Exercise, induced and otherwise: Beginning.

This week I saw my weight creep up just a bit, persistently into the 109's.  It's time to try to bring it back down again, for the second time since I went into maintenance.  Breakfast this morning was salad, two poached eggs, and one piece of toast (plus coffee); late morning snack is 3 almonds plus a small whole-milk café au lait (excuse me, a tall caffé misto) at Starbucks.

I just dropped off some clothes for alterations (including that blazer that Kim H. talked me into buying!) which is why I'm downtown.  I forgot that there's a YMCA downtown, or I might have stopped in for my morning swim there.  As it was, I went to my usual Y and had an excellent workout.  Today I swam 50 yards in 50 seconds.  That's a new record for me.

In the categories associated with my weight loss this year --- Weight loss, Weight maintenance, Gluttony --- I've written mostly about food.  Not too surprising.  I have always been a foodie, probably since age eight or so if not earlier.  I have always had an interest in nutrition and in culinary practice.  I once put a great deal of effort into learning new techniques and exotic ingredients; these days, I have just as much interest in learning how to cook and plan meals under the peculiar constraints of schedule and pickiness that comes with the territory of "busy mom."  There's still plenty of learning to be had there, plus the extra interest that comes from exploring the effects of other constraints, like restricting ourselves (mostly) to grass-fed hormone-free meats and locally produced raw dairy. 

I haven't written very much about the role of induced exercise.

Induced exercise?  What's that?

OK, I admit, I just made the term up right now.  Must be the caffé misto working on my brain. 

By "induced exercise" I mean exercise-on-purpose.  I mean artificial exercise.  I mean, not the kind of exercise you get from chasing your kids or doing whatever it is you do for a living.  Nor the kind of exercise you get from doing fun stuff you would do anyway, like a day at the park with the family or a game of racquetball with a buddy or rearranging the furniture in your living room (what?  Some people do that for fun).  Not even those "10 simple ways you can move more without noticing it" magazine-article suggestions, like parking at the far end of the mall lot or taking the stairs instead of the elevator or learning to fidget.

No, I mean THAT kind of exercise.  Induced exercise.  As in, "I induced myself to exercise this morning."  Running on the treadmill.  Going to the gym.  Sweating to the oldies.  Having a WORKOUT.  That kind of thing.

Do you do that?

Do you hate it?

Do you not do it because you hate it?

I am going to let this post percolate a bit, and then write a bit about why I think induced exercise is an important part of weight loss and weight maintenance and fitness in general --- why I don't buy the recommendation of just working bits and pieces of movement into your day, why I think it's worth moving your schedule around to accommodate.  Why a big change might be better than a small change, and why nobody should expect "10 simple ways to move" either to be simple or to get you moving -- at least enough to make a difference.

So!  More later.  My caffé misto is almost gone.

Comments

[Rebekka]

I don't do this now and it's been a while, but I have done it periodically when I weighed less. Running worked. Swimming didn't - I'm not very good at it and I tend to get sinus infections in chlorinated water, weirdly enough.

One thing that I've noticed in the past was that it was easiest for me to exercise first thing in the morning. Chances that I would not see the changing of clothing and showering *again* as an insurmountable obstacle were slim to none. Best to just get it over with. But I almost always tried to exercise in combination with some form of food/diet alteration and the exercise made me hungry, and I was tired. Not necessarily out of breath or unfit, but stamina and endurance peaked relatively early in the process and then got worse and worse until I gave up.

Now that I'm trying this carb restriction thing I've noticed that I've got way more energy, even after only a few weeks, so I'm feeling motivated to see if this will have a different effect, since I was always doing low-fat before.

I just signed up for a gym membership, I get a discount through the hospital I work at, and I feel like I need access after hours, since I don't want to exercise outside when it's dark. I get to pick up my card on Monday, so I'm looking forward to your posts on how to coordinate exercise and the rest of one's life.

[mrsdarwin]

I think "induced exercise" is extremely valuable, both in terms of overall health and as a discipline. My form of exercise is strength training (in the vernacular: lifting weights). When I first started I enjoyed it mainly as a way to lose weight quickly without adjusting my eating. (This is not so true anymore, so I'm going to have to start cutting carbs and watching portions.) The health benefits are manifest, but the discipline of keeping the schedule has been invaluable for me, who have such trouble staying on task.