Exercise and Goal Setting

[MoonGal]

Right. I am sure every one of us struggles with various aspects of life, one being physical strength and looking after ourselves.

I know I am feeling like a weather baloon in an El Nino weather event, large and unpredictable. I am unhappy with my weight since being desexed and being on an anti-psychotic which has me feeling hungry all the time and has changed my metabolism. I have gained a lot of weight, already have a back injury and live with chronic sensistised pain syndrome. I MUST start a do-able exercise regime. Gentley Bently.

I know goal setting is important, start small, short. Have longer term goals also important. I have decided to NOT have weight loss as one of my goals per se. Just concentrate on doing the exercise every day. I find it hard to account just to "myself" - if I am under supervision of a physio or psych I tend to do what I set out to do, like having someone to check back in with and 'report' to is important otherwise I shuffle off into "i don;' want to" or "it hurt once so never again" land. 

Having given it much thought about what is doabale, what I SHOULD try to tackle without going totally overboard and extreme... And doing myself in before I acheive even a tiny modicum of self-care...

My plan is this.

Days 1 to 14 (next two weeks) Jan 7 to Jan 19 - 15 Minutes a day excercise (plus 15 min walk)
2 days a week in pool (15 mins only) doing hydro exercises and a very small and short swim breast stroke to look after my shoulders.
5 days a week doing a 15 minute Qi Gong set (I learned Qi Gong about 10 years ago and have just found the best little 15 minute  Qi Gong video to 'follow" along with.
15 minute walk ever day (slow and shuffley though it might be.)

Days 15 to 30 (Jan 20 to Feb 2) 20 Minutes a day excercise (plus 15 min walk)
Same as above but for 20 minutes for each exercise.
Celebration goal on 2nd February.... Buy a new top.

Next Goals to be advised to make sure I get these ones done. Wish me luck and focus!

[Mazarita]

Hi @MoonGal,

I agree with you that basic and achievable is the way to go with these things and that having someone to check in with is helpful to actually reaching goals. Cool that you are using the forum to help with this. 

I too will most likely be setting some concrete goals for various areas of my life once I start with my new peer support worker next week. Some of the issues you and I have seem similar: bipolar, significant weight gain with anti-psychotic medication, and co-morbid medical conditions.

I will follow this thread and be part of your support team here if you like. Good luck! 

[Former-Member]

Hi @MoonGal

That sounds excellent! I have found a yoga class (i was hoping to do pilates) that has a kids creche as well on one night a week that I really want to start but so far haven't been brave enough to go! but im aiming for next week!! I also agree our goals need to be realistic and achievable.

Good luck!

LJ

[CherryBomb]

What a great idea @MoonGal.

I would like to also be a part of your support/motivational team along with @Mazarita.

Last year, I set out to do yoga consistently. At least 3- 4 days a week is what I was hoping for. One year on and I do it 6 days a week. This didn't mean that I went into a studio everyday, but I found a great teacher, who I did check-ins with. She got me to plan what I'd do for a month based on what I felt comfortable with, then I emailed her throughout the week to let her know that I'd done (or hadn't done) my plan.

The goal was not to do big chuncks of exercise each day, just 5 - 10 minutes here and there. So I started off with having two days of a longer session (usually at the studio for about an hour) then on the other days I just did shorter sessions at home. The point was learning consistency, and making it part of my daily life, while building stamina (both mentally and physically - everday seems daunting at first!). Slowly, slowly as the months progressed I replaced my short session days with longer sessions. Now I do full practice everyday (about 90 minutes to 2 hours), and if I'm not up to it, then I'm still happy to make it short. The great things is that it just seems like part of my routine now, like brushing my teeth.

I think the key for me was baby steps, not having big expectations, support (check-ins were great), feeling accountable, and having encouragement when things got tough, and of course the many other benefit that come along with exercise, and moving mediation helps get me to my mat every day. 

So it'd be great to see you through your journey with this. Hope we can help out on here! 

[MoonGal]

@Mazarita, @Former-Member, @CherryBomb

Oh, that's great thanks for the offers of being support team, maybe for those of us just starting out on our exercise goals we can be a support for each other here too.

I am very happy to report that I have already started and followed along with the Qi Gong video. Gosh my legs are wobbly! But I did do the whole 15 minutes. I still have to go for the walk but am thinking of doing that after dinner and taking the doggits when it is a bit cooler.

@Former-Member, Best wishes for your new yoga class. Feel free to come and join the thread if you too would like to check in and have a place to say 'done' and/or 'couldn't do'. It might help us stay on track.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone.

PS: I had to buy new upsized swim suit, that's been despatched, so swimming is going to have to wait until that arrives. WIll just do Qi Gong excercises on pool days until then.

[CherryBomb]

I love the idea of checking in here throughout the week. Great idea @MoonGal!

[MoonGal]

@CherryBomb - your story is an inspiration, you set out to do yoga consistently and did, I like the idea of 5-10 minute stints across a day too. I used to do floor work a mix of pilates and specific exercises prescribed by physiotherapists, I did them asidously every morning before work. Now I dont work I find time tends to telecope a bit - the day has basically no structure. I need to build the structure in.

Your story gives me hope that i can do this. thanks. One day at a time, though - still look forward to checking this thread a year from know and see progress. Have set a caender reminder with a link to this page for 7/1/17. 

[MoonGal]

Jan 8. Up earlyish to make the most of cool morning going to be hot today.

Out at 7.50 am. Walked/Waddled   with doggits 25 minutes (that is how long it takes to do a 15 minute walk). On Google maps - this route is 1.2 km.

... I used to be able to do that route in 10 minutes. How times have changed. Can walk any number of routes but will revisit this one once a week that will show me any improvement in time.

Noticed that I need to pay attention to my posture while walking, I have lost body tone and core strength so tend to be a twisted lump, several times ont he walk I stopped, aligned, breathed and lifted the crown of my head and spine to try to get 'straighter'.

Have calendar reminder set to 9.45 to be ready for Qi Gong. Will re edit this post once done. I can barely beleive that afteer months of feeling desperate and not motivated, I am now day two of a plan. YAY!

 10.46 edit: Qi Gong session 15 mins. Tick. Legs not so wobbly today but left knee not happy, have to pay attention to form and make sure I am not over-empahisising what i am watching the teachers do.

❤️ Happy Moongal, well done Gal. 

[CherryBomb]

**Hi fives**

That's awesome @MoonGal, you go gal. 

I also did a shortened version of my yoga practice today. I'm going rock-climbing this evening so just a short of yoga for me this morning. 

Yay! Go team.

[CannonSalt]

Great topic, @MoonGal - good to see everyone here! I'm still Walking From Zombies ( https://zombiesrungame.com/ ) and am enjoying it still - I think my legs are feeling a bit stronger and I seem to be making better time. The story helps, as does the 'game' aspect of building my SimBunker.