# If you are exercising to 'keep fit'/'loose weight' etc, you are doing it wrong.



## Stelmaria (Sep 30, 2011)

If you are exercising to 'keep fit'/'loose weight' etc you are doing it wrong.
Just saying.


Seriously though, I am starting to see subtle coercion with regards to various social policies, eg 'we should do/allow xyz as it encourages people to exercise', 'exercise is important as it has xyz health benefits' as if people need serious compulsion to exercise.

We (as a society) must be doing it wrong.

Isn't exercise supposed to be something normal that everyone does (eg walking), and additional sport/recreation for fun?

It seems that the concept of exercise has become akin to something you have to grind away at with the sole purpose of better health at the end.

We see this in cases such as Gym membership behaviour - many people sign up with high hopes, only to stop attending or attend sporadically, despite paying for full membership, see: Paying not to go to the gym (2006). I feel the key is that they are doing it for the wrong reasons.

If we are (as a society) to exercise more, then we need to rethink how we do it. This takes two approaches.
The first is to put the fun back into exercise. All exercise needs to be a regular recreational activity is to be more fun and enjoyable than other activities. This seems to be something we have collecti
Grinding away at gym to become buff is not fun for most people, nor is it required for good health. 

Secondly, our cities are poorly planned. People don't walk to work because that is not the way the city is structured anymore. Structuring a city so that people don't have to travel too far and can do so safely through walking or cycling will have huge economic benefits* alongside the health benefits, but apparently no one has the balls to actually carry this out on a large scale in the USA.

Next, we need to reconnect with the outdoors, we need to recapture open spaces from development and manage them effectively for a diverse range of groups (from kite fliers to mountain bike riders).

*Something like $600 billion per year on gasoline, an average of cost of $9000 per car per year (includes finance, insurance, maintenance, fuel etc). Then you add the costs of road maintenance, environmental costs etc and it adds up to trillions of dollars.


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## Cheveyo (Nov 19, 2010)

No, you're not doing it wrong, you're doing it the only way possible in today's world.
Restructuring the way the cities are would require a LOT of time and money. Also, it's insanely difficult to have everyone working within walking distance of their job. Difficult, if not completely impossible.

We spend so much on gas because oil makes a lot of money. Money controls this planet, which means they control everything.


Also, fuck the outdoors.


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## Eerie (Feb 9, 2011)

I walk everywhere I go in the town I live in, no matter the weather. And I am doing belly dancing instructional videos because I think it's fun. Guess I'm doing something right. :tongue:


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## Erbse (Oct 15, 2010)

I like grinding.


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## qwertygirl432 (Sep 5, 2012)

Exercise is fun for me o.o. I've recently started at a bigger university for law school, so there is definitely more walking in my day. However, I do miss the time I spent in Beijing and NYC, in which I got to walk everywhere in addition to working out. But sadly restructuring LA into the likes of those cities is next to impossible, so I accept it.


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## WickerDeer (Aug 1, 2012)

I really like your ideas and I think I agree with you in some ways. Personally, I think that we would be a lot healthier if exercise consisted of what our ancestors used to do--walk around and gather stuff, fish, and hunt...and carry messages to neighboring villages. I would much prefer a seven hour walk in the wilderness to one hour of cycling on a stationary bicycle. Then, ritual, communal dancing would be awesome too.

I like the way you suggest practical ways of exercising--and bicycling to and from work and shopping could be considered as well.

The problem with what you're saying, IMO, is that most people don't have an unlimited amount of time to do exercise. Even with open spaces, some people (like me) will choose to do other thing than walk in the open spaces for hours a day (what might be required to achieve any real health change).

Honestly, I love nature but I would rather be creating something.

In my community biking has really been successful. We've put in entirely new bike paths and had challenges where local businesses compete with each other over who has more employees who will bike to work in a given month. I think it's a pretty good way of getting people motivated to conserve fossil fuels and also to exercise.


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## telepariah (Jun 20, 2011)

I walk a mile to a bus, take the bus to the city, then walk another mile to my job, where I am on my feet all day helping people buy the climbing, backpacking, and backcountry ski equipment they need to have fun. Then I reverse the walk back to the station and from the bus stop to my home at night. This is 4 days a week. On the other three I do more high intensity activities in the outdoors. Right now it's mostly running or hiking long and high. Sometime around the end of September through mid October I will go on my first ski tour of the season and from November through May I will try to ski at least two days a week. I am very fit and I don't consider any of it something I have to do for any particular reason other than I love how it feels when I am doing it.


