I was feeling quite ratty and irritable, have been sleeping well, making 70/30 sensible food choices but still working hard and busy with family and household chores. Went to an exercise session that I enjoy for a couple of hours and rattiness and irritation vanished. For some changing the diet makes the biggest difference; for me I think if I exercise 5/6 times a week then the rest follows. So no mattee how dark and cold it is, going to get up at 6am and you tube some Jillian Michaels before the cheeky monkeys wake up aswell as some of my evening sessions which are prone to getting missed due to work/ home things.
And if I start moaning about 'feeling tired' ( which is true because I will have been back to back from 6am- 8.30pm) remind me to go have a bath, get an early night, wake up and EXERCISE!!! Endorphins rock!
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TiredDoc
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Good for you. No need to tell you the benefits of exercise on well feeling!
I damaged a leg falling off my bike recently. Stir crazy but going for moderate walks until I see specialist again. Hospital is so busy the appt I should have had last week is now 3rd March. I'd like to help by not going but scared of causing further unnecessary damage.
Doc I always feel cold and stiff when I wake up so I'm not motivated to exercise in the morning mainly due to temperature issue. Heat is not enough in my room and can't be adjusted since I'm in a dorm. Anyone got tips on how to best warm yourself up in the morning for exercise?
You have done well to do that; my light bulb moment still hasnt kicked in by getting up earlier as like you; im back to back all day until same time as you. I may you tube the same exercises you do however i would need to get up at 5.30am
The 'early night' bit is a good point - I am always bemused that parents don't see that as the precious 'me' time, it's the best, most effective me time there is! (But then, I am more of a lark than an owl so perhaps I would say that)
good to hear your still at the gym, sounds like it is good, I am still trying...very trying..some would say. But will get there. I find I get ratty from lack of protein, or at least when I am ratty and eat some protein seems to help. Now I am motivated to try walking again after hearing your success. I'll get up at 6am and have another go. The last effort I made went out of the window when I got too enthusiastic and hurt my knee. Now I will give it a go and try and find some Endorphins for myself. I am still losing 1kg a week on average and the waist is going down slower this time. The itching was scabies, would you believe, first time for everything.
So good on you Tired Doc, I' get up and out at 6am and see how many Endorphins I can find around here.
Dear DoniMac, have you tried the pool yet? Any exercise that requires full committment ( little opportunity for mind to wander) seems to be the best stress buster. Hope knee mends. Your weight loss sounds great. I like the idea that you are on the otherside of the world aiming for the same things as lil ol me!
Hi TiredDoc, it is funny isn't it we seem to be from all over the world doing the same thing, I love it too. Also when you guys are sleeping I will be thinking about walking. Yes I am going to try the pool, it just seems my motivation has gone out of the window at the moment. So I am taking stock this coming week, I have to go to a work do which means being in a small town with all my colleagues, but they feed us in the canteen and we stay there for five nights. So will be challenging to my calorie controlled food intake.
Maybe this is just what i need to re-focus. I hope so, I was doing well and losing slowly but surely, the bloating had gone down so much as well, but the exercise thing is just not happening, I try , but ................still have do like you do, and make sure I do it.
So i will try the pool when i get back to the island. And also see it as a challenge over the next week to try and avoid all the fattening foods and stick to healthier choices. Fingers crossed. How is the gym work outs going, I know you will be enjoying the Endorphins, which I can't find yet. But good on you for getting stuck into the gym, well done. I think it is really good, have you noticed much of a weight shift yet?
