Health Goals Part II - Exercise Goals

As I said in a former post, I used to hate exercise. I viewed it as a form of torture inflicted on me as punishment for being fat. Then I discovered fat acceptance and I stopped exercising entirely for a while. What a relief! But a weird thing happened… I occasionally felt like being physically active. This had NEVER happened before. After all, exercise was something I associated with punishment and who would choose to be punished? But once I wasn't requiring myself to do it I found that sometimes I just wanted to move. And so I did. Then I noticed that on the days when I was more physically active I felt better. My mood was better, I had more focus, I felt less stressed, and I slept better at night. It turns out this is a thing.

Words "I <3 ME" written in the sand.

Here's some proof: I just read a NY Times article: Rethinking Exercise As A Source of Immediate Rewards by Jane E. Brody. In it she talks about the findings of Dr. Segar, a psychologist whose specialty is helping people start and keep up with regular exercise habits. Dr. Segar wrote a book I want to read called "No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness." Basically Dr. Segar and others have found that prescribing doses of exercise like medicine for weight loss doesn't work. Duh! Instead, what does work is noticing the immediate rewards of exercise - the ones I discovered by accident - and deciding those are important to you. Exercise is one way of prioritizing your own self-care. As Dr. Segar says, "I like to think of physical activity as a way to revitalize and renew ourselves, as fuel to better enjoy and succeed at what matters most." I like to think of it that way too. I can exercise because I deserve to feel good in the body I have right now and I matter enough to take care of myself, not because I'm fat and I need to change myself. This is, coincidentally, exactly what Health at Every Size focuses on. (Here is a link if you need one.) The idea behind HAES is threefold and I'm showing it in pictures:

Respect, including respect for body diversity.
[Picture is the word "respect" spelled from news clippings.]

Compassionate Self-Care - eating in a flexible and attuned manner that
values pleasure and honors  internal cues of hunger, satiety, and appetite;
finding joy in moving one's body and being physically active.
[Picture