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## Joseph (Jun 20, 2012)

Snow Leopard said:


> If you are exercising to 'keep fit'/'loose weight' etc you are doing it wrong.
> Just saying.
> 
> Seriously though, I am starting to see subtle coercion with regards to various social policies, eg 'we should do/allow xyz as it encourages people to exercise', 'exercise is important as it has xyz health benefits' as if people need serious compulsion to exercise.
> ...


I thought this was going to trash on notion that cardio was the only acceptable way to lose weight. Oh well. 

Anyways I exercise because it feels great (relieves stress), makes me feel like I'm improving myself, and because it's healthy. Fuck things being 'fun', I can just daydream while I do it and any activity can be fun.


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## Mutatio NOmenis (Jun 22, 2009)

You heard that guys? Exercise isn't the right way to go about fitness and health. In that case, I'll go get some pizza and beer before I keel over.


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## Animal (May 29, 2012)

I love this notion, and agree with it, theoretically and in practice. Though I live in the suburbs, there is a beautiful nature walk near my house, and bank/food other stuff on the way. I work mostly at home, and I've been known to pass 2-3 weeks without driving a car. Unfortunately, the closest grocery store is about six miles away on a busy, dangerous highway without a sidewalk, and that is not an ideal condition for carrying groceries. But as often as I can, I walk to do things rather than drive. Also, I try to group my errands together, so that I can park a car, and walk a lot to get many things done. This just feels natural to me.

At the same time, I also love going to the gym. That is my chance to escape into a fantasy world of loud music in headphones that nobody will tell me to turn down!!


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## PyrLove (Jun 6, 2010)

I exercise because I like the way I feel afterward and because it helps me safely do things I do find fun. We don't live in a society of hunters/gatherers. Accommodations should be expected.


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## Stelmaria (Sep 30, 2011)

Mutatio NOmenis said:


> You heard that guys? Exercise isn't the right way to go about fitness and health. In that case, I'll go get some pizza and beer before I keel over.


:laughing:

My point was about motivation. We should be exercising (a) as a normal thing and (b) as an enjoyable way to spend our time. The fact is that keeping fit/loosing weight tend to be only short term motivators, which is why you often see people who are fit when they are young, but let themselves go as they get older, or lose weight for a while and then put it back on after they achieved their goals and start to slack off.

To those who have replied and stated that they do enjoy exercising, that is great as that is the whole point of this thread, the key is that not everyone enjoys doing the same thing and how to make exercise enjoyable for the masses.



> But sadly restructuring LA into the likes of those cities is next to impossible, so I accept it.


I don't think it is impossible, though it would certainly take some doing to put it into action. I'm not necessarily talking about walking distance, but cycling distance (eg 5km). Combining that with decent public transport (and secure bicycle storage etc), it is more achievable.

The first is to decentralise office work from CBDs into smaller regional centres, with an appropriate level of housing density nearby, encourage people to move closer to their workplaces. Then take action towards making cycling and public transport far cheaper/more convenient than driving. 



meltedsorbet said:


> The problem with what you're saying, IMO, is that most people don't have an unlimited amount of time to do exercise. Even with open spaces, some people (like me) will choose to do other thing than walk in the open spaces for hours a day (what might be required to achieve any real health change).


With a proper diet, people wouldn't need to do hours upon hours of exercise per week, but I digress.. :wink:

Right now, many people are becoming sedentary and so the first step is to simply get people to start. The way to do that is for them to realise that exercise can be fun and it should be more enjoyable than other activities, otherwise we will often choose not to do it.


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## PyrLove (Jun 6, 2010)

I've got about 40lbs to lose. I know I could do it fairly quickly if I was willing to eat 1200 cals a day and spend an hour on the treadmill or elliptical 5-6 days a week. YUCK! That's short-term thinking. Statistically, losing the weight that way, I won't keep it off and might even make myself ill doing it. Simply, that doesn't seem like a good return on my investment.

