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Forgive the question, but why is exercise such a distant next step for you? You very clearly have a lot of self-discipline, and you have your shit together. Fo

• Semaphor 4y ago
  > You very clearly have a lot of self-discipline, and you have your shit together. For me, exercise has always been the most rewarding part of the whole deal. Not OP, but answering for myself: I don’t enjoy exercising, and not doing something is far easier than doing something extra. I have easily removed most carbs (doing Keto), and reduced my eating window to 8h. I’ve been doing this for almost 10 years. Hell, I even got an electronic desk and work standing 70% of my work day. But exercise is extra. I can’t just do exercise while doing something else (maybe if I enjoyed audiobooks it would work better, but I’m really into reading books), so any exercise takes effort for something I don’t enjoy unlike all other changes.
  • aareet 4y ago
    I felt this way for a very long time and have made similar choices. I simply can't get myself to consistently go out on runs, or work out on gym machines. That said, out of sheer chance I discovered an enjoyment of powerlifting and swimming and I've been able to keep those up, and even look forward to doing them. Perhaps it's a matter of finding the exercise you can tolerate.
    • ferrumfist 4y ago
      There are many forms of exercise outside of a fitness center. I know a handful of guys in their 60's and 70's who are in fantastic shape due to fencing. They can still regularly place in the top 20% of regional tournaments against guys in their teens and 20's.
    • zeruch 4y ago
      "Perhaps it's a matter of finding the exercise you can tolerate." This. I was a bit of a free-weight gym rat in my 20s and never liked it (still don't), but have over the years find things I have/do enjoy, and that makes it easier to get stuff done. Some are very low friction to accomplish regularly (Kettlebells, ergs, trail-running/hiking...note, I hate running on treadmills or in urban environments, but will alternate running and hiking in an afternoon in the forest like a 5 year old kid exploring. It's actually a joyful event for me. YMMV). Other things happen perennially due to logistics or weather (e.g. swimming, rowing, Bikram yoga). I've tried lots of other things in between, so there is some measure of "i need to figure out what works and what doesn't" and that in and of itself can be an unpleasant set of experiments, but...
  • hgomersall 4y ago
    Sure you can do exercise whilst doing something else. I get about an hour's exercise in daily whilst moving to places I need to be. The idea that exercise needs to be an activity in its own right is somewhat toxic. It puts a big burden on beginning the activity which needs to displace something else. Even for those that manage to get an hour at the gym or whatever, it doesn't necessarily make up for the rest of a sedentary lifestyle.
    • gernb 4y ago
      reminds me of https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KPUlgSRn6e0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KPUlgSRn6e0 but not very easy depending on where you live
    • Semaphor 4y ago
      Alas, the furthest I need to go is to the store, about 800 meters away. I walk everywhere, but nothing is far.
      • shafyy 4y ago
        You can also just walk around while doing something else, e.g. listening to a podcast or talking to somebody on the phone (this can even be a work meeting!)
        • OkayPhysicist 4y ago
          Walking is not great exercise from a time efficiency standpoint. It's like half the caloric burn in twice the time of any dedicated exercise, be it running or swimming or weight lifting. Exercise that elevates your heart rate is simply better, from a fitness perspective or from a weight-loss perspective.
          • valarauko 4y ago
            Depends on what the goal of the exercise is. For the majority of people who need to be in better health, zone 2 cardio is what they need rather than increased caloric burn. You can't look for time efficiency with zone 2 cardio - you just have to do it for enough time to build conditioning. Depending on the person, zone 2 might be running, but for most people a brisk walk is enough.
  • Swizec 4y ago
    As someone with a mostly daily workout habit for the past 10+ years, the trick I’ve found works best is not to exercise, but do a sport (that you enjoy). Then everything else falls into place on its own. I used to lift. That got boring fast. Then I got into boxing. That hasn’t gotten boring ever. Eventually I started running, you know, to have more stamina in the boxing. That has lead to several marathons and a motivation to beat the magic 3-hour barrier. Now I’m back to lifting because it helps with the running and the boxing. Running has actually turned into my me time. A socially acceptable way to be alone, outside, ignore the world, and have no responsibilities. Great time to chug through podcasts and audiobooks too.
    • Semaphor 4y ago
      > Great time to chug through podcasts and audiobooks too. One of the reasons I feel liking those would be advantageous. But I have a strong dislike for them.
      • Swizec 4y ago
        I specifically like podcasts in the context of running and only started listening because I got bored of music. Started audiobooks because podcasts got too short. Can’t stand either format otherwise.
  • almost_usual 4y ago
    What about hiking or going on walks?
    • jjulius 4y ago
      Not OP, but share similar sentiments with OP about exercise, so maybe this perspective can help. /shrug Hiking is my jam. I love it, and it's the one area of exercise where getting my ass kicked physically feels incredibly worth it. The trouble with hiking is that I like getting out into the mountains to do it (I prefer the less-traveled hikes that really get out out, up and away from everything and everyone... solitude, baby!), and I have a couple of small kids, so I can only get around to what I consider a "quality" hike once every couple of months. That'll change as they get older, but yeah. Walks are different; I walk my dog for about 20-30 minutes every night, but it's just not the same for me.
