No More Mister Fat Guy:Working It Out

Despite some skepticism from the so-called experts about the role that working out can play in losing weight (many argue that it doesn’t burn enough calories to matter much, and only creates more intense hunger which actually undermines weight-loss efforts), I still believe in the benefits. One thing that’s not in question is that exercising hard boosts mood, metabolism, regulates digestion, helps with sleep, energy, and overall physical and mental health. So isn’t that enough?

 

But here’s the trap that most people fall into: they choose an exercise that they don’t really enjoy and therefore rarely stay with it. They assume it will be unpleasant and should be unpleasant but who wants to make all this effort to incorporate an exercise routine into your life, if you’re not having any fun doing it? If running is “torture” for you, or even simply unpleasant, then why would you do it? And why would you keep doing it?

 

The answer is you wouldn't and you don't. I’m not big on the old ‘no pain, no gain’ motto as I feel like pain tells most healthy people to stop whatever’s causing them the pain. So the first rule is to find something you enjoy doing, that's not painful, while keeping in mind that some exercise is uncomfortable at first, just because your body is not used to doing it—or maybe not used to doing anything. So it’s a good idea to keep at something for a little while before deciding it’s no fun and therefore not for you (i.e. the benefits of running don’t really kick in until you’ve been at it for a week or so, but the key there is to build up slowly, so that you minimize the pain, and maximize your pleasure).

 

But here’s where I feel at a big advantage: I really love lots of activities and would do them even if they weren’t good for me. This weekend, for example, I played squash on Saturday for an hour—which burns about 500 to 600 calories—which I love. Then x-country skied at Hilltop Orchards in Richmond, Mass. the next day on Sunday, despite the really cold and windy temps, and then managed to get in another hour of squash later on that same afternoon. The result is I’ve got a bit of an exercise hangover this Monday morning, having overdone. And there’s no rest for the weary. I have a one o’clock treadmill workout scheduled with a trainer today—research for my monthly fitness column for the magazine—and then my weekly platform tennis game awaits tonight, once again out in the elements, another activity that I love. Still, is it any wonder why I’m already looking forward to post-shower getting back into my cozy bed tonight?

 

All this monologing about how much exercise I’m doing is a way to avoid, I suppose, the news (or rather non-news) about my weight, which has once again hit a frustrating roadblock, stuck at 183, 182, depending on when and where I weigh myself: post-squash I even can get down to as little as 181.5 but that’s only because I’ve just sweated through two shirts and so it’s most definitely water weight that I’ve lost and therefore doesn't "count."

 

But I’m hoping that I’ll just hover here for a little while longer and then like last time, boom, I’ll suddenly find I’m two pounds lighter. (My initial goal weight is 179, or an overall loss of around nine to ten pounds from where I started back at the beginning of December.) The good news, however, is that I’m definitely noticing my frame being lighter out there on the squash and platform courts, allowing me to move in a way that I haven’t in five years or more, and creating much better results for myself and less good ones for my opponents. And on Friday, when I was on the treadmill, I cranked my speed up a bit, not because I wanted to necessarily push it, but just because I felt like I was going too slow when I was at my usual speed. Perhaps even more important: I bought a new belt this weekend as my old one won’t do the trick anymore of keeping my pants up unless I punch another hole in it. That made me feel a HOLE lot better, let me tell you.