Exercise and Goal Setting

@Former-Member - wow - that is a a great goal to run 10 km's with ease, and sounds like you are clear about how to acheive that. Gentley Bentley (as someone once said to me here) I tend to launch into new things like a Torpedo, hurt myself then be scared to try again for 6 months to a year. <laughing at myself here>. The weight gain some days causes me to be deeply self-disgusted, but then I realise and account for it with the reasons it is there, part of that reason is medication, part of it is the medication seems to make me to feel hungry ALL the time, so what I have been eating (to assuage that hunger has been too fattening in and of itself) and part of it is that I have not been able to do any exercise due to various physical problems. But !- I think I was kidding myself - I think I CAN do some physical things, just slower, more carefully and with a clear eye to staying moderate and gentle. It is so easy for me to launch out into hyperdrive and suddenley see myself as an "athelete' or 'swimmer' in training chanting "no pain, no gain!". Really, yes, I tell myself this crap! So I have been VERY measured and careful in setting my 2 and 4 week goals.

Hope your yoga practice goals keep on keeping on too. Thanks for the encouragement.

I walked 2.5 kms today at a slow walk/waddle and took 35 minutes. My aim is 15 minutes a day - I walked to my massage and then to the shops and home again. One of my (secret) goals is to lose the waddle.

I am about to do my 15 mins practice of Qi Gong and then have a big leafy green salad with salad veg and mixed beans for lunch, while watching some of my fav series - Once Upon A Time. Nice balance of doing good things for myself, getting the excercise I have set for myself and some relaxation too.

@CannonSalt - Walking from Zombies, i didn't even know that was a 'thing'. Best of luck with it I hope they never catch up!

Loving this thread! Big cheers to all of us becoming more active than we were!

Over time I have gone from barely able to walk the couple of minutes across the road to the beach, to walks up and down it that take an hour or more, at least a few times a week. Gentley Bentley has definitely been the way to go for me with this (including going as slow as I need to and taking breaks if I need them, as I still have trouble with my lower legs and feet).

Like you @MoonGal I also use the shops and appointments as exercise time too, walking as much as possible to get to and from these. I will turn down offers of being driven to be able to do this, preferring to get out on the beach to walk the 40 minutes to the local shops, or catch the bus if it's further away (so there is the walking time at either end of the journey).

As someone with social anxiety, prone to be housebound, I also find the random social contact with strangers a gentle way of increasing my ease with people (learning to be okay with other people around as I go about my activities). I was very paranoid about everything outside my four walls when I started, and this has improved considerably over time through the simple act of getting out and walking.

I also have a big history of starting things like a rocket but running out of fuel and crashing back to earth with a splatter. These days I regularly have one motto in my mind: 'slow and steady wins the race'.

My goals at the moment are:

1. keep up the beach walks at least 3 times a week
2. continue walking as much as possible around daily activities
3. restart physio exercises daily for legs and neck
4. ease myself back into 10 minute rides on the exercise bike (1, 2 or 3 times a day)
5. gradually add more exercise as legs are able to manage it (eg. weekly tai chi)

Just one final note to @MoonGal: when I was first prescribed an anti-psychotic it gave me the kind of eating cravings you describe. I specifically gobbled white bread in an extreme way, sometimes a whole loaf in one fast sitting (no butter or anything). Needless to say I was putting on weight quickly. I told my doctor about this and he changed me to a different anti-psychotic. The general food cravings and bread mania disappeared (weight is stable over many months now though I've not been able to lose yet). I wonder if it might be worth you talking to your psychiatrist about whether there might be alternatives.

Hi @MoonGal...

Well done on your recent efforts - 2.5 km's in 35 mins isn't as bad as you seem to think it is! Not trying to exert myself I will walk 5km's in an hour & I don't have any physical aliments. I was running 10km's regularly in the 2nd half of 2014 & ran a 20 km fun run in August & then my first half marathon in September 2014. Last year wasn't a good year for running - I did some 5 km non-stop running in the first half & the most I ran non-stop was 7 km's. I had two hospitalisations totaling 2 months & I tried several new medications for my depression - I finally persevered with a mood stabiliser. However, the dose has to be built up to a therapeutic level very gradually (to avoid very risky side effects) & after that it can take up to 6 months to have an effect - I think it started to have some effect after 4 months for me... therefore I was struggling immensely for 5-6 months. Thus, my running fitness suffered. I have been going to yoga twice a week for 3 months (I think) now! (It has only been a few weeks that I've only managed to go once due to headaches & one week I went 3 times!)

I hope you get to the yoga class @Former-Member & ENJOY it! Stair workouts are good - I almost always take the stairs

Very good goals @Mazarita - glad to see tai chi in there!

I will try to make my goals more concrete, as sleep & anxiety hopefully become more manageable & I start doing more & know what I am capable ot.... You need to wake up early in summer to go for a run! Extremely difficult if you were up till 12 am, 1 am, 2 am, even 3 am with anxious racing thoughts going around in loops & twists & turns.

Also my partner brought a second hand gym set with Xmas $$ - I plan to workout on that at least 3 times a week. (Leg press, lat pull down, one other upper body, another legs). I will do 3 sets of 12 on each.

Keep going strong everyone!

Namaste,

Anna

Well motivation to move is having other spin offs. Today's walk and Qi Gong became a bit of maintenence gardening instead. 🙂 I am actually doing things I haven't done for a very long time!

It was enough to climb the ladder several times, weild a brushcutter for 15 minutes, rake up the clippings (bend over several times to pick up cuttings). I have decided this is as good as a walk and qi gong. Have added it to my exercise sheet and feel well satisfied and proud of myself.

@Former-Member - well done on the sets and reps. Good luck with the walk/run/.walk tommorrow. It is going to be really hot here so I aim to get up when my partner does and walk the doggits before 8am.