Former couch potatoes... how long did it take you to make your lifestyle permanently active?

Still sedentary, except for the few hours I'm not.

Desk job, TV/Computer/Reading for recreation.. but I get 12-20 miles per week thanks to C25K, Pokémon Go, and my step tracker.

I gotta say once I started lifting weights it became something I knew I would stick with. Even if I stopped for a couple of months for whatever reason, I knew I'd come back. I don't really enjoy any of my workouts while I'm actually doing them, but I really love the surge of power I get when I lift, even if the motion itself isn't fun. The high is. And after a lifetime of being dead last in everything physical, getting called a "star pupil" by my trainer, and being able to actually start to hold correct form with my moves...it's a whole new world. I can't see me ever not doing it for long.

I do go to the gym a couple times per week to lift but I figured out a long time ago that the gym was not going to work for me in regards to being an every day destination for exercise.

Most of what I do is as much hobby and recreation as it is exercise. Primarily I cycle...at the moment I'm not training for anything in particular, so I just go ride...sometimes it's 30 minutes because that's all I have time for...sometimes is 45...rarely over an hour if I'm not training because I have to balance that stuff out with other life obligations.

My activity level also varies seasonally. I'm just out and about more doing stuff in the nicer months...trips to the zoo, playing with the kids in the park, rock climbing, camping trips with lots of hiking, etc.

In the winter, it's cold and dark...I'm more likely to be sitting on the couch watching football on a Sunday than I am at the zoo walking around for a few hours. As exercise goes I'm pretty much relegated to my indoor bike trainer because it's dark in the morning and dark in the evening which is when I can ride...I do it, but I'm not nearly as dedicated to it as I am road riding and it's really easy for me to just be like "nah...going to pop a beer instead." I'd wager that from Thanksgiving to the end of January I was on my bike maybe 5-10 times. I'm definitely way less active all around in the winter...both in regards to exercise as well as general moving around

I typically get things going again about this time of year...New Mexico winters are short, so we're already seeing some nice Spring like 60* days and it's staying light out longer so I can often get in a quicky road ride after work now and it'll be even better when the time changes. I also just purchased an indoor rower for those Spring days where the wind will keep me off the bike so that at least I have an option of rowing or getting on my trainer.

As far as how long it took...that's a tough question. I was pretty sedentary for 8 years while I was gaining weight. I took to exercise pretty much right away...but maybe that's because prior to those 8 years I was always a very active guy. I was a competitive athlete in multiple sports growing up from about 3rd grade on up through my senior year and in my 20s I was just always out and about doing something or another and didn't own a car most of the time so I biked and walked everywhere...so I guess getting active again was more of a return to my former self than a re-invention of myself.

I still have plenty of couch potatoness going on, just a lot less of it. This past Sunday at noon I had like all of 1,300 steps taken...

I also don't recover as easily as I used to, so there's definitely days that I planned to do something or want to do something, but I can't and just need to lay low and chill.

I'd also say that regular exercise and moving a lot in general has a pretty profound effect on some hereditary health issues...so that gives me a good reason to move as well.

usmcmp wrote: »

I'm still a couch potato, I just have a standing appointment with the gym. There are still days where I get to the gym, walk inside, then turn around and leave.

Lol...I did that last Sunday...actually, I didn't even walk inside...I parked the car and sat there for a minute and just said, "*kitten* it" and went home and spent the rest of the day lounging on the couch and helping my 2nd grader with a school project.

For whatever reason I was just pretty spent and it was just a no go...

Growing up I was always super active. Then I got the desk job, and started spending a lot more time on my butt. I've ALWAYS enjoyed reading, art, playing video games, watching TV/movies, but historically was active enough to more than compensate. Desk job axed that.

I didn't adjust for a number of years, becoming pretty close to a couch potato. I still rode my horses and occasionally did chores at the barn, and riding motorcycles, but I didn't make extra time for more activity to make up for the desk job....

Enter 2015 when, by the end of the race season, my lack of fitness was an obvious factor holding me back. That's when I got dedicated to changing back to being more active and making the gym a priority.

I just had to "embrace the suck" through the first few months as my body rebelled, I felt like crap, and I was so out of shape that working out didn't help me feel better. After about 3, consistent, months, however, I found that I was starting to enjoy it. I was enjoying the results, just moving in general, and would miss it on days I skipped. After my (bad) leg break I got out of the routine for the better part of a year, but even so, it was MUCH easier to get back into it (and my fitness returned much faster than I though it would - strength not so much). There are days it still can suck, but racing is my motivation on those days. Being okay with an "easier" workout can help sometimes too.

A day, honestly.

I saw a picture of myself, January 2008, and I looked nothing like I felt inside.
By the end of the week I was counting calories and had a year pass to the rec centre, and have had one ever since.

I started by doing aqua fit 3 evenings a week, and walking.

Since then I have done loads of different classes, learnt to swim, participated in 10 Km races, and had some wonderful active holidays. ( the holidays really do inspire me to try different things. Who wants to sit in a coach and watch people rappelling down waterfall cliffs instead of doing it?)

I tell myself it is 1 hour out of 24, I can be a couch potato the other 23 if I choose.

It is wanting to be independent, fit, and healthy as I age that gives me a long term goal. That is hard to keep in the present though.

Short term, it is all about vanity and being able to do wild and crazy things.

