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Thoughts On a Year of Exercise

166 points by MaysonL 7y ago

kalyantm 7y ago
I completely agree with point 1. Everyone said the first month would be the hardest, but halfway through my 9th month, I still think it's the hardest thing to do. The thing is, now it's become such an integral part of my daily routine that I cannot move forward without it. That consistency has programmed my brain to cling on to it, and it being hard does not matter anymore. Something no trainer/exercise junkie will tell you
voisin 7y ago
If you don’t feel subjectively better after exercise than before, the solution is to add to the intensity and keep trying. I wonder what percentage of max heart rate he averaged.
- thrower123 7y ago
  This is such a bizarre mindset. It's sort of like "the beatings will continue until morale improves."
  - mentat 7y ago
    More like "the exercising should continue until you're actually exercising". Going through some motions that don't stress the body isn't exercise...
  - throwlaplace 7y ago
    pleasure experienced during exercise does scale with intensity but only to a certain point https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/11590680-000000000-00000 https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/11590680-000000000...
  - tacon 7y ago
    Intensity is 80-90% of the determinant of a muscle's adaptive response to load. If you plan to get somewhere near your genetic potential in strength and size, you will need to use rather high intensity to deeply fatigue ("inroad") the muscle. But you also have to not repeat that stimulus for days to a week, to allow recovery in people like us with middle of the bell curve genetics. The ideal profile for building strength is exercise that is intense, brief, and infrequent. Yes, it is unpleasant for a couple of minutes per muscle group, once or twice a week. So what? Do you enjoy brushing your teeth? Or do you just do it and get it over with? Note, this is for strength training. Skill building for sports, or general physical activity, is a different protocol, depending on the activity. One of my favorite recent book titles is "If You Like Exercise ... Chances Are You're Doing It Wrong: Proper Strength Training for Maximum Results"[0], which is another book about the work of exercise genius Arthur Jones, inventor of Nautilus and MedX equipment. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Exercise-Chances-Youre-Doing-Wrong/dp/1475974418/ https://www.amazon.com/Exercise-Chances-Youre-Doing-Wrong/dp... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7GB3h82tcQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7GB3h82tcQ [2] https://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Research-Strength-Training/dp/0071597174 https://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Research-Strength-Traini...
- groby_b 7y ago
  That's... pretty much nonsense. Maybe some people feel better after exercise than before, but for the vast majority of people I've talked to, they're mostly exhausted after exercising. Same goes for me. And yes, I regularly exercise significant chunks of time at 80%+ of MHR. And yes, I've done it for extended amounts of time, too. I've done half marathons. I've run somewhat decent times for my age. I was bored out of my skull while doing it. I certainly didn't feel a big endorphin rush.
  - justAnotherNET 7y ago
    I am convinced a solid portion of the population can’t experience “runners high”. I never have, and have similar history to what you describe.
- janderland 7y ago
  This has been my experience as well. You need to start out slow and let your body adjust, and at different points I’ve had different levels of highs. The rush came for me when I was pushing myself towards my limit without pain, and that didn’t happen until I had set a certain baseline of endurance.
- cocoa19 7y ago
  I've been doing HIIT for a while. Always very intense and I end up demolished and definitely not feeling better afterwards, just really tired. I asked my trainer if it ever gets any easier, in his words, "No, you just get stronger". Feeling subjectively better after a workout session might be in the same line as "happens to some people".
- JamesBarney 7y ago
  This might be true of some people at some intensities but it is not universally true. The more intense my exercise the worse I feel afterwards. @ 70% of max hr I feel pretty good afterward. 80% and I start feeling pretty tired. At 90-95% I get super irritable, nauseous, and can't sleep.
- Ididntdothis 7y ago
  I love being totally exhausted but it took me a while to accept that a lot of people don’t like it. People are different. I never had weight problems and it also took me a while that what’s easy for me is hard for others. But then I can’t wean myself off chocolate which is easy for others.
- nradov 7y ago
  The current recommended best practice for most athletes is to do only about 20% of training near max heart rate and the remaining 80% at much lower intensity. Otherwise you won't recover correctly.
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  This is fundamentally true. Keep in mind that this doesn't mean "100% effort, 100% of the time". Rather, the body is extraordinarily effective in responding to brief sessions of intense activity. For cardio, high intensity interval training (HIIT), and Tabata intervals in particular (20 seconds effort, 10 seconds recovery, repeated 8 times). This can be done with virtually any activity -- low-weight squats, rowing machine, sprints, burpbees, spinning, running. For strength -- a small number of moderate-to-high weight sets (3-8 reps, 3-4 sets) -- 2-3x weekly, is more than sufficient to build muscle. Long, low-intensity effort -- cardio or strength -- has relatively low yield . You can and generally should train efficiently. The most important factor, though, is consistency over time. That is: get your workout in, and do that 2-3x a week, every week, year in and out. Rewards don't come from a heroic effort in a single workout, but consistency over time, with progressively (over weeks and months) greater challenges (more weight, effort, reps).
exabrial 7y ago
I used to not enjoy it too until I found something I genuinely was good at and was competitive: an indoor rowing studio. I now enthusiastically workout 5 days a week. And rowing is a very efficient use of my time, I burn roughly a calorie per row stroke. A 20 minute rowing session means very little dietary restrictions. The big thing that worked for me was data. I weighed myself every day no matter what and even if I knew I was going over the calorie count for the day I logged it anyway. For me that was when this vast mystery of diet was cleared. Once I saw how directly linked they were it became very easy to say no to things and it continues to do so.
- CalChris 7y ago
  Yeah, rowing rocks. I just finished the Concept 2 100K challenge. I feel seriously good pretty much all the time. My posterior chain is much stronger. My posture is much better. I can eat anything. The correct rowing stroke is difficult to master, more so if you want to row on the water. Time spent with Dark Horse or Training Tall YouTube videos will help quite a bit. Jumping rope is also very underrated. I’m just starting the CrossRopes challenge. Weight training is fairly rated. Spinning fairly rated. Ellipticals are overrated.
  - exabrial 7y ago
    I love training tall! I'm not very tall for a rower (only 6'4") but his stuff helps me continuously improve. My last vacation to Florida I got out on the water with an 85 year old man that had been rowing for 50+ years. I got great instruction and he was full of sage wisdom. It was a ton of fun and I've never been so pleased to kick my butt kicked by a professional.
    - dano 7y ago
      You're plenty tall for a rower, in fact, likely the perfect height for many boats. Keep up the erg work and I hope you can get on the water more frequently. I've been at it for 20+ years and love it.
    - samstave 7y ago
bot1 7y ago
Start lifting weights. There’s nothing more motivating than actually seeing gains. Also it’s fun in general imo.
- degenerate 7y ago
  I think it's fun with a friend (did that years ago), but trying to get back into lifting by myself now... is boring. I quit each session sooner than I should, so I don't see the same gains. I'm not sure how to get excited about it when I am by myself, other than playing music to pump me up, which I'm not always in the mood for.
- sundvor 7y ago
  Aye. My own goal in my late 40s, a bit overweight, is to get strong first, lose weight second. I'd hardly ever get an endorphin rush/hit from cycling, but I get them regularly from weights. They certainly help the mind settle, even after a short stint. My best tip would be to get your own equipment, if possible, to have the ability to do it frequently and without making it a mission to go to the gym. It's amazing what you can do with a squat rack, bar bell, a bench, and a set of plates. (Starting strength / Rippetoe, Stronglifts 5x5, etc). Weight is in fact regulating itself somewhat naturally as a consequence, but just being able to feel the body getting stronger is the real pleasure. I've been doing this for a good few months now and I know I'm adding years if not decades to my usable life span as well.
- Ididntdothis 7y ago
  Just remember that the gains will stop after a while if you don’t start taking steroids or something. People seem to have difficulty finding a stable workout routine they enjoy without improvements. Otherwise lifting is good but watch for form and don’t ignore nagging injuries.
  - fearingreprisal 7y ago
    Huh? What part of that is supported by any kind of evidence? You can lift for many years and keep improving consistently if you stick to a good regimen. I also have a great routine that I stick to consistently and enjoy immensely, you're speaking for yourself.
subpixel 7y ago
If you eat the same meal every day you'll wind up unenthusiastic about food as well. The key to effective exercise as a means of weight loss is to find something you really like doing.
- usaar333 7y ago
  I agree that's ideal, but there's plenty of people who won't find any form of exercise enjoyable. Or perhaps will only find some types of exercise (after years, I really only like hiking and biking, which doesn't help much with upper body strength). The other thing that works is just being motivated. I find I feel like crap if I go for a long time without exercising, so I will.. even if I don't particularly enjoy doing it.