I agree that we, as a society, need to do a better job of encouraging and supporting healthy lifestyles. The metro area I live in has very poor public transit. The downtown and business districts are disjointed and interspersed with areas that are unsafe for pedestrians. Various community activists have tried for decades to get a train system started but it always gets voted down. They face issues such as where to have the initial leg. Do you connect the north end of downtown with the south? That involves displacing economically depressed neighborhoods, forcing folks with limited resources to relocate. Do you connect one of the suburbs with one of the downtown business districts? Which suburb? Which business district? Everyone has their favorite and getting consensus is nigh impossible. Then, there's the question of how to pay for it. The folks within the city limit have very little to contribute but you won't get someone in the 'burbs to agree to fund it if they aren't one of the first beneficiaries.

The suburb I live in is sprawling but the planners are making concerted efforts to make the area more pedestrian friendly, starting with a one mile area around each of the schools. The planners, coordinating with the school district, have incorporated green spaces, biking/walking trails that bisect subdivisions, sidewalks, and pedestrian crossings. It's a start. Retail spaces, though, are still too far away, and in some cases on the other side of an interstate, for me to consider biking/walking feasible (especially in weather extremes my area is known for).


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## nordlund63 (Jul 24, 2012)

Snow Leopard said:


> If you are exercising to 'keep fit'/'loose weight' etc you are doing it wrong.
> Just saying.
> 
> 
> ...


Sounds like you tried to follow through on a resolution and failed. The fact is, exercising isn't fun at first. Frankly, it sucks. You have to stick with it and keep plowing onward until you really start to see gains. Running further, lifting more, and losing weight are all benefits of regular exercise. Most people don't get to see them because _they worked hard today_ or _its raining_ or _they're tired_​. 

The real problem isn't that people aren't moving as much as they should, but that they're eating much more than they should. The #1 contributing factor to weight loss and health is diet. You can walk everywhere every day of the week, but if you eat what most Americans eat everyday, you're still going to gain weight.


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## Death Persuades (Feb 17, 2012)

the problem is that adults are "not supposed" to act like children. children can run around for fun... not so accepted when an adult does it.


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## Stelmaria (Sep 30, 2011)

ChanceyRose said:


> I've got about 40lbs to lose. I know I could do it fairly quickly if I was willing to eat 1200 cals a day and spend an hour on the treadmill or elliptical 5-6 days a week. YUCK! That's short-term thinking. Statistically, losing the weight that way, I won't keep it off and might even make myself ill doing it. Simply, that doesn't seem like a good return on my investment.


You are quite right that short term thinking is the problem. 40 lbs is difficult to lose in less than a year. Similarly to exercise, the goal shouldn't be 'lose weight', but 'adopt healthy diet that will allow me to maintain a healthy weight long term'. This means that you don't need to have extreme caloric deficits or exercise to excess, so long as you have a long term commitment. Diet is what you eat, not a slang word for losing weight.

Adopting this diet will allow that weight to be lost in about two years, but more importantly it would be a diet that allows you to maintain a healthy weight indefinitely. The tricky bit is designing the diet in the first place and sticking to it.




ChanceyRose said:


> The suburb I live in is sprawling but the planners are making concerted efforts to make the area more pedestrian friendly, starting with a one mile area around each of the schools. The planners, coordinating with the school district, have incorporated green spaces, biking/walking trails that bisect subdivisions, sidewalks, and pedestrian crossings. It's a start. Retail spaces, though, are still too far away, and in some cases on the other side of an interstate, for me to consider biking/walking feasible (especially in weather extremes my area is known for).


If this is something that you feel is a good idea, then perhaps you should participate in the process, help gather community support?


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## Ntuitive (Jan 6, 2012)

Snow Leopard said:


> You are quite right that short term thinking is the problem. 40 lbs is difficult to lose in less than a year. Similarly to exercise, the goal shouldn't be 'lose weight', but 'adopt healthy diet that will allow me to maintain a healthy weight long term'. This means that you don't need to have extreme caloric deficits or exercise to excess, so long as you have a long term commitment. Diet is what you eat, not a slang word for losing weight.


Good point. I think if people were just mindful of their own health, in terms of dieting and being active - whether that's going to the gym or playing a sport etc., they wouldn't have problems with weight or other illnesses. It's kind of sad that eating the right way is difficult and should even be called dieting. We are surrounded by junk food that it's uncommon and difficult for people to even eat healthy.


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## TheProcrastinatingMaster (Jun 4, 2012)

Snow Leopard said:


> If you are exercising to 'keep fit'/'loose weight' etc you are doing it wrong.
> Just saying.
> 
> 
> ...


