Low self esteem; tough to make exercising a habit

I advocate the "commando sneak-attack" approach to calorie-crushing in these circumstances.

Try reading the suggestions in the following two MFP threads, and pick a few to try out yourself. Many are "in the house" kinds of things that no-one else need even be aware you are doing ....

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10707575/not-quite-exercise-what-active-lifestyle-activities-do-you-enjoy-throughout-the-day/p1

The intro-bit in the first one explains where the "calorie-out" side of calorie deficit comes from. Most people make the mistake of thinking that it HAS to mean "(formal, traditional) EXERCISE Activities" (your cardio, your weight/resistance work at the gym, your fitness dvd or youtube channel etc etc). All this is great and high calorie-burn return on time invested, and worth building into over time (or jumping into if that is where your schedule and physical capability and mind-set is right now .... )

If you are juuuuussssttt starting out, or have a physical / scheduling / self-esteme impediments to the traditional route, there is an alternative .... NEAT (non-exercise activities ... like inefficiently making more trips to and from the car as you bring in the groceries, doing a wall-sit or a few torso-twists while waiting for the microwave to finish reheating your coffee, or developing the habit of always pacing while talking on the cell or cordless phone - LOTS of steps can result from that last one .... especially if you get regular calls from someone who likes to ramble on conversationally .... )

Most people tend to overlook the fact that ..... so long as you are not (literally) tied to a bed, in a coma .... you ARE burning calories, just by virtue of moving around. The more you do, the more you will find yourself ABLE to do. This is how you keep general range-of-motion capability in all your joints. By bending and reaching and carrying and twisting.

MFP suggested calorie input already puts you in a slight calories-in deficit based on your self-assessment of how active your day is.

NEAT (or what I think of as "commando sneak-attack") calorie burning is uncountable, but that just means there are no "exercise calories" choices easily entered into your Exercise Log, and added to your available total to eat back .... that's not the same as "not burning any".

It's also easier to make a sustainable game out of this approach, which will translate over time to a sustainable "active daily routine" lifestyle as time goes by.

This also makes it easier to "progress at making myself more healthy when nobody's looking".

When the cumulative effect of being regularly more active through your day is consistently leading to shedding more than whatever your target weight-loss rate is, despite eating right up to your limit .... change your profile "daily activity setting" up one notch. You will get to eat more while still maintaining the same target rate of progress.

tinkerbellang83 wrote: »

oxygensenser wrote: »

I know I need to do it. Doctor says I need it, family says I need it, and self-help gurus say I need it.
Knowing how to do something and executing it are two different things; but I want to convince myself and truly believe that the life-change is necessary, possible, and sustainable. Here's to hope and mental fortitude!

Start simple - walking, it's exercise and you don't have to do it with other people.

This^

I'm a klutz. Don't ask me to join a team, but there are definitely things I can and WILL do. You just have to find yours.

If you don't want to walk in public, there are even walking style (as in simple cardio) videos on YouTube.

I hate exercise but force an hour of it into every day. Early last year I began with a mile (2000 steps) level and slow.
After that got easier I went to 1.2 miles, and gradually increased to 4 miles. At that point it was getting too hot outside and I couldn't spend the 80 minutes to do it, so I joined a gym and began on a treadmill with incline. I don't hold the rails but check my heart rate every 10 minutes or so. When heart rate indicates to easy I'd bump up the incline a bit. I got up to 11%, but it was making my feet hurt so I settled in at 8% for a long time now.

So every day I sweat out my shirt on the treadmill while I watch tv on my phone or listen to podcasts. I still hate to exercise, but have found a way to almost enjoy my hour to zone out while walking. I figure every hour I do it will add an hour or more of health to my life, so I'm just banking up hours. My legs have gotten crazy strong and I find myself running up stairs like a kid again.

If I can do it I bet you can too. Givve it a year and find ways to avoid excuses.