  - swsieber 7y ago
    Have you tried climbing? It just seems like something that woukd fit in that group, that and parkur. Unfortunately those both seem like they have a high barrier to enjoyment.
    - usaar333 7y ago
      Used to climb weekly. It's enjoyable as a social activity, though (for me) not so much individually. Either way, after having a kid, I haven't prioritized it in. It's also a lot different from hiking or biking - indoor climbing lacks the calming nature aspect. Outdoor climbing has a high time/coordination cost.
oarabbus_ 7y ago
I found the article a little... well, I'm not sure what adjective to use, but a little "off". >People told me that the first few weeks of exercising would be the hardest, and after that point all the endorphins would kick in (or whatever) and then I would really start to enjoy that. Yes, it's the most difficult to start a new habit when you start it. It's certainly not a common claim that endorphins "kick in after a few weeks" though. >It turns out that in actual practice, I don’t exercise to lose weight, I exercise so that I can eat more calories and still lose weight. I'm the same way, but it has nothing to do with exercise, and it's certainly not "exercise's fault" (personifiying a bit) that I have poor willpower (or very good rationalization). >It also meant that honestly speaking the real key to losing weight was the calorie counting, not the exercising. This is not a revelation. Literally every gym, fitness club, personal trainer, pro or amateur athlete, etc... they will all say it's an 80/20 split between diet an exercise. "Abs are made in the kitchen" is a very common phrase amongst bodybuilders/those who want abs/athletes. >Also key for me was understanding that the exercise and calorie counting was going to be a permanent thing now, and not just something I was going to do until I hit a goal. I mean... if you diet and exercise and lose 10lbs, then stop dieting and exercising... you will gain the 10lbs back. >I felt better when I started exercising, and I feel better now than I did a year ago, both physically and mentally. But it’s important to note that exercising and bringing my body closer to something that corresponded to my own internal self-image of myself did not, in fact, solve all my problems. This is a great point and really the only part of the article with any insight. I think it's very important to realize that going from unfit to fit actually doesn't solve a lot of the problems one may think it does.
ck425 7y ago
Personally I'd try two things to make the process easier: 1) Fit physical activity into your day to day life. I run to work but there are far less extreme ways to do this. Walk or cycle places, find a hobby that burns some calories etc. Leading a life that involves movement is far more sustainable than trying to start an exercise habit. 2) Try lots of different exercise routines. After a lot of trial and effort I've found running and swimming work best for me, with maybe 5/10 min weights after a swim. I've previously tried cycling, dumbbells, thai boxing and many many body weight/calisthenic/ natural movement type systems. Everyone's different so it's worth trying out a load of things to find which you'll actually enjoy.
- kccqzy 7y ago
  I wholeheartedly support (1). Earlier this year I lived closer to work and biking to work every day is extremely natural, and I easily close every ring on my Apple Watch with basically no effort. Now that I live farther away from work and my commute involves a car, it is a struggle everyday to close the rings.
blackflame 7y ago
Another thing is that you should view calories from simple sugars as calorie multipliers in terms of weight loss. Too much sugar causes insulin to stop opening the cell gates for glycogen to be consumed, similar to a lock getting worn out so the key(insulin) stops working. The net effect is no matter what you do you're not going to be able to consume as many calories causing fatigue and glycogen that stays in the bloodstream stores as fat.
- jiofih 7y ago
  I think you’re right, but your comment is so dense it’s impossible to decipher unless the person has read specific literature. TL;DR it’s not all about calories, bodies adapt their energy budget, carbs have a stronger impact than other food.
  - blackflame 7y ago
    I struggled with weight all my life. I constantly would get motivated to workout only to quit over and over again due to the lack of meaningful progress after the initial period. Even weight lifting I could only put on muscle but never lower my body fat below 18. After getting a scale that measures body composition and studying what I ate and how it affected me I was finally able to figure out the issue. The issue is metabolic syndrome and I suspect many people have this condition. Think of it this way, your body is constantly in either burn or store mode. When you move, you deplete energy reserves within the cell which must be replenished from the blood supply. Glucose is the basic energy block on the cellular level (ignoring intercellular ATP) for the human body. In order for glucose to pass into the cell and replenish reserves, it must pass through a gate that blocks out harmful material. The key to this gate is called insulin. When you eat a sugary diet, this gate mechanism becomes less and less responsive sort of like a tired security guard after the morning and evening rush. When the gate fails to open, two things happen: The first is that the cell becomes fatigued because its energy reserve hasn't been replenished, and second, the glucose stays in the bloodstream where it eventually is converted to glycogen and stores as fat. This is the problem that gets people. When you are in this state, you will burn less fat during your workouts and they will feel harder too. For the triple whammy, your body will catabolize energy-burning muscle instead of using what's already available. The only good time for sugars is after a workout so as to prevent catabolism. Keto and low carb diets work by reducing the strain on the insulin receptors allowing them to become resensitized. This is also why fasting diets work because they reduce insulin sensitivity so that your body more readily uses the energy it has when it has it. 3 Things Effect Weightloss and a change in any of them could make a "bad" food good or a "good" food bad in terms of losing or gaining weight. 1 - How much have you moved recently 2 - How much have you eaten recently 3 - What did you eat recently
flexd 7y ago
I find that the hardest thing about logging what I eat is knowing what I eat, and what calories those things contain. Often I eat lunch at work where they serve a ton of different dishes, and I dont have the opportunity to weigh what I eat, and I have no idea what exactly they put in that said that day. If I try to err on the side of caution, I'll be super hungry because the number of calories I ate does not add up to the number logged. Unless I have the time to make all my food and measure it or only eat processed/pre-made food that is labeled it's hard to keep accurate track. Do any of you feel the same way? I have used Myfitnesspal and similar before, but have never stuck with it. Before I have stayed reasonably fit because I usually ride mountain bikes a lot,but the past few years there has been less riding and I'm now +10kg my normal weight at least.
- silviogutierrez 7y ago
  Honestly, as someone who values efficiency, I found MyFitnessPal way too slow and clunky. A food tracker should get out of the way. Otherwise you'll - in the heat of the moment - decide not to log things. It also lacked flexibility for those times you dine out, skip meals, or skip logging. Which leads nicely to the shameless plug for https://www.joyapp.com https://www.joyapp.com . Built it for myself, then it spread through forums and has quite a few users. Benefits: - Once you learn the ropes, it's an order of magnitude faster to add entries. It was designed to be opened for as little as possible each day. - If you make it hard to log your food, you won't do it. This makes it trivial. - Also, there are no community-entered foods. This is a feature in most cases. All the food is either from a professionally curated database (Nutritionix) or custom foods you enter. - No ads whatsoever. And we don't sell your data. Privacy is very important to us.
  - moneywoes 7y ago
    Way too pricy for what you offer.
    - cadwag 7y ago
      I understand that $2 / month is not trivial for everyone, but this criticism alone is simply not helpful. If a person, such as yourself, does not value the benefits the service provides as greater than the price, they are simply not his/her target market. Your argument could be that the price asked would limit his/her market needlessly by simply being too high, but at this price point I doubt that to be the case. He / she built a service with a clear value prop (fastest food logging possible, backed by high quality / custom data, with a privacy focus). For those interested in food logging without having their eating and nutrition habits / data sold off, I doubt the price would be a deterrent. Maybe you can say the service is not meeting expectations in some way. That’s fair, but then please provide more specific feedback. Given the nature of this forum, let’s try to be either more supportive or at least more clear about what could be improved. Drive-by negativity is just not helpful to anyone. I, for one, applaud his/her efforts, find the offering enticing and the price to be very reasonable (Probably too low, in reality) given the attention to detail, data provided, and problem being solved. Disclaimer: I have not used the service and have no association, only browsed the site. I rarely comment, but wanted to balance out this low-effort negativity.
molodec 7y ago
I can't imagine not being grumpy walking on a treadmill in the basement and thinking about an extra slice of pizza. I go to gym sometimes to lift weights, and I have never seen a happy face on a person walking on a treadmill. I don't understand why not to go for a walk and enjoy the nature, people, birds, ... whatever you have in your neighborhood.
- groby_b 7y ago
  So many points. The major ones for me, in order of importance: 1) Running on a treadmill is much friendlier to my joints than concrete or asphalt. For us city dwellers, that adds up over time. 2) I can quit the treadmill at any time. If you're outside on a 6 mile run and you have a muscle cramp up at mile 3, limping back 3 miles is the result. That's surprisingly little fun ;) 3) Can't speak for other people, but usually the treadmill is a warm-up, that's it. 4) It's cold and rainy outside. I'm soft and coddled and like being in a warm place :) (OK, realistically, the first two are the ones that really matter, the rest you can get over)
