. Avoid the junk in the first place, and excercise to feel better.

    Use the 400 calories you've earned to eat good foods, instead of cake.
    ^well spoken. try eating delicious healthy foods that will also aid your muscles in rebuilding. For instance- a big fruitcup.
    Fruit has less calories than the cake you spoke of too- and it does NOTHING to heal your body. In fact it likely contributes to your pain!
  • meka325
    meka325 Posts: 47
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    I would agree with these replies. No pain no gain is true to a slight extent, but you can hurt yourself overdoing it and probably also make it more likely for you to just quit. Plus, some would consider exercising furiously to either burn off specific foods or to earn specific foods (usually that aren't good for you) a form of an eating disorder. This is usually done for more than 1 strawberry shortcake, but still. It could be a slippery slope.
  • missy1970eb
    missy1970eb Posts: 1,209 Member
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    the junk food is what puts the fat in the body:smile:
  • andybr
    andybr Posts: 6
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    Well, in this instance it was a Strawberry Shortcake, most of the time it is an extra Chicken Breast or a granola bar. :) I am on a strict 2 lbs per week diet that lasts for 5 weeks. So my goal is pretty short term. The reason I swim so much is because I want to try to run a triathalon, something I never thought I would be able to do. I would think about breaking from the swim but I keep improving the more and more I do it. Probably just because my form, endurance, and breathing is getting better. All good advice here though... I will need to edit my plan a bit. Maybe bike everyother day to get in some extra food :)

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