I haven't read the other responses, but I will say this, there is a difference between sport and exercise. Sport you do for fun, it is healthy, exercise you do for your health. Sport nearly always requires other people though, you can't just go out and play a soccer game without another dozen people at least. Exercise you can do by yourself.


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## Elvira (Dec 1, 2011)

I think it'd be interesting to find out how to integrate exercise into daily life. In some of the healthiest countries (Japan, Costa Rica, etc.) no one really _works out; _they just have an active lifestyle. It's seen as the norm! Little things can add up: gardening, walking (America is so damn pedestrian-unfriendly :sad, swimming, playing with kids, dancing... all of these things are fun and nobody really views them as grueling work!

I do work out videos on youtube from time to time because I think they're fun. It also helps me to break up working out in small chunks so it doesn't seem as overwhelming.

Also, has anyone heard of standing desks?


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## Kore (Aug 10, 2012)

Being fit has to do with what works for the person, not what is "right". You could simply eat correctly and diffuse most obesity problems, not counting any disfunctional systems a person's body might have. If someone desires to work out alone (like me) they would not join a sport club with mandatory participation in sport and may not have time or the desire to walk often. Although, one of my favorite sports to play was tennis, requiring another person, I only loved to play sports with people I knew. Playing sport with classmates just got me frustrated about the lack of skill the other players had, causing me to direct and enforce rules in a rather not fun way. When I have goals for myself, like during weight training, I dislike thinking of anything or anyone else, so I need to be able to perform the activity without other people needing my attention. If I was to take an "I'm going to play sports to keep fit" attitude, I would be unfit, as I would not engage in physical activity often and I do not have the perfect diet (sweet tooth, right here!) 

If you are upset about what people are doing with their bodies, to be happy and lose weight, I would suggest that you stop. Unless you are going to advocate the facts about healthy eating and that it is as simple as using more calories than you ingest. Being upset about what other people do with themselves is a long and unending situation that causes more negativity than positivity. Especially if you are only going to be stating that there is a way to do something "Just do it!" If it was that simple or desirable for the person, they would do it. Googling information about fitness offers all the information needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle, if you are experiencing a lot of people complaining about it, I suggest writing this on a piece of paper and handing it to them:

google.com: eating healthy losing weight keeping fit exercising

That should give them the information as quick as their connection allows and save you a lot of time you could be using to walk to your job, just around the corner.


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## Cetanu (Jan 20, 2012)

how 2 diet lol


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## Jwing24 (Aug 2, 2010)

I think people should be active period. Whatever gets you to do that is a good thing. Walking, playing, lifting, swimming, etc. People should have fun, if you're forcing yourself that's not a good sign.


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## fihe (Aug 30, 2012)

I used to exercise every day and enjoyed it even though sometimes I didn't feel like exercising but forced myself to do it anyway. I actually stopped working out about a month ago and I've since lost five pounds  but I think that's because I've been eating overall less food.


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## Kabosu (Mar 31, 2012)

Yeah, if it's not done as something remotely enjoyable, then that basically means it becomes or will become a chore for the person simply trying to "lose" weight.


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## Hunny Bunny (Jan 12, 2011)

I ran my ass off officiating a soccer game this morning - I had a blast!


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## Cher Zee (Feb 15, 2012)

Oh yeah I won't exercise if it isn't "fun". 

Mostly working out for me has to be a bit "social". I can't work out to a DVD in front of a TV, that bores the heck out of me. 

Last night I did a zumbathon for charity (1 and a half hours of hopping up and down). I was TERRIFIC. For a good cause, and everyone was motivated. That's the kind of thing that gets me moving and off that darn couch.


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## chickydoda (Feb 12, 2010)

I agree that exercise should be fun but to a certain point, but I am shallow and want a hot, toned body. To get this, I have to do certain types of exercises that aren't particularly fun, but will tighten my bum, shrink my bingo wings, reduce my stomach, make my waist visible again and tighten my thighs and calves. I think most sports/activities just burn fat, and its not always enough.

Maybe it's good to do the minimum required toning exercises then join a few sports teams/clubs that you have to go to every week. Personally I want to horse ride, dance, surf, bodyboard and roller skate.


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## Ramysa (Mar 22, 2012)

I actually have a pretty hard time _gaining_ weight. For some reason I lose weight immediately .


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## BradyNotTachy (Oct 24, 2012)

Ramysa said:


> I actually have a pretty hard time _gaining_ weight. For some reason I lose weight immediately .


I think most people would envy you!


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