  - syrrim 7y ago
    Note the GP specifies walking on a treadmill.
    - groby_b 7y ago
      Point 1 & 2 still apply, to a lesser extent, except I'd probably switch the order - being able to quit whenever you want is somewhat important. (And, always, point 4 :) I'd also amend point 1 with "I don't like breathing in car exhaust". If you're in a big city "just do stuff outside" is not really as fun as it sounds.
      - 0xffff2 7y ago
        Back when I was cycling regularly, I considered the fact that I couldn't quite when I wanted a major feature. Even considering the risk of blown tires, the ability to plan routes in advance that I knew I could do even though I would want to quit half way through was a major component of my ability to push my limits.
tmarsden 7y ago
You’re not going to get an endorphin rush from walking for 20 minutes. Endorphins are essentially painkillers produced in response to physical discomfort. You’re going to have to run, and probably for more than 2O minutes, if you want to get a runner’s high.
- askafriend 7y ago
  Yeah this is the bare minimum for what qualifies as exercise. I’m really surprised the author took the liberty to opine on all of exercise based on this...
  - sundvor 7y ago
    It's nonetheless a good story if viewed from the perspective of a complete couch potato. As a way of getting started, doing 20 minute walks is great! As long as it leads to higher intensity after adaptation, which it should allow.
WalterBright 7y ago
> at no point in my year of exercising has it been much other than an annoying thing that I’ve had to do I was jogging for well over a year before I started to enjoy it and look forward to my runs. Before then it took a fair amount of willpower to do it, afterwards I wanted to run and it was no effort.
- RandomBacon 7y ago
  It took me about 3 months (two different times a bit over a year apart). Each instance only lasted for about 4 months when I'd just lose motivation. Maybe it was because I made an accomplishment each time (being able to jog half an hour without stopping for the first time in my life was the last one), and that feeling of satisfaction meant I no longer had a drive to accomplish something anymore. I still have my goal of being able to run indefinitely, but I'm just not motivated to start back up again.
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    I made a conscious decision not to run for time or distance, nor do I concern myself if I stop to chat with a neighbor. If another jogger speeds by me, I yell at them to stop making me look bad. If I pass one, I chide them for being lazy :-)
macintux 7y ago
This is exactly the blog post I would have written this year. In April I got sick of being nearly 50 and 220 pounds; after 8 months of calorie counting and exercise I’m nearly 50 and 170ish pounds. And while I’ve gotten at least a little enjoyment out of running, that’s as much as I can say about appreciating exercise. Such an incredibly tedious chore.
ehnto 7y ago
One option: if you live near some mountain bike trails, get a mountain bike. All the nature of hiking with as much or as little roller coaster like excitement as you want. There are so many options, even indoor ones, that there is no need for being active to be boring.
- bobsil1 7y ago
  I run hill trails, and they’re so much more interesting than gyms and tracks.
josephwegner 7y ago
I guess I'll post this here, on the off chance that someone shares my plight and has found success. I, like the author, have found that most traditional excercise is just... boring. And exhausting. And not enjoyable. I did biking for awhile, and it was fine until life happened and I fell off the wagon. Same with lifting. Same with running. The only thing I've truly enjoyed was rock climbing, but the nearest gym is 45mim away in low traffic - it's a 3 hour commitment to get a good session. I've seen the advice from this thread before, to find excercise you enjoy or excercise you can integrate into your life (ie: run to work). I work from home. Everything out of the house is inconvenient, and everything in the house is boring. I make plenty of money and would be exceptionally happy if I could just throw money at this problem. There's not really a price I wouldn't pay for a more durable and comfortable body. Mostly in the past Ive been told I need to... just do it. Have the willpower to do it. But that's crappy advice and doesn't work. Has anyone had success with particular workouts or strategies to keep motivated?
- warp 7y ago
  If you want to throw money at it, try hiring a personal trainer for 2 or 3 days a week. (I had a personal trainer for a while who trained me and a friend, just having the commitment to trainer at least made me show up, and it was his job to keep things fresh. Having a friend there also helped make it less boring).
  - mdorazio 7y ago
    This doesn't really work for a lot of people because now on top of still being inconvenient and not changing the willpower aspect, there's also the constant knowledge that you're spending money on something you don't really need. The only exception I can think of is if the gym could literally go to you, as in good fitness equipment in a large van or small truck that drives to your house with the trainer.
    - warp 7y ago
      Yes, in my case the personal trainer would come to us, with all the equipment needed for that day in the trunk of his car. Usually we'd train in a nearby park.
nickbauman 7y ago
The misery from the work expressed makes me think this will not be a very long-lived habit. I think in order to get the endorphin rush (or, more accurately, a general increase in a well-being feeling over time), you need to have a level of intensity higher than just walking. So if you run instead of walk your calorie burn is 4-5x more so you can play this calorie game with even less time investment and you'll get the endorphins that will help reinforce the behavior better.
tacon 7y ago
I like the general thrust of this article that some calorie deficit is the key to weight loss. Alas, he is still suffering under the misconception that cardio works for weight loss/fat loss. All the published research shows this never happens. Here is a summary of that research[0]. The research always shows that humans who expend extra calories during one activity will, over the course of the rest of the day, expend fewer calories to, on average, expend essentially the same amount of energy as those who did not engage in the strenuous activity. Women who train for their first marathon gain, on average, 2-3 lbs of fat, even though they have expended tens of thousands of extra calories during their marathon training. Cardio has its uses in fitness, just not for losing fat. [0] https://youtu.be/jHOeoGMiFz8?t=270 https://youtu.be/jHOeoGMiFz8?t=270
- romaaeterna 7y ago
  You're going too far here. "Never happens" is wrong. If anything, perhaps cardio doesn't help on average. But I know individuals who have lost huge amounts of weight through serious cardio activity and no special diet work. I mean 'serious' cardio though: 2-3 hours/day on a treadmill. I've personally leaned out a lot through cycling.
  - tacon 7y ago
    Sure, I lost a lot of weight when I started running and cycling a lot, but I wasn't tracking my food at all. I was suddenly "the kind of person" who doesn't put crap in the temple of their body, etc. When the laboratory experiment is done, in a controlled environment, same food with exercise results in same weight without exercise. If you want to change how you eat as you start a cardio exercise program, great things will happen. Just because someone loses weight when they start cardio does not imply the cardio led to weight loss. Though the 50% of floor space in big box gyms devoted to cardio would make you think that is the most important effect. The gyms just never get around to presenting any literature to back up that presumption that sells so many memberships.
    - richk449 7y ago
      > Just because someone loses weight when they start cardio does not imply the cardio led to weight loss. I think this is one instance where correlation is good enough for most people - who cares about causation?
romaaeterna 7y ago
I've found that calories-in/calories-out logic only gets you so far. It's foundationally true, of course, because energy is conserved, and we use all of the calories that we eat, with few exceptions, either for energy or for fat storage. But exercise really helps. It changes what you want to eat first of all. Fat loss can be grueling or easy, depending on where your body wants to be, and exercise pushes it to the easier side. Some of the non-calorie burning exercises have the biggest effects here. Weightlifting is almost pointless from a calorie perspective, but it really energizes weight loss. I assume that the hormonal effects are king. Biking colossal distances is another thing that seems to lead to leaning out. In theory it should be possible just to eat through the calories burned biking, but in practice, it seems to shift the bias towards losing. Also, the biggest problem with calories-in calories-out is that weight regain after a calorie deficit period -- even a long one -- seems to be almost a law of nature. The body seems to push extremely hard for regaining everything that has been starved off.
- taneq 7y ago
  > Weightlifting is almost pointless from a calorie perspective Maybe in terms of the energy you burn directly by lifting weights, but it raises your base metabolic rate significantly for quite some time after a workout. The extra muscle mass you built also raises your BMR in a longer lasting way. Especially when combined with interval training, weights are very effective.
  - romaaeterna 7y ago
    Does it raise your BMR that much? What is that energy doing exactly? Does your body temperature increase? Do you move around more? You can't have energy going nowhere, of course. What other activities can drive the same? And what is the magnitude? "The extra muscle mass you built also raises your BMR in a longer lasting way." Unless you are talking about fantastic amounts of muscle mass here -- 10 pounds of muscle will only burn an extra 60-70 calories a day -- this oft mentioned factoid is unnoticeable in daily calorie expenditure.