Hi TiredDoc, how are things going? been to the workplace week in town and stayed in a hotel with restaurant food, and managed to neither gain nor lose weight. Pleased about not gaining, I did some walking, but the knee is still playing up, was injured several years ago and should be replaced, but I don't want to do that, so trying to keep going with the old knee. I have not got to the pool yet, but must soon. I need to get the exercise part of the 12 week challenging going, but it never seems to happen enough to become a new habit, which is what I am aiming for. So will just have to somehow get more motivated. I have used the rowing machine a bit, but not enough, and have walked a bit, but not enough. So still trying. How are you going in your very busy life with the gym? still managing to get there? How much weight have you lost so far? I am in week 6 and have lost 4kg so far, pretty good, was mostly in the first few weeks, now I am just losing slowly about 1 kg a week. Will get better results when the exercise habit kicks in. yes it is interesting you being on the other side of the world, I am here till November with this job, we are just getting prepared for a cyclone in this area, so hot, very wet, mosquitoes everywhere, and have to stock up on water and food, in case we get knocked out for a week or so. I have been through two big ones since working in the tropics, I think this one (if it forms) will be a small one. A week on rations will do me good, and I have plenty of water for about a week, so all good. Let me know how your going.
I am pleased to hear from you, yes it is when we go quiet we are usually not sticking to the plan. No drama, me to, so let's get back onto it. I am in week six now and have really lost it this week with the cyclone warnings etc, meant I go into survival mode and eat everything in sight. So the cyclone is bearing down still and should be clear by the weekend, and will start again.
So how about a challenge TiredDoc? to get back on track with the food, you are OK with the gym, but I have still to get the exercises happening. Had some good advice from Penel and Salaisa so will try to follow their advice. New start Doc?
excellent, my commitment too, works for me too, good things to come, started with a 25 minute walk yesterday and some low level Pilates stretches today, how is the gym work going?
Exercise works for me too. not the hard full on stuff, just walking a dog at 7:30am in the fresh air listening to the birds does me a power of good. I have been eating healthy food and have lost 4lb this week. It was 2lb last week and I wasn't walking the dog. Good luck with your efforts.
I love it Implement, I would love to be doing what your doing, almost makes me want to retire so i can spend time being healthy and enjoying the small (but most important) things in life. My turn next year when I retire. I am pleased to see you are still losing the lbs even without the dog. Thanks.
I am in complete agreement. For me, morning is really the only possibility too, as I just cannot argue with myself at 8pm. I actually wanted to post as well today. New week, new effort, you know. So I get up at 5.30, get ready to go out for a run (doing Couch to 5K, just starting Week 5; always in the gym as I don't like running outside - tarmac gives me shin splints, but followed advice, got proper running shoes and wanted to give it a go on the road today for the first time). Peek outside - temperature above 0 (def. good point!), then shoes and hat and gloves and the correct Laura track - by the time I got outside, it started snowing massively. Decided not to be deterred - and it was one of the most wonderful half-hours of my life! I felt like I was flying, the running did not feel difficult at all, all dark with the fresh layer of snow with only my footprints in it... I cannot wait for my next run! (I came home completely soaked with the wet snow, but I didn't notice until I started peeling the clothes of me.) An experience like this definitely helps with the getting up early! I find exercising first thing in the morning gives me PLENTY of energy to last until the end of the day, even if the day is a bit longer due to the early get-up. I mean, why did nobody tell me this 30 or 40 years ago??????
Hi Salaisa- sounds exhilirating. Its funny but getting up very early for exercise seemed to help even more with mental focus and agility, managed it today. And will do it again tommorrow.
Another 6am session today. Couch to 5K, week 5, run2. I can now run for 8min without stopping. Yay, me! No snow today, but freezing, it was so beautiful and serene. I saw another runner. I cannot really put it in words, but over the past 5 weeks I have made the biggest transformation of my life (and fingers crossed I don't give up this time), just so happy... Sob, sob, cue, music, closing credits roll.
So good to hear an ' honest' post too.. I find I have to consciously make an'appointment' with myself for my exercise.. that way i WILL do it.. if i leave it to chance, then subconsciously I will make ANY excuse to avoid the regular exercise my brain KNOWS I should be doing.. it’s strange I have exercised for well over 25 years, know all the benefits , can feel the benefits, yet if I don’t make that 'mental appointment', my brain will always find an immediate excuse NOT to exercise..
I know exactly what you mean, I am now in week four of the 12 week challenge, and have tried to get into the exercise part, which is not even hard, and just have not got it worked out yet, either i overdo it and hurt my knee, or I plan to do it, all the kit laid out for 6 am to put on and walk, and what do I do roll over in bed, and think not today.
