Afraid I wont be able to keep up an exercise ruitine

[Anon333]

Okay, this is a stupid question. But has anyone ever been afraid to start exercising in fear that they will not be able to keep up the ruitine for the rest of their lives and eventually gain MORE weight than they had to begin with. If I start exercising now, my metabolism will speed up, Ill be healthier, Ill lose weight and Ill feel better. But I have always been so bad with sticking with it, especially if winter comes along. Eventually if I stopped, my metabolism would crash, my muscle would turn into fat, and I would gain more weight just living a sedentary life style like I'm living now. That is why I would always rather just diet by cutting calories instead. Does this make any sense to people. I know its healthier for you to exercise, but the consequences of not keeping up with it seems worse to me.....

[Anon333]

hmm. That makes sense. But for some reason I always felt like if I dieted AND exercised, which is the most efficient way to lose weight, that if I continued dieting and stopped exercising suddenly, I'd be much less likely to lose weight, than if I just reduced my calorie intake without exercise. Do I make sense?

[Striker17]

Muscle doesn't turn into fat, you can lose muscle, and then gain fat, but one thing has nothing to do with another. If anything, gaining muscle will help you lose fat as it increases your metabolism.

 

So do both, and if you drop off the exercise wagon for a bit, it will still be better than nothing.

[jettison]

This shouldn't be your concern. You're never going to gain so much muscle that it eventually turns to fat once you've stopped your routine. Especially if you're cadio-centric, this could never happen.

 

If you just tell yourself, "I'm going to stick with it", the odds are slim that you will. You need structure, and there's several different ways to achieve this. The most obvious way is to sport the money for a personal trainer. This person will be kind of like a life coach as well, and when you know you have to check in with someone, you tend to accomplish a lot more and not give up.

 

Another way would be to join an exercise group. You could search your local listings or online for jogging/running groups, or join an outdoor fitness class. I have a friend who runs one of these, and they improvise their whole workout. It's pretty fantastic, and I've been before.

 

Personally, it's easy for me because I race bicycles and have a team. My teammates depend on me, and if I take days off then I get slow. thereforeee, I'm always trying to live up to the expectations of the next race and tend never to miss workouts. In fact, my problem is always that I'll overdo them. I started this routine 5 years ago, and I've never broke it. I did go 3 months with no exercise after breaking my wrist and arm, but that was it.

 

I can say that I am in twice the shape now that I was in my teens and early 20s when I was playing club soccer. Cardio wise, it would be hard for me to do much more, and it's never a struggle for me to stay this way.

 

So again, developing habits should correspond with some kind of goal. I suppose the next thing I'd recommend would be to train for a 5k, then a 10k, then a half marathon, etc. Look for these listings online, sign up and pay for the event, then train to that end. That's the best motivation possible.

[ghost69]

i think once you see changes in your body after sticking it out a month or so, you will stay. that's what happened to me. i was just a twig before i ever picked up a weight. now i'm one of the bigger guys at the gym. but it took lots of food and a hard regiment to get the muscle i wanted. so don't worry about that.