    - taneq 7y ago
geophile 7y ago
I am 62, and have been exercising pretty regularly for 18 years. I hate it. At its worst, it is painful and unpleasant. At its best, it is boring. I am fortunate to be able to eat anything I want and not gain weight (even when I don't exercise). It seems to be the case that I can eat any amount of carbs and not gain weight. But I don't eat crap, and I gave up soft drinks completely a long time ago (before I started exercising). The secret for me was to recognize a few things: - I do hate exercise. I don't have the willpower to exercise hard for an hour a day. It works best for me if I have someone telling me what to do. So over the years, I have tried various forms of group exercise. I am currently doing crossfit, (minus the cult aspects, thanks but no thanks) 3 days a week, and working with a personal trainer 2 days a week (basically an exhausting form of physical therapy to address problems with the ways that I move, and my lack of mobility). - Making exercise a priority doesn't work for someone like me, because I hate it so much. No, I made it a habit, which is different. It's a regular thing on my schedule. - It does make me feel better. Not when I do it. Immediately after exercising, all I feel is relief that it's over for the day. But if I stick to my 5x/week schedule, 1 hour/day, then my aches and pains -- charateristic for my age -- disappear. No more aching knees or frequent upper back pain. If I stop for a couple of weeks, these problems return and I generally feel less energetic. - The battle is psychological. The worst thing is getting myself to the gym. I wait until the very last minute, and dread it for the whole short drive. The anticipation before the workout sucks. The warmup is the absolute worst, because I am transitioning from my normal lazy, comfortable mode, to a far more active mode, doing completely unnatural (for me) things. Doing the workout is mostly boring, often exhausting, but mentally easier that the buildup. Figure out what works for you and make it a habit.
- dijit 7y ago
  I’m 30 and I’ve been exercising for just over a year, everything you said rings true for me too. Especially the aches/pains and energy levels. I have to really force myself to go, but it’s always better afterwards.
  - Balgair 7y ago
    That's me as well. Working out just plain sucks. Afterwards I am nauseous, tired, smelly, sweaty, out of breath, etc. These feelings last for about 2-4 hours after cessation of physical activity. I hate going, I dread it all day long. Working out sucks. But yes, generally, I feel better if I have a routine that I stick to and just muscle out the work-out. I have successfully trained for, and ran, a marathon. I hated every single mile. But I never felt better, life-wise, than during that process. Which makes me hate working out even more, as I know it's good for me and makes life better. Gah!
RickJWagner 7y ago
Exercise is the best! Physical and mental gains, guards your health, keeps you young. I had a gym close to my office, and used to take the lunch hour to exercise. Really made the day go quickly! (Sadly, that gym moved and now I have to work out after work. But the upside is that I now go with my wife, son and daughter.)
Gatsky 7y ago
Some fasting would probably help this guy a lot. Another under-appreciated point: in the end, aging & chronic disease are due to metabolic activity, and reducing your metabolism x time AUC probably has a lot of benefits.
tlbsofware 7y ago
I highly recommend anyone who wants to learn more about exercising for aesthetic or performance goals to check out Eric Helms, he is a huge name in the science based fitness community along with Greg Nuckols, Brad Schoenfeld, and Bret Contreras to name a few (there are plenty and luckily all these guys mention each other so you can find great info all over). His Muscle and Strength Pyramid videos (and books that I have both bought) provide a great amount of detail into the fundamentals of nutrition and training as well as understanding the hierarchy of importance. Muscle and Strength Pyramid series: Training: https://youtu.be/OWmchPCyDvw https://youtu.be/OWmchPCyDvw Nutrition: https://youtu.be/GAvW6xBZjSk https://youtu.be/GAvW6xBZjSk
peter303 7y ago
I have bern doing vigorous exercise for 51 years and still love it. Outdoor running up to 70 miles a week for the first 46 years, high speed walking 25 miles a week the last 5 years. The secret is doing something that is fun so you look forward to it every day.
dredmorbius 7y ago
Fitness is not simply cardio. There's a great Men's Journal article, featured a few times on HN, "Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie". Read it. Several times. https://web.archive.org/web/20110130195636/http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie/print/ https://web.archive.org/web/20110130195636/http://www.mensjo... (Earlier discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4971196 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4971196 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287213 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287213, particularly.) Your body is an adaptive system, it responds to stimulus, given nutrition, rest/recovery, and other parameters (of which stress is a major element). Cardio works your heart. That's useful, but there's more to your body than that. Strength training works your muscles, building strength, endurance, power, and mass. There are skills, fine-motor control, coordination, and other exercise modalities, with their own specific results. Training is a stimulus which achieves a specific result, preferably one you've identified as a goal. All said, 20 minutes of daily walking ... isn't a lot. It's better than nothing. There are other things you can do. You don't need a lot of equipment or space (though as with many things, the right tools for the job help). Understanding how your body responds to what stimulus, under what circumstances, and roughly how quickly or slowly, helps a lot. A modest, consistent, balanced, and goal-appropriate programme can be absolutely life-changing. It's valuable at any age -- what you do when you're young will deliver returns in your old age (the more so if you keep it up). Training as an older adult is also a major quality-of-life determinant. There's no One Perfect Exercise. A balance of modalities (cardio, strength, flexibility, skills) is generally preferable. Starting out, virtually anything is better than nothing. As you advance, you'll find you need to make more specific tweaks to continue progress (should you want to). And once you've gotten yourself beyond baseline, a small amount of work goes a long way. Clarence Bass, now well into his 80s, maintains an impressive physique based on two workouts a week -- one lifting session, one cardio. https://www.cbass.com https://www.cbass.com There's a ton of bogus advice, but also quality information readily found. The basics are simple, though the work isn't always easy. Reddit's /r/fitness (or /r/XXfitness for women) is actually quite good, both in discussion and its wiki. Strongly recommended: https://old.reddit.com/r/fitness https://old.reddit.com/r/fitness https://old.reddit.com/r/fitness/wiki https://old.reddit.com/r/fitness/wiki https://old.reddit.com/r/xxfitness https://old.reddit.com/r/xxfitness https://old.reddit.com/r/xxfitness/wiki https://old.reddit.com/r/xxfitness/wiki
ph2082 7y ago
Surprised, nobody mentioned Bodyweight exercises. They build basic foundation on which you can add others like running, cycling, swimming, whatever etc. When I tried 10 burpees first time heart rate shot to 170-180. Made me question my existence along with all poor life style choices. Good thing is, you need not to waste to time traveling to gym, other places to pursue other activities. Can be done at home, hotel, park wherever you are.
doe88 7y ago
There is a saying: - Better diet makes you lose weight; - More exercise helps you maintain your weigh loss. Also I think it is important to be careful when starting exercising to not make too much too soon. It is more important to target the long game and avoid injuries or mental exhaustion which would make you quit in both cases if not handled correctly.
krustyburger 7y ago
I grimaced at “because holidays” and stopped reading at “because physics.” I guess my distaste for that sort of writing is because English grammar.
- collyw 7y ago
  https://www.sciencealert.com/people-who-pick-up-grammar-mistakes-jerks-scientists-find https://www.sciencealert.com/people-who-pick-up-grammar-mist...
inamberclad 7y ago
I'll throw in my vote for actually liking the exercise I do, which is mostly sprints and weightlifting. During school it was my meditation. After working on other, uncertain things for long enough I need to be able to hone my own will, struggle for my own sake, and yes, I do get the endorphins.
xallace 7y ago
it's my personal preference but bike-commuting seems like the optimum for people who are overweight, don't have time and lack motivation. you lose weight, learn more about your local area, learn more about human psychology, you can listen to your favourite podcast/audiobook, don't have to pay for gym membership/gas to drive to te gym, and it's better for your knees
- rapht 7y ago
  I second that. I can very much relate to the author's thoughts about the whole exercise routine, including a lack of general enjoyment of it, and when I set out to improve my body in the gym, I lasted a few months or so and gave up: too much time and effort and motivation and money needed at the same time for something so dull - and that was e few years ago and I stopped doing much exercise except for some week end walks and the like. Now for a few months I have been commuting to work by bike, driven by the time gain vs car or subway, and I have to say even though it's a bit of an effort on rainy days, it's really a very good combination of low cost, low friction, useful in its own right, means of doing exercise.
Havoc 7y ago
I suspect the weight 170 might have something to do with lack of enjoyment. Run for example becomes tangibly harder if I weigh just 10% more
brentis 7y ago
Try squash. Amazing amount of exercise and for those of us who are competitive it never gets boring. Sheds weight like crazy and has cardio demands like few other sports. Alternatively, just walk with 5lb dumbbells. No shortage of studies on mental/physical benefits of walking and lugging around weights help core and upper body. I usually add 20lb weight vest.

