On The Frustration of Exercise
So since I started my new job I’ve been running three times a week and going to the gym twice a week. This morning this started as normal waking up at 5:40am and finding the clothes I’d left out for the morning had been peed on by one of the kittens who got over the barriers we put up to prevent them from peeing all over the bed and clothes. I then found out that since June 3rd my weight has dropped exactly 0. The run didn’t feel any easier than normal, and my time is down barely a minute for the 2 mile route to 22 and a half minutes. I’m really being frustrated with this whole thing, as it really doesn’t seem to be doing anything.
Don’t get me wrong, I know I’m doing it wrong, but as a rational person I had the idea that running 6 miles a week and going to the gym twice (though I rarely make it past 45 minutes in there) would do something all other things being equal.
And of course proper diet and everything, and the 2 hours of sitting on a train and 8 hours of sitting in a desk certainly doesn’t help either. I’m wondering if just stopping the exercise would affect anything.
Bah.
I had the same problem – went to the gym regularly for months, nothing seemed to be easier, my clothes weren’t fitting any better, etc. So when my schedule changed and the gym was no longer convenient, I stopped going. That was a year ago, and i’m 15 pounds heavier 🙁 Since I have a significant family history of type 2 diabetes,
Also muscle weighs more than fat, so the scale won’t necessarily show anything. Non-elastic waistbands are a somewhat better indicator.
Have you tried changing up the route that you do, or the way that you run? Ie. instead of just running for 22 minutes straight, maybe run hard for 3, jog for 2, and repeat for the duration of your run. Your body may just be too used to the way you run!
Oh, believe me it’s not 22 minutes of straight running! Maybe 5/1/5/2/3/1/5 run/walk. And when I say “run” I really mean “lumber”.
Hi Arcterex,
Glad you are getting back to a semi-normal life 🙂 and working out again! You will not see an immediate drop in the scales if at all right now….your body is building muscle from the gym visits. While converting stored fat to muscle is a good thing, you won’t see a difference in the scale department.
To rev up your metabolism, you may want to consider eating 5-6 small portioned mini-meals each day, rather than the usual 3 squares of larger portions.
First off – you get to eat all day which is great. Smaller portions of food help keep your metabolism up.
More cardio is the key for losing weight. I know you are doing a walk/run. Add 20-40 mins of cardio to your gym days – lower impact like an eliptical, rowing machine, bike, or treadmill.
After 20 mins of cardio, your body starts to burn stored fat.
So even with your running, you are get a whole 2 mins of fat burning goodness.
Hope this helps! Try Prevention Magazine 🙂 – they have great ways to change up your activity and motivation for those pesky plateaus! Keep up the good work! http://www.prevention.com for a look see.
Hey, thanks. Though I think you might be supremely over-estimating the amount of good I’m doing in the gym… I don’t buy the ‘muscle heavier than fat argument’, but I don’t watch just the scale, but also I’m not seeing my clothes get bigger on me either.