Exercise is on my mind

Next soap box topic ... hmmmm, it's possible I have way too many soap boxes.  Oh well ... anyway...

Exercise.  It's been on my mind lately.  I've talked about my personal journey from hating "I HAVE to work out every day" to NEEDING my daily dose of endorphins.  But that's not today's topic ... the thing I keep thinking about is "exercising to lose weight. " A lot of people exercise to lose weight.  And exercise IS an important part of any weight loss journey for many reasons.  It helps you get more energy, build muscles, and muscles burn more calories at rest than fat does, and one of my favorite side effects ... you get a lot more self confidence.  Even if you aren't the skinny girl at the gym, you're the fat girl on a bike ... you feel better about yourself.  You feel embowered.  THAT is why I exercise.  For that feeling of empowerment.  And to be healthy.  I exercise to be healthy.

Losing weight really is all about the nutrition ... which is obviously something I'm still struggling to find a balance for.  But the exercise, that I can do.  Every day.  And I love it.  I won't miss it.  It takes me about an hour and a half to get dressed, exercise, shower and get dressed again for the day.  An hour and a half out of the day that I focus on myself. And it's worth every minute.  Even ask my kids.  We have a lot more fun together now, even with that extra hour and a half of "not focusing on my kids."

So it begs the question: What kind of exercise is the best kind of exercise? or What do I do if I hate exercising? And it's the same answer ... from one of my favorite books "Push" by Chalene Johnson (I highly recommend it) "the best kind of exercise is the kind that you'll do." So it isn't about Insanity VS Running a Marathon ... we're all on the same team.  If the gym is the one place you know you'll exercise, go to the gym.  If running is your thing, run.  At least to start out, you have to find something you don't mind doing so much, until you love it.  Then once you LOVE exercise just for exercising, you can experiment and see if there are actually other things out there for you to love.  I always thought I had to run to exercise and get in shape.  Turns out there were a LOT more options.  I was able to force myself to exercise every day at first because I LOVE P90X.  I didn't know I could love anything that much.  Soccer was always my love.  But it was just too hard with being a single mom 80% of the time to be able to play a team sport out of the house.  Now I've found something I can do from home, still spend the majority of my time with my kids, I don't have to pay for a babysitter ... and I'm a LOT more healthy and my self confidence is soaring. FIND YOUR SOUL MATE WORKOUT!!!!! I only wish I would have found it 10 years ago ... don't wait any longer, go out and find it!