166 points by MaysonL 7y ago

I completely agree with point 1. Everyone said the first month would be the hardest, but halfway through my 9th month, I still think it's the hardest thing to do. The thing is, now it's become such an integral part of my daily routine that I cannot move forward without it. That consistency has programmed my brain to cling on to it, and it being hard does not matter anymore. Something no trainer/exercise junkie will tell you

voisin 7y ago

If you don’t feel subjectively better after exercise than before, the solution is to add to the intensity and keep trying. I wonder what percentage of max heart rate he averaged.

thrower123 7y ago
This is such a bizarre mindset. It's sort of like "the beatings will continue until morale improves."
- mentat 7y ago
  More like "the exercising should continue until you're actually exercising". Going through some motions that don't stress the body isn't exercise...
- throwlaplace 7y ago
  pleasure experienced during exercise does scale with intensity but only to a certain point https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/11590680-000000000-00000 https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/11590680-000000000...
- tacon 7y ago
  Intensity is 80-90% of the determinant of a muscle's adaptive response to load. If you plan to get somewhere near your genetic potential in strength and size, you will need to use rather high intensity to deeply fatigue ("inroad") the muscle. But you also have to not repeat that stimulus for days to a week, to allow recovery in people like us with middle of the bell curve genetics. The ideal profile for building strength is exercise that is intense, brief, and infrequent. Yes, it is unpleasant for a couple of minutes per muscle group, once or twice a week. So what? Do you enjoy brushing your teeth? Or do you just do it and get it over with? Note, this is for strength training. Skill building for sports, or general physical activity, is a different protocol, depending on the activity. One of my favorite recent book titles is "If You Like Exercise ... Chances Are You're Doing It Wrong: Proper Strength Training for Maximum Results"[0], which is another book about the work of exercise genius Arthur Jones, inventor of Nautilus and MedX equipment. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Exercise-Chances-Youre-Doing-Wrong/dp/1475974418/ https://www.amazon.com/Exercise-Chances-Youre-Doing-Wrong/dp... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7GB3h82tcQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7GB3h82tcQ [2] https://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Research-Strength-Training/dp/0071597174 https://www.amazon.com/Body-Science-Research-Strength-Traini...
groby_b 7y ago
That's... pretty much nonsense. Maybe some people feel better after exercise than before, but for the vast majority of people I've talked to, they're mostly exhausted after exercising. Same goes for me. And yes, I regularly exercise significant chunks of time at 80%+ of MHR. And yes, I've done it for extended amounts of time, too. I've done half marathons. I've run somewhat decent times for my age. I was bored out of my skull while doing it. I certainly didn't feel a big endorphin rush.
- justAnotherNET 7y ago
  I am convinced a solid portion of the population can’t experience “runners high”. I never have, and have similar history to what you describe.
janderland 7y ago
This has been my experience as well. You need to start out slow and let your body adjust, and at different points I’ve had different levels of highs. The rush came for me when I was pushing myself towards my limit without pain, and that didn’t happen until I had set a certain baseline of endurance.
cocoa19 7y ago
I've been doing HIIT for a while. Always very intense and I end up demolished and definitely not feeling better afterwards, just really tired. I asked my trainer if it ever gets any easier, in his words, "No, you just get stronger". Feeling subjectively better after a workout session might be in the same line as "happens to some people".
JamesBarney 7y ago
This might be true of some people at some intensities but it is not universally true. The more intense my exercise the worse I feel afterwards. @ 70% of max hr I feel pretty good afterward. 80% and I start feeling pretty tired. At 90-95% I get super irritable, nauseous, and can't sleep.
Ididntdothis 7y ago
I love being totally exhausted but it took me a while to accept that a lot of people don’t like it. People are different. I never had weight problems and it also took me a while that what’s easy for me is hard for others. But then I can’t wean myself off chocolate which is easy for others.
nradov 7y ago
The current recommended best practice for most athletes is to do only about 20% of training near max heart rate and the remaining 80% at much lower intensity. Otherwise you won't recover correctly.
dredmorbius 7y ago
This is fundamentally true. Keep in mind that this doesn't mean "100% effort, 100% of the time". Rather, the body is extraordinarily effective in responding to brief sessions of intense activity. For cardio, high intensity interval training (HIIT), and Tabata intervals in particular (20 seconds effort, 10 seconds recovery, repeated 8 times). This can be done with virtually any activity -- low-weight squats, rowing machine, sprints, burpbees, spinning, running. For strength -- a small number of moderate-to-high weight sets (3-8 reps, 3-4 sets) -- 2-3x weekly, is more than sufficient to build muscle. Long, low-intensity effort -- cardio or strength -- has relatively low yield . You can and generally should train efficiently. The most important factor, though, is consistency over time. That is: get your workout in, and do that 2-3x a week, every week, year in and out. Rewards don't come from a heroic effort in a single workout, but consistency over time, with progressively (over weeks and months) greater challenges (more weight, effort, reps).

exabrial 7y ago

I used to not enjoy it too until I found something I genuinely was good at and was competitive: an indoor rowing studio. I now enthusiastically workout 5 days a week. And rowing is a very efficient use of my time, I burn roughly a calorie per row stroke. A 20 minute rowing session means very little dietary restrictions. The big thing that worked for me was data. I weighed myself every day no matter what and even if I knew I was going over the calorie count for the day I logged it anyway. For me that was when this vast mystery of diet was cleared. Once I saw how directly linked they were it became very easy to say no to things and it continues to do so.

CalChris 7y ago
Yeah, rowing rocks. I just finished the Concept 2 100K challenge. I feel seriously good pretty much all the time. My posterior chain is much stronger. My posture is much better. I can eat anything. The correct rowing stroke is difficult to master, more so if you want to row on the water. Time spent with Dark Horse or Training Tall YouTube videos will help quite a bit. Jumping rope is also very underrated. I’m just starting the CrossRopes challenge. Weight training is fairly rated. Spinning fairly rated. Ellipticals are overrated.
- exabrial 7y ago
  I love training tall! I'm not very tall for a rower (only 6'4") but his stuff helps me continuously improve. My last vacation to Florida I got out on the water with an 85 year old man that had been rowing for 50+ years. I got great instruction and he was full of sage wisdom. It was a ton of fun and I've never been so pleased to kick my butt kicked by a professional.
  - dano 7y ago
    You're plenty tall for a rower, in fact, likely the perfect height for many boats. Keep up the erg work and I hope you can get on the water more frequently. I've been at it for 20+ years and love it.
  - samstave 7y ago

bot1 7y ago

Start lifting weights. There’s nothing more motivating than actually seeing gains. Also it’s fun in general imo.

degenerate 7y ago
I think it's fun with a friend (did that years ago), but trying to get back into lifting by myself now... is boring. I quit each session sooner than I should, so I don't see the same gains. I'm not sure how to get excited about it when I am by myself, other than playing music to pump me up, which I'm not always in the mood for.
sundvor 7y ago
Aye. My own goal in my late 40s, a bit overweight, is to get strong first, lose weight second. I'd hardly ever get an endorphin rush/hit from cycling, but I get them regularly from weights. They certainly help the mind settle, even after a short stint. My best tip would be to get your own equipment, if possible, to have the ability to do it frequently and without making it a mission to go to the gym. It's amazing what you can do with a squat rack, bar bell, a bench, and a set of plates. (Starting strength / Rippetoe, Stronglifts 5x5, etc). Weight is in fact regulating itself somewhat naturally as a consequence, but just being able to feel the body getting stronger is the real pleasure. I've been doing this for a good few months now and I know I'm adding years if not decades to my usable life span as well.
Ididntdothis 7y ago
Just remember that the gains will stop after a while if you don’t start taking steroids or something. People seem to have difficulty finding a stable workout routine they enjoy without improvements. Otherwise lifting is good but watch for form and don’t ignore nagging injuries.
- fearingreprisal 7y ago
  Huh? What part of that is supported by any kind of evidence? You can lift for many years and keep improving consistently if you stick to a good regimen. I also have a great routine that I stick to consistently and enjoy immensely, you're speaking for yourself.

subpixel 7y ago

If you eat the same meal every day you'll wind up unenthusiastic about food as well. The key to effective exercise as a means of weight loss is to find something you really like doing.

