It is such bullshit that it works. It doesn’t fix everything but damnit it does enough that I have to keep doing it.
This. It’s not a cure at all, but it works for energy levels and peace of mind.
I take regular hour walks. They can help, but please still take your medication if you’re on anything. And don’t feel bad if it doesn’t change your life. Sometimes you just walk to clear your head, and that’s still okay.
Did anyone else go from
holy shit I cannot believe how god damn much this actually improves everything
to
THIS IS BULLSHIT I RAN 20KM THIS WEEK AND I STILL HAVE PAIN AND DEPRESSION AND MY ADHD SYMPTOMS AND HEART RATE/BLOOD PRESSURE ISSUES I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS
over the course of like a few months?
Yes. That was how I discovered the concept of overtraining.
It’s especially easy to overtrain if the rest of your life is stressful.
Im lucky that I’m incredibly lazy
Thanks for the proof that sport is bad for you.
Yeah but then you hit the point that I’m at which is "I do this SO MUCH and my diet is SO GOOD why do I still look SO AVERAGE!?!
and you see concerning behaviors from yourself that are the beginnings of eating disorder territory and start fucking with supplements that simultaneously “dont work” but yet are banned by sporting bodies… and the stupid exercise becomes part of your mental health problem.
If you eat well and work out, you are probably looking really nice! Don’t compare yourself to “perfect” people on instagram, compare yourself with who you where before (or just for fun with the average person in wallmart). It also helps to find another goal than simple looking good, such as lifting a certain weight, or participate in sport events. Makes it all way more fun.
Finding another goal is a good suggestion. It’s what worked for me, at least. Instead of it being about how I appeared in a mirror (which was suuuuper variable and depended a lot on my mood), it became something measurable I could easily track progress with.
Its not that I’m comparing myself to “Perfect” truth is Ive lost 35kg in 2 years, I’m super happy with my progress but I know why I dont look the way I’d like. Im a middle aged man, I dont recover like a 20yo, I have less HGH and test than a 20yo I dont get enough sleep, I have a demanding job and kids… Theres only so many hours in the day, I can only recover so fast, I can only diet and train so hard. For a while it really began to mess with my head.
I’m just saying that people can take exercise and improving themselves to an unhealthy place too. “Treat yoself” isnt a lifestyle, its wallowing in easy dopamine, but a life of depriving yourself of everything that makes you happy and constantly hammering yourself physically is just not sustainable and it can take you places mentally that are just as unhealthy.
Walking definitely improves my lower back pain and anxiety, but my right foot is an asshole and likes to swell up and hurt constantly no matter how nice of shoes I wear. Walking makes it worse but I do it anyway for the other benefits.
Fml
Do you maybe have the ability to try other things too, like cycling, swimming or YouTube-guided yoga?
I’ve been meaning to try yoga, I guess I get intimidated because I’m not as flexible as I used to be. I know yoga is exactly what I need to fix that, but my stupid human brain thinks I’m going to hurt myself or something.
Thank you for the advice! I’ll have to find some beginner yoga videos this weekend and see if I can’t find something that works for me
Any recommendations for guided yoga? I’ve always wanted to try yoga for general health benefits but I worry that my form will be all wrong without an actual guide, and I have zero interest in the new-age/spiritual/religious shit
I’ve gotten most of my yoga instructions from Wii fit lmao. But there’s a YouTuber that does workouts that I’ve liked, she seems to do yoga too https://m.youtube.com/@Heatherrobertsoncom/search?query=Yoga Rule of thumb is, if something hurts in your joints rather than in your muscles or tendons, you’re doing it wrong. I think the injury risk for yoga is pretty low though.
For the last 50,000 years or more we had to walk and move constantly to survive as a species so it makes sense that our bodies would have evolved to reward us for moving.
If you can get a job that combines with a workout like a 2birds situation.
Do about 8 to 10k steps a day
Feels better to sweat and be paid, if you can help it. Use it or lose it.
I accidentally got a manual labor job and it’s the only way I have or will ever exercise.
Voluntary exercise is the most physically and mentally torturous activity. It is pure boredom plus pain and has never made me feel anything but worse, eg curled up on the couch staring at the wall for an hour in despair. Fuck exercise.
Turns out that if you pay me and give me a reason to move around I have no problem. Exercise for it’s own sake is just not doable for me, the pointlessness and misery are depression inducing.
I bike to work, so I automatically do a workout 2 times a day. I definetly wouldn’t be able to get myself to do sport 2 times a day otherwise.
Now air squats.
I have an under the desk bike and it fulfils the same purpose so I can exercise while chained to my desk.