So like you i am having to try to get this thing together and actually do it. These posts help heaps because everyone is honest about how it is working for them, and we all get support from each other. So how about a challenge, I have given myself one week to get myself together and get this started, how about you join me in the challenge and give yourself one week to get the exercise started for you, then see if we can keep each other going with all the help from all the others in this forum.
Want to accept the challenge Anaverageman? Oh and anyone else having starters problems getting into the exercise bit of the plan?
BTW, my beginning was a promise to myself that i will go to gym 3times a week for 4 weeks. I found a beginner workout sheet in my gym, and it consisted of a total of 3 exercises. It takes 15 min to get to gym, then the exercises take about 5min. So I probably did not do anything for my fitness, but it was much easier to get up and go knowing it will only take 5min of torture while there. And I managed those 12 visits, and now want to give more content to this new habit. (in the meantime, I found the NHS, so started the run, but also need to do some anti-gravity work, lol)
excellent, who else is up for a challenge?? I have to get into the habit of exercising and am not doing it, too many reason but all could be changed and turned into a positive walking or swimming experience...if only..so I am sick of the ...if only's....and now want to DO IT
So need to get started, determined to get my act together next week.
So one week we report back and let each other know how we go.
Who else wants to join the Exercise Habit Challenge
Thanks Salaisa, you're a great role model too, cheers
Your ahead of me already because at least you got to the gym.....I have not made it anywhere yet and my feeble attempts ruined my knee for a week, so must get this act together now, thanks for the challenge, we can do it
Hi, I got through the work do at the hotel for the week, and maintained the same size and weight, so all good. managed to walk 1 Klm a day. The knees hurt but most of the time sitting in meetings, so the usual unhealthy workplace.
Now how about this challenge Salaisa? what shall we do? I don't have gym out here, have a swimming pool, and places to walk, there are beaches but too many crocodiles, so best to stay away. Shall we challenge each other to get some exercise done? and how much can you do? Lets get it together, sorry about your rear end collapse (fall) and hope your OK. Shall we start this week? I am in week 6 and still maintaining the loss of weight from the previous weeks, but need somehow to get into the exercise, oh I have an exercise bike, so i suppose that could count as gym work. What do you think, and really, how are you after your slip?
how about joining Salasia and I in a challenge to get the exercise bit happening? I am in week six, have lost 4 kg and a lot of cms off the waist. But the exercise is where I can lose more weight, but it is not happening. Starting a challenge with Salaisa to help motivate me to get started? want to try it too? Maybe we can all help each other to get going.
Today I had a very jam packed clinic day. Unfortunately I was slightly hurt by one of the children ( I am a doctor for children with severe learning disabilities, autism and some can be agressive to their families and to tge staff) but interestingly, even though it was near the end of a busy day, having the mental resource because I had exercised and had eaten sensible food helped me to stay focus, and to teach the trainee after the incident and carry on with the next clinic appointment no problem. I did reach for the chocolate at home but not in an absent minded way- so didnt finish the whole packet...
From my perspective, I have complete admiration of parents of children with challenging behaviours and I do as much as I can to help to improve the quality of life for very special and wonderful children.
Brilliant attitude to kids with hard to deal with behaviours, poor little souls, really hard for everyone involved. I teach them when I am in cities and even in remote island work, the kids have extreme behaviour. So well done TiredDoc and good managing the chocolate too. I learned this for these kids....somewhere I heard about Zen....and what they were calling ....loving kindness, when i was working with these kids, I tried to have that in my mind in a genuine way....not airyfairy....but trying to feel like the kindness and compassion the kids need, but can't accept/respond to.
It helped a lot to defuse many a situation. Good luck with the kids, they are needing someone like you TiredDoc, And take care of you the way you are, that's great, the healthy food does make a difference to how I think too, helps a lot. have fun
yes its funny I DO find I work so much better both when I have exercised properly and eaten well.... such a simple thing to say, but how much do we all tend to ignore.. to our eventual detriment
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Fat Shamed By Doctor 
Tackling the weight gain being hypothyroid
Moussaka tonight. :-)
Motivation is numbers 