usaar333 7y ago
I agree that's ideal, but there's plenty of people who won't find any form of exercise enjoyable. Or perhaps will only find some types of exercise (after years, I really only like hiking and biking, which doesn't help much with upper body strength). The other thing that works is just being motivated. I find I feel like crap if I go for a long time without exercising, so I will.. even if I don't particularly enjoy doing it.
- swsieber 7y ago
  Have you tried climbing? It just seems like something that woukd fit in that group, that and parkur. Unfortunately those both seem like they have a high barrier to enjoyment.
  - usaar333 7y ago
    Used to climb weekly. It's enjoyable as a social activity, though (for me) not so much individually. Either way, after having a kid, I haven't prioritized it in. It's also a lot different from hiking or biking - indoor climbing lacks the calming nature aspect. Outdoor climbing has a high time/coordination cost.

oarabbus_ 7y ago

I found the article a little... well, I'm not sure what adjective to use, but a little "off". >People told me that the first few weeks of exercising would be the hardest, and after that point all the endorphins would kick in (or whatever) and then I would really start to enjoy that. Yes, it's the most difficult to start a new habit when you start it. It's certainly not a common claim that endorphins "kick in after a few weeks" though. >It turns out that in actual practice, I don’t exercise to lose weight, I exercise so that I can eat more calories and still lose weight. I'm the same way, but it has nothing to do with exercise, and it's certainly not "exercise's fault" (personifiying a bit) that I have poor willpower (or very good rationalization). >It also meant that honestly speaking the real key to losing weight was the calorie counting, not the exercising. This is not a revelation. Literally every gym, fitness club, personal trainer, pro or amateur athlete, etc... they will all say it's an 80/20 split between diet an exercise. "Abs are made in the kitchen" is a very common phrase amongst bodybuilders/those who want abs/athletes. >Also key for me was understanding that the exercise and calorie counting was going to be a permanent thing now, and not just something I was going to do until I hit a goal. I mean... if you diet and exercise and lose 10lbs, then stop dieting and exercising... you will gain the 10lbs back. >I felt better when I started exercising, and I feel better now than I did a year ago, both physically and mentally. But it’s important to note that exercising and bringing my body closer to something that corresponded to my own internal self-image of myself did not, in fact, solve all my problems. This is a great point and really the only part of the article with any insight. I think it's very important to realize that going from unfit to fit actually doesn't solve a lot of the problems one may think it does.

ck425 7y ago

Personally I'd try two things to make the process easier: 1) Fit physical activity into your day to day life. I run to work but there are far less extreme ways to do this. Walk or cycle places, find a hobby that burns some calories etc. Leading a life that involves movement is far more sustainable than trying to start an exercise habit. 2) Try lots of different exercise routines. After a lot of trial and effort I've found running and swimming work best for me, with maybe 5/10 min weights after a swim. I've previously tried cycling, dumbbells, thai boxing and many many body weight/calisthenic/ natural movement type systems. Everyone's different so it's worth trying out a load of things to find which you'll actually enjoy.

kccqzy 7y ago
I wholeheartedly support (1). Earlier this year I lived closer to work and biking to work every day is extremely natural, and I easily close every ring on my Apple Watch with basically no effort. Now that I live farther away from work and my commute involves a car, it is a struggle everyday to close the rings.

blackflame 7y ago

Another thing is that you should view calories from simple sugars as calorie multipliers in terms of weight loss. Too much sugar causes insulin to stop opening the cell gates for glycogen to be consumed, similar to a lock getting worn out so the key(insulin) stops working. The net effect is no matter what you do you're not going to be able to consume as many calories causing fatigue and glycogen that stays in the bloodstream stores as fat.

jiofih 7y ago
I think you’re right, but your comment is so dense it’s impossible to decipher unless the person has read specific literature. TL;DR it’s not all about calories, bodies adapt their energy budget, carbs have a stronger impact than other food.
- blackflame 7y ago
  I struggled with weight all my life. I constantly would get motivated to workout only to quit over and over again due to the lack of meaningful progress after the initial period. Even weight lifting I could only put on muscle but never lower my body fat below 18. After getting a scale that measures body composition and studying what I ate and how it affected me I was finally able to figure out the issue. The issue is metabolic syndrome and I suspect many people have this condition. Think of it this way, your body is constantly in either burn or store mode. When you move, you deplete energy reserves within the cell which must be replenished from the blood supply. Glucose is the basic energy block on the cellular level (ignoring intercellular ATP) for the human body. In order for glucose to pass into the cell and replenish reserves, it must pass through a gate that blocks out harmful material. The key to this gate is called insulin. When you eat a sugary diet, this gate mechanism becomes less and less responsive sort of like a tired security guard after the morning and evening rush. When the gate fails to open, two things happen: The first is that the cell becomes fatigued because its energy reserve hasn't been replenished, and second, the glucose stays in the bloodstream where it eventually is converted to glycogen and stores as fat. This is the problem that gets people. When you are in this state, you will burn less fat during your workouts and they will feel harder too. For the triple whammy, your body will catabolize energy-burning muscle instead of using what's already available. The only good time for sugars is after a workout so as to prevent catabolism. Keto and low carb diets work by reducing the strain on the insulin receptors allowing them to become resensitized. This is also why fasting diets work because they reduce insulin sensitivity so that your body more readily uses the energy it has when it has it. 3 Things Effect Weightloss and a change in any of them could make a "bad" food good or a "good" food bad in terms of losing or gaining weight. 1 - How much have you moved recently 2 - How much have you eaten recently 3 - What did you eat recently

flexd 7y ago

I find that the hardest thing about logging what I eat is knowing what I eat, and what calories those things contain. Often I eat lunch at work where they serve a ton of different dishes, and I dont have the opportunity to weigh what I eat, and I have no idea what exactly they put in that said that day. If I try to err on the side of caution, I'll be super hungry because the number of calories I ate does not add up to the number logged. Unless I have the time to make all my food and measure it or only eat processed/pre-made food that is labeled it's hard to keep accurate track. Do any of you feel the same way? I have used Myfitnesspal and similar before, but have never stuck with it. Before I have stayed reasonably fit because I usually ride mountain bikes a lot,but the past few years there has been less riding and I'm now +10kg my normal weight at least.

silviogutierrez 7y ago
Honestly, as someone who values efficiency, I found MyFitnessPal way too slow and clunky. A food tracker should get out of the way. Otherwise you'll - in the heat of the moment - decide not to log things. It also lacked flexibility for those times you dine out, skip meals, or skip logging. Which leads nicely to the shameless plug for https://www.joyapp.com https://www.joyapp.com . Built it for myself, then it spread through forums and has quite a few users. Benefits: - Once you learn the ropes, it's an order of magnitude faster to add entries. It was designed to be opened for as little as possible each day. - If you make it hard to log your food, you won't do it. This makes it trivial. - Also, there are no community-entered foods. This is a feature in most cases. All the food is either from a professionally curated database (Nutritionix) or custom foods you enter. - No ads whatsoever. And we don't sell your data. Privacy is very important to us.
- moneywoes 7y ago
  Way too pricy for what you offer.
  - cadwag 7y ago
    I understand that $2 / month is not trivial for everyone, but this criticism alone is simply not helpful. If a person, such as yourself, does not value the benefits the service provides as greater than the price, they are simply not his/her target market. Your argument could be that the price asked would limit his/her market needlessly by simply being too high, but at this price point I doubt that to be the case. He / she built a service with a clear value prop (fastest food logging possible, backed by high quality / custom data, with a privacy focus). For those interested in food logging without having their eating and nutrition habits / data sold off, I doubt the price would be a deterrent. Maybe you can say the service is not meeting expectations in some way. That’s fair, but then please provide more specific feedback. Given the nature of this forum, let’s try to be either more supportive or at least more clear about what could be improved. Drive-by negativity is just not helpful to anyone. I, for one, applaud his/her efforts, find the offering enticing and the price to be very reasonable (Probably too low, in reality) given the attention to detail, data provided, and problem being solved. Disclaimer: I have not used the service and have no association, only browsed the site. I rarely comment, but wanted to balance out this low-effort negativity.

molodec 7y ago

I can't imagine not being grumpy walking on a treadmill in the basement and thinking about an extra slice of pizza. I go to gym sometimes to lift weights, and I have never seen a happy face on a person walking on a treadmill. I don't understand why not to go for a walk and enjoy the nature, people, birds, ... whatever you have in your neighborhood.

