Exercise is NON-NEGOTIABLE
Yet another copy of a post I just commented to at forum.lowcarber.org about exercise
KristyRusi Said:
So.. i’ve been reading my Atkins New Diet revolution book. (i’d slacked on that focusing only on getting induction down but as i’m done with my 2 weeks tomorrow i figured i should get crackin’) And i came to chapter 22 titled “Exercise: its Non-negotiable”
The very first line is ” Calling all couch potatoes: if you’re not getting regular exercise you aren’t following the Atkins Natural Approach. It’s that simple.”
(the chapter goes on to give reasons why and how much and what exercises to do, but non the less, it is non-negotiable)
The reason i bring this up is because i’m new, i want to do this right, and i’ve all but said that no diet works without the same key ingredients. reduction (in food types or quantities), staying on path (if you stop you gain, in all diet types) and exercise was my big question mark. I’ve assumed at some point exercise would be required even calorie reduction (which he also says YES you eventually if you stall may have to count calories too), no one can expect to eat a list of ingredients limitlessly and lose weight by laying on the couch. Maybe at first but not for a real long term goal. At least i know the book clears it up. (i know i know everyone said read the book >.<)
My biggest reason for posting, is that so many people make a big deal about how they did no exercise and lost all their weight.
Well, good for you. But it’s not realistic, and you aren’t following the plan per Dr. A. No matter what i wouldn’t have exercised during induction anyway i felt horrible, i still dont’ feel back up to my old energy level either, but for the future i want to give it the gung ho try, so i guess exercise it is. For me this only adds a bit of self doubt. Can i not eat carbs? sure. that’s easy… will i keep an exercise plan?… i dunno, it never worked in the past. It sounds like old times again (old long failed but never forgotten diets).
No one should promote this diet to work without exercise (or gloat giving a new person false hope). At least it makes sense to me now. At least the fog (not just induction fog) has lifted and i see it clearly. This isn’t about being Low Carb or Low Calorie, this is just a mind trick to get me to realize i can not be thin without sacrafice, and hard work. I can’t be a couch potato and reach my goals.
I guess i just needed reassurance that its okay to work this into your lifestyle slowly, and mold it to work for you food wise as best you can stand as far as eating, but as he said.. exercise.. it’s non-negotiable. *gag*.. I will say that i hope that this won’t be another failed diet. I hope this will be the one that worked for me. I hope that my attitude (though pretty grumpy and depressing verbally as of late) stays positive towards sticking with it and with that said…. here we go phase 2 bring it on.
My Response:
I used to do loads of exercise, mainly weightlifting and circuit training. The reason behind that was at the time, I needed to be strong for the job I was doing. Yet, the problem I found with the conventionally suggested diet was that while it indeed gave you the nutrients your body needed in order to make up the muscles that you are building up, along with it came a lot of extras that you didn’t need and this led to not just muscle gain but also fat gain at the same time. The picture however changed drastically when I switched to low carb, as I think I have mentioned elsewhere.
That was many decades ago and things have changed now, whereas once upon a time I was happy to spend an hour and a half, two hours in the gym building up my lovely muscles. Age, wisdom and the consciousness of time have made me realize that perhaps, those two hours could be better spent. Now, instead, I do 10 minutes of simple body weight exercises everyday. Things like push ups, pull ups, Hindu squats and that sort of things and I find it gives me more than enough strength to go through my day to day activities and I can still surprise some of the youngsters around me, able to lift things that they would only just look at; all that, without ever finding me in the gym.
For the last 10 years, my exercise of choice has been salsa and jive dancing. So you can imagine, I’m fully behind cnmLisa where she says exercise is movement and that can be as mild as a walk or something that challenges your muscles.
The thing about the gym is while, yes, it may challenge your muscles, it doesn’t really challenge the rest of you. Whereas, something like dancing means that you have to challenge your brain for remembering patterns of movements and so forth, stamina, (yes, I can dance from 7 pm right away through to 2 am), your sense of timing, your sense of balance and a whole host of other things.
But the really great thing about an exercise form like that is that it is social, you’re not just looking at the machines screen or something like that. You’re interacting with other real people and enjoying yourself. So if anybody’s got their mind to, why not take the challenge, why not go out dancing or find yourself another physically active yet social activity to join in with?
Hope that helps,
Mark