    • Semaphor 4y ago
      I hate it. I’d rather exercise (which I do, just unhappily) than walk somewhere just for the sake of walking. When going somewhere by myself, I walk at a speed that some people would call jogging, but that’s for getting to a spatial goal.
  • hbarka 4y ago
    I don’t know what I did wrong but I was on a Keto type diet for over a year but I lost muscle mass and had multiple alopecia-looking hair loss spots occurring on my scalp. I looked great because I was slimmer but I fell off the keto wagon. Anyhow, I’m eating carbs again and hair is back to full health and muscles are noticeably back to prior mass. I don’t lift—-just usual busy work of activities.
    • nradov 4y ago
      Elimination diets, whether keto or anything else, put people at heightened risk of subtle micronutrient deficiencies which can cause all sorts of weird symptoms. If you're going to eat only a limited set of foods then take a detailed look at nutrition labels and make sure you're not missing something. Multivitamin pills are mostly useless for people eating normal, healthy diets but can be a convenient way to fill in the gaps for people eating restricted diets.
      • nightski 4y ago
        Keto isn't an elimination diet, it's more of a reduction diet (people choose different levels of carbs ranging from the < 10 hardcore crowd to the 30-50g crowd). You can eat a lot of veggies, certain types of fruits, meat, nuts and dairy. There's just a ton of variety available across a wide nutrient spectrum. Any "diet", even SAD can leave one with deficiencies if you just eat pre-packaged foods. One always should look for variety in their food selection. Not saying keto is necessary or for everyone - it's not. But it's pretty easy to not be nutrient deficient on it.
    • Semaphor 4y ago
      Just out of interest, did you eat a balanced diet, mainly with a lot of different vegetables? Or closer to /r/keto "egg & bacon everyday"
      • orangepurple 4y ago
        GP here, I gave up on keto after one year because it required eating a special diet which is difficult to prepare and store while traveling. 4 hour TRF worked for me long term.
  • nradov 4y ago
    Doing frequent hard exercise that builds lean muscle tissue is essential to long-term metabolic health. Just not being fat is insufficient if you want to maintain a good quality of life in your later years. You may find it unpleasant. That's fine. Learn to enjoy the suffering. https://www.gabriellereece.com/muscle-as-the-cornerstone-of-longevity-optimizing-strength-for-disease-prevention-with-dr-gabrielle-lyon/ https://www.gabriellereece.com/muscle-as-the-cornerstone-of-... https://peterattiamd.com/ama39/ https://peterattiamd.com/ama39/
    • Semaphor 4y ago
      This was about how despite following harsh-ish restrictions, exercise is still a problem.
  • Vox_Leone 4y ago
    The TRE approach is closer to a natural pattern, as our ancestors - generally - also had a limited window of time in which to eat [when they did]. A notable difference between ancestral and modern habits is that eating was, as a rule, a physical activity in itself [walking and overcoming obstacles in gathering or running - and overcoming obstacles - in hunting].
  • shafyy 4y ago
    I also could never motivate myself to do exercise, like running or going to the gym. What I found that works for me are: - Doing brisk walks, either when you are going somewhere, or if you don't need go somewhere, just around the block. And yes, brisk walking is also exercise =) - VR gaming (e.g. Beat Saber gets your heart rate up alright, or if you need more, I can recommend boxing or dedicated fitness games, but the latter are again boring to me). - Yoga at home (I can recommend Yoga with Adriene on YouTube) - going to actual Yoga classes never worked for me, but doing at home works amazingly well - Hiking - being out in nature feels great and depending on the level of hike, this can be amazing exercise
  • ghotli 4y ago
    Hello, we're very similar it turns out. My solution to this problem was "Couch to 5K" as it told me when to walk and when to run. Just did what I was told. I did duolingo while walking and audiobooks / music while running. Decided to go to the gym every single day for 30 mins (it's very close to my house) to walk and if it was a run day just do what the app told me. I succeeded in completing the program and I'm moving on to the 5K to 10K with the same system in place. It's amazing how the body adapts with small spaced ramp ups like that.
  • oangemangut 4y ago
    The easy solve for this is choosing to live somewhere where activity is baked into your lifestyle. I haven't 'exercised' in the gym-going sense in years. BUT, I chose to live in a location that allows us to be a single-car HH. So I have 40m per day of 'activity' doing my daily errands on the bike on week days. And on weekends we typically do one or two walks, and once a week I have an indoor soccer. It takes no effort to do something 'extra' to do this once you realize that cars are cancer.
• coryrc 4y ago
  The method of dieting probably drives GP's energy level to the floor. He/she is probably exhausted all of the time.
  • orangepurple 4y ago
    Nope I have normal energy and ride my bicycle 25 miles at a time every week or two