groby_b 7y ago
So many points. The major ones for me, in order of importance: 1) Running on a treadmill is much friendlier to my joints than concrete or asphalt. For us city dwellers, that adds up over time. 2) I can quit the treadmill at any time. If you're outside on a 6 mile run and you have a muscle cramp up at mile 3, limping back 3 miles is the result. That's surprisingly little fun ;) 3) Can't speak for other people, but usually the treadmill is a warm-up, that's it. 4) It's cold and rainy outside. I'm soft and coddled and like being in a warm place :) (OK, realistically, the first two are the ones that really matter, the rest you can get over)
- syrrim 7y ago
  Note the GP specifies walking on a treadmill.
  - groby_b 7y ago
    Point 1 & 2 still apply, to a lesser extent, except I'd probably switch the order - being able to quit whenever you want is somewhat important. (And, always, point 4 :) I'd also amend point 1 with "I don't like breathing in car exhaust". If you're in a big city "just do stuff outside" is not really as fun as it sounds.
    - 0xffff2 7y ago
      Back when I was cycling regularly, I considered the fact that I couldn't quite when I wanted a major feature. Even considering the risk of blown tires, the ability to plan routes in advance that I knew I could do even though I would want to quit half way through was a major component of my ability to push my limits.

tmarsden 7y ago

You’re not going to get an endorphin rush from walking for 20 minutes. Endorphins are essentially painkillers produced in response to physical discomfort. You’re going to have to run, and probably for more than 2O minutes, if you want to get a runner’s high.

askafriend 7y ago
Yeah this is the bare minimum for what qualifies as exercise. I’m really surprised the author took the liberty to opine on all of exercise based on this...
- sundvor 7y ago
  It's nonetheless a good story if viewed from the perspective of a complete couch potato. As a way of getting started, doing 20 minute walks is great! As long as it leads to higher intensity after adaptation, which it should allow.

WalterBright 7y ago

> at no point in my year of exercising has it been much other than an annoying thing that I’ve had to do I was jogging for well over a year before I started to enjoy it and look forward to my runs. Before then it took a fair amount of willpower to do it, afterwards I wanted to run and it was no effort.

RandomBacon 7y ago
It took me about 3 months (two different times a bit over a year apart). Each instance only lasted for about 4 months when I'd just lose motivation. Maybe it was because I made an accomplishment each time (being able to jog half an hour without stopping for the first time in my life was the last one), and that feeling of satisfaction meant I no longer had a drive to accomplish something anymore. I still have my goal of being able to run indefinitely, but I'm just not motivated to start back up again.
- WalterBright 7y ago
  I made a conscious decision not to run for time or distance, nor do I concern myself if I stop to chat with a neighbor. If another jogger speeds by me, I yell at them to stop making me look bad. If I pass one, I chide them for being lazy :-)

macintux 7y ago

This is exactly the blog post I would have written this year. In April I got sick of being nearly 50 and 220 pounds; after 8 months of calorie counting and exercise I’m nearly 50 and 170ish pounds. And while I’ve gotten at least a little enjoyment out of running, that’s as much as I can say about appreciating exercise. Such an incredibly tedious chore.

ehnto 7y ago

One option: if you live near some mountain bike trails, get a mountain bike. All the nature of hiking with as much or as little roller coaster like excitement as you want. There are so many options, even indoor ones, that there is no need for being active to be boring.

bobsil1 7y ago
I run hill trails, and they’re so much more interesting than gyms and tracks.

josephwegner 7y ago

I guess I'll post this here, on the off chance that someone shares my plight and has found success. I, like the author, have found that most traditional excercise is just... boring. And exhausting. And not enjoyable. I did biking for awhile, and it was fine until life happened and I fell off the wagon. Same with lifting. Same with running. The only thing I've truly enjoyed was rock climbing, but the nearest gym is 45mim away in low traffic - it's a 3 hour commitment to get a good session. I've seen the advice from this thread before, to find excercise you enjoy or excercise you can integrate into your life (ie: run to work). I work from home. Everything out of the house is inconvenient, and everything in the house is boring. I make plenty of money and would be exceptionally happy if I could just throw money at this problem. There's not really a price I wouldn't pay for a more durable and comfortable body. Mostly in the past Ive been told I need to... just do it. Have the willpower to do it. But that's crappy advice and doesn't work. Has anyone had success with particular workouts or strategies to keep motivated?

warp 7y ago
If you want to throw money at it, try hiring a personal trainer for 2 or 3 days a week. (I had a personal trainer for a while who trained me and a friend, just having the commitment to trainer at least made me show up, and it was his job to keep things fresh. Having a friend there also helped make it less boring).
- mdorazio 7y ago
  This doesn't really work for a lot of people because now on top of still being inconvenient and not changing the willpower aspect, there's also the constant knowledge that you're spending money on something you don't really need. The only exception I can think of is if the gym could literally go to you, as in good fitness equipment in a large van or small truck that drives to your house with the trainer.
  - warp 7y ago
    Yes, in my case the personal trainer would come to us, with all the equipment needed for that day in the trunk of his car. Usually we'd train in a nearby park.

nickbauman 7y ago

The misery from the work expressed makes me think this will not be a very long-lived habit. I think in order to get the endorphin rush (or, more accurately, a general increase in a well-being feeling over time), you need to have a level of intensity higher than just walking. So if you run instead of walk your calorie burn is 4-5x more so you can play this calorie game with even less time investment and you'll get the endorphins that will help reinforce the behavior better.

tacon 7y ago

I like the general thrust of this article that some calorie deficit is the key to weight loss. Alas, he is still suffering under the misconception that cardio works for weight loss/fat loss. All the published research shows this never happens. Here is a summary of that research[0]. The research always shows that humans who expend extra calories during one activity will, over the course of the rest of the day, expend fewer calories to, on average, expend essentially the same amount of energy as those who did not engage in the strenuous activity. Women who train for their first marathon gain, on average, 2-3 lbs of fat, even though they have expended tens of thousands of extra calories during their marathon training. Cardio has its uses in fitness, just not for losing fat. [0] https://youtu.be/jHOeoGMiFz8?t=270 https://youtu.be/jHOeoGMiFz8?t=270

romaaeterna 7y ago
You're going too far here. "Never happens" is wrong. If anything, perhaps cardio doesn't help on average. But I know individuals who have lost huge amounts of weight through serious cardio activity and no special diet work. I mean 'serious' cardio though: 2-3 hours/day on a treadmill. I've personally leaned out a lot through cycling.
- tacon 7y ago
  Sure, I lost a lot of weight when I started running and cycling a lot, but I wasn't tracking my food at all. I was suddenly "the kind of person" who doesn't put crap in the temple of their body, etc. When the laboratory experiment is done, in a controlled environment, same food with exercise results in same weight without exercise. If you want to change how you eat as you start a cardio exercise program, great things will happen. Just because someone loses weight when they start cardio does not imply the cardio led to weight loss. Though the 50% of floor space in big box gyms devoted to cardio would make you think that is the most important effect. The gyms just never get around to presenting any literature to back up that presumption that sells so many memberships.
  - richk449 7y ago
    > Just because someone loses weight when they start cardio does not imply the cardio led to weight loss. I think this is one instance where correlation is good enough for most people - who cares about causation?

romaaeterna 7y ago

I've found that calories-in/calories-out logic only gets you so far. It's foundationally true, of course, because energy is conserved, and we use all of the calories that we eat, with few exceptions, either for energy or for fat storage. But exercise really helps. It changes what you want to eat first of all. Fat loss can be grueling or easy, depending on where your body wants to be, and exercise pushes it to the easier side. Some of the non-calorie burning exercises have the biggest effects here. Weightlifting is almost pointless from a calorie perspective, but it really energizes weight loss. I assume that the hormonal effects are king. Biking colossal distances is another thing that seems to lead to leaning out. In theory it should be possible just to eat through the calories burned biking, but in practice, it seems to shift the bias towards losing. Also, the biggest problem with calories-in calories-out is that weight regain after a calorie deficit period -- even a long one -- seems to be almost a law of nature. The body seems to push extremely hard for regaining everything that has been starved off.