Believe me, I am Mrs Sloth personified. My muscles were likened to mashed potatoes.

This, like weight loss, wasn't an easy change, I've gone from loath to dislike with regards to exercise, but it was simple.
An hour a day.

Because of my attachment to the couch, I do find I do better exercising outside the house.
I can also get ready and procrastinate on the couch for a couple of hours before actually going.

Oh, I was doing that (procrastinating) last Wednesday and it started snowing. I couldn't get out of the cut de sac. A good shovelling of the drive way, and 3 sets of Nerdfitness, was exercise that day.

I try not to think of exercise in isolation, but how it can, and does, improve my quality of life overall.

Cheers, h.

About 18 months, I'd say, of actually trying to get into it.

I'd pick up running a couple of times a week in high school when I felt like I needed to moderate my weight or deal with stress but it was never more than like 30 minutes at a time.

In college I tried to do C25K.... like three or four times. Never actually finished it. Lifted regularly for maybe three or four months my senior year of college. Then moved for a job and didn't do anything for well over a year. Gained 60 lbs.

About 18 months ago (Oct 2016) I signed up for the YMCA and went to Zumba like once a week. That lasted for maybe 4 months? In March of 2017 I started counting calories seriously. June/July ish 2017 I did C25k again, got to week 7, fell and tore my meniscus. That was August 2017. Cancelled YMCA. Didn't do anything until October 2017. Signed up for an expensive Lifetime Fitness membership. Turns out that putting my money where my mouth is really motivates me. I'm now up to 5 times/week at the gym. It started with just Monday night Zumba, then added Wednesday night Zumba. Then I started swimming every once in a while. Then I added yoga and weight lifting. Now I go to spin classes three times a week. I like classes a lot for the loud music, the group mentality, and because I don't have to come up with my own routines.

I had to work really hard to find what I like to do in terms of fitness. I had to work really hard to find the atmosphere I liked. My apartment complex has an awesome gym but without a class schedule to drive my work outs, I would just wait until too late in the day and then not go. The YMCA didn't stay open late enough and the classes were RIGHT after work and I like to go home, make dinner, unwind, then go work out.

These days, I get antsy if I miss a work out for two days in a row. Which was NEVER the case. EVER.

First time posting. I only started logging just about a month ago, and frankly since New Years for more activity (no resolution, just worked out that way). Here's my story:

I am 23 years old right now. I became a vegetarian during the summer of 2017 (unwilling at first out of solidarity, then ended up being the only one to stick to it). But I ended up realizing around the holidays that no meat doesn't translate to health. Thus I started to incorporate more greens and less chips into my diet. Soon after, I decided that I wanted to lose the extra pounds AND, more importantly, be healthy (a death in the family plus sudden diagnoses in my family made up my mind), so I started to force myself on the family's largely unused stationary bike. I was afraid I wouldn't stick to it since I have tried all sorts of videos and routines for years.

Here is my "saying no to Netflix" hack: Say yes to Netflix, or youtube, or any other tantalizing screen. This is probably not the best for actually concentrating on my workout, but while half paying attention to whatever I am watching, I can also work on hitting my distance and speed goals while being distracted by something I like. I am restricting myself to watching a particular show (currently New Girl) only during my workouts, so if I want to watch, I just need to work out more. Just make sure your main focus stays with your routine!

Also, it takes about 15-21 days to develop a habit. Do it daily for 3 weeks and you'll feel weird not doing it, provided you find something you enjoy. I just experienced that while on vacation last week (I gained back what I lost ) and even though I walked so much, I felt wrong not doing my usual workout. I was surprised at how amazing it felt when I started again!

Best of luck!

I'm retired and, unless I'm exercising, I'm still a couch potato too - either driving, sitting in front of the computer or TV or sitting in a chair while listening to music and/or reading. That's why I set my activity kevel to sedentary and log all exercise separately.

When I started my current weight loss effort, I just incorporated lifting and then cardio as a regular part of my day. Over the padt 19 months, it has just become a habit (and more like a hobby) for me to lift for an hr every other day and to do cardio (mainly rowing) for at least an hr almost every day.

Just second nature to me now but it helps that I have a full lifting setup in my garage and a rower in the house so that I can do tbem 24/7 anytime I want w/o the need to go to a gym.

The turning point for me was finding something I enjoyed so much that I'd do it even if it weren't good for me, just for the enjoyment. I was so terrible at it that I then started doing other things I didn't like nearly so much, just so I'd be get better able to do the thing I did like. I was pretty consistent from the start of doing this, which was around 15 years ago, when I was still obese.

But to find it, I had to kiss a lot of frogs, metaphorically speaking. The initial motivation for trying things was trying to feel minimally decent again after back to back cancer treatment (surgery, chemo, radiation, Rx drugs) and hypothyroid diagnosis.

I'm not sure how anyone could learn anything from that. I could say: Just try a bunch of different stuff, and stick with each at least long enough to get past the inevitable "awkward newbie" feeling . . . but you'd need a motivation to do that.

Sorry.

These days, I enjoy quite a lot of active stuff, as it blurred together a bit over time . . . and as I got fitter, more things felt doable, too, I guess.

P.S. "It" was rowing, long skinny boats like the ones in the Olympics, only mine is slower. But that part doesn't really matter, because everyone's "it" will be different.