taneq 7y ago
> Weightlifting is almost pointless from a calorie perspective Maybe in terms of the energy you burn directly by lifting weights, but it raises your base metabolic rate significantly for quite some time after a workout. The extra muscle mass you built also raises your BMR in a longer lasting way. Especially when combined with interval training, weights are very effective.
- romaaeterna 7y ago
  Does it raise your BMR that much? What is that energy doing exactly? Does your body temperature increase? Do you move around more? You can't have energy going nowhere, of course. What other activities can drive the same? And what is the magnitude? "The extra muscle mass you built also raises your BMR in a longer lasting way." Unless you are talking about fantastic amounts of muscle mass here -- 10 pounds of muscle will only burn an extra 60-70 calories a day -- this oft mentioned factoid is unnoticeable in daily calorie expenditure.
  - taneq 7y ago

geophile 7y ago

I am 62, and have been exercising pretty regularly for 18 years. I hate it. At its worst, it is painful and unpleasant. At its best, it is boring. I am fortunate to be able to eat anything I want and not gain weight (even when I don't exercise). It seems to be the case that I can eat any amount of carbs and not gain weight. But I don't eat crap, and I gave up soft drinks completely a long time ago (before I started exercising). The secret for me was to recognize a few things: - I do hate exercise. I don't have the willpower to exercise hard for an hour a day. It works best for me if I have someone telling me what to do. So over the years, I have tried various forms of group exercise. I am currently doing crossfit, (minus the cult aspects, thanks but no thanks) 3 days a week, and working with a personal trainer 2 days a week (basically an exhausting form of physical therapy to address problems with the ways that I move, and my lack of mobility). - Making exercise a priority doesn't work for someone like me, because I hate it so much. No, I made it a habit, which is different. It's a regular thing on my schedule. - It does make me feel better. Not when I do it. Immediately after exercising, all I feel is relief that it's over for the day. But if I stick to my 5x/week schedule, 1 hour/day, then my aches and pains -- charateristic for my age -- disappear. No more aching knees or frequent upper back pain. If I stop for a couple of weeks, these problems return and I generally feel less energetic. - The battle is psychological. The worst thing is getting myself to the gym. I wait until the very last minute, and dread it for the whole short drive. The anticipation before the workout sucks. The warmup is the absolute worst, because I am transitioning from my normal lazy, comfortable mode, to a far more active mode, doing completely unnatural (for me) things. Doing the workout is mostly boring, often exhausting, but mentally easier that the buildup. Figure out what works for you and make it a habit.

dijit 7y ago
I’m 30 and I’ve been exercising for just over a year, everything you said rings true for me too. Especially the aches/pains and energy levels. I have to really force myself to go, but it’s always better afterwards.
- Balgair 7y ago
  That's me as well. Working out just plain sucks. Afterwards I am nauseous, tired, smelly, sweaty, out of breath, etc. These feelings last for about 2-4 hours after cessation of physical activity. I hate going, I dread it all day long. Working out sucks. But yes, generally, I feel better if I have a routine that I stick to and just muscle out the work-out. I have successfully trained for, and ran, a marathon. I hated every single mile. But I never felt better, life-wise, than during that process. Which makes me hate working out even more, as I know it's good for me and makes life better. Gah!

RickJWagner 7y ago

Exercise is the best! Physical and mental gains, guards your health, keeps you young. I had a gym close to my office, and used to take the lunch hour to exercise. Really made the day go quickly! (Sadly, that gym moved and now I have to work out after work. But the upside is that I now go with my wife, son and daughter.)

Gatsky 7y ago

Some fasting would probably help this guy a lot. Another under-appreciated point: in the end, aging & chronic disease are due to metabolic activity, and reducing your metabolism x time AUC probably has a lot of benefits.

tlbsofware 7y ago

I highly recommend anyone who wants to learn more about exercising for aesthetic or performance goals to check out Eric Helms, he is a huge name in the science based fitness community along with Greg Nuckols, Brad Schoenfeld, and Bret Contreras to name a few (there are plenty and luckily all these guys mention each other so you can find great info all over). His Muscle and Strength Pyramid videos (and books that I have both bought) provide a great amount of detail into the fundamentals of nutrition and training as well as understanding the hierarchy of importance. Muscle and Strength Pyramid series: Training: https://youtu.be/OWmchPCyDvw https://youtu.be/OWmchPCyDvw Nutrition: https://youtu.be/GAvW6xBZjSk https://youtu.be/GAvW6xBZjSk

peter303 7y ago

I have bern doing vigorous exercise for 51 years and still love it. Outdoor running up to 70 miles a week for the first 46 years, high speed walking 25 miles a week the last 5 years. The secret is doing something that is fun so you look forward to it every day.

dredmorbius 7y ago

Fitness is not simply cardio. There's a great Men's Journal article, featured a few times on HN, "Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie". Read it. Several times. https://web.archive.org/web/20110130195636/http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie/print/ https://web.archive.org/web/20110130195636/http://www.mensjo... (Earlier discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4971196 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4971196 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287213 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287213, particularly.) Your body is an adaptive system, it responds to stimulus, given nutrition, rest/recovery, and other parameters (of which stress is a major element). Cardio works your heart. That's useful, but there's more to your body than that. Strength training works your muscles, building strength, endurance, power, and mass. There are skills, fine-motor control, coordination, and other exercise modalities, with their own specific results. Training is a stimulus which achieves a specific result, preferably one you've identified as a goal. All said, 20 minutes of daily walking ... isn't a lot. It's better than nothing. There are other things you can do. You don't need a lot of equipment or space (though as with many things, the right tools for the job help). Understanding how your body responds to what stimulus, under what circumstances, and roughly how quickly or slowly, helps a lot. A modest, consistent, balanced, and goal-appropriate programme can be absolutely life-changing. It's valuable at any age -- what you do when you're young will deliver returns in your old age (the more so if you keep it up). Training as an older adult is also a major quality-of-life determinant. There's no One Perfect Exercise. A balance of modalities (cardio, strength, flexibility, skills) is generally preferable. Starting out, virtually anything is better than nothing. As you advance, you'll find you need to make more specific tweaks to continue progress (should you want to). And once you've gotten yourself beyond baseline, a small amount of work goes a long way. Clarence Bass, now well into his 80s, maintains an impressive physique based on two workouts a week -- one lifting session, one cardio. https://www.cbass.com https://www.cbass.com There's a ton of bogus advice, but also quality information readily found. The basics are simple, though the work isn't always easy. Reddit's /r/fitness (or /r/XXfitness for women) is actually quite good, both in discussion and its wiki. Strongly recommended: https://old.reddit.com/r/fitness https://old.reddit.com/r/fitness https://old.reddit.com/r/fitness/wiki https://old.reddit.com/r/fitness/wiki https://old.reddit.com/r/xxfitness https://old.reddit.com/r/xxfitness https://old.reddit.com/r/xxfitness/wiki https://old.reddit.com/r/xxfitness/wiki

ph2082 7y ago

Surprised, nobody mentioned Bodyweight exercises. They build basic foundation on which you can add others like running, cycling, swimming, whatever etc. When I tried 10 burpees first time heart rate shot to 170-180. Made me question my existence along with all poor life style choices. Good thing is, you need not to waste to time traveling to gym, other places to pursue other activities. Can be done at home, hotel, park wherever you are.

doe88 7y ago

There is a saying: - Better diet makes you lose weight; - More exercise helps you maintain your weigh loss. Also I think it is important to be careful when starting exercising to not make too much too soon. It is more important to target the long game and avoid injuries or mental exhaustion which would make you quit in both cases if not handled correctly.

krustyburger 7y ago

I grimaced at “because holidays” and stopped reading at “because physics.” I guess my distaste for that sort of writing is because English grammar.

collyw 7y ago
https://www.sciencealert.com/people-who-pick-up-grammar-mistakes-jerks-scientists-find https://www.sciencealert.com/people-who-pick-up-grammar-mist...

inamberclad 7y ago

I'll throw in my vote for actually liking the exercise I do, which is mostly sprints and weightlifting. During school it was my meditation. After working on other, uncertain things for long enough I need to be able to hone my own will, struggle for my own sake, and yes, I do get the endorphins.

xallace 7y ago

it's my personal preference but bike-commuting seems like the optimum for people who are overweight, don't have time and lack motivation. you lose weight, learn more about your local area, learn more about human psychology, you can listen to your favourite podcast/audiobook, don't have to pay for gym membership/gas to drive to te gym, and it's better for your knees

rapht 7y ago
I second that. I can very much relate to the author's thoughts about the whole exercise routine, including a lack of general enjoyment of it, and when I set out to improve my body in the gym, I lasted a few months or so and gave up: too much time and effort and motivation and money needed at the same time for something so dull - and that was e few years ago and I stopped doing much exercise except for some week end walks and the like. Now for a few months I have been commuting to work by bike, driven by the time gain vs car or subway, and I have to say even though it's a bit of an effort on rainy days, it's really a very good combination of low cost, low friction, useful in its own right, means of doing exercise.

Havoc 7y ago

I suspect the weight 170 might have something to do with lack of enjoyment. Run for example becomes tangibly harder if I weigh just 10% more

brentis 7y ago

Try squash. Amazing amount of exercise and for those of us who are competitive it never gets boring. Sheds weight like crazy and has cardio demands like few other sports. Alternatively, just walk with 5lb dumbbells. No shortage of studies on mental/physical benefits of walking and lugging around weights help core and upper body. I usually add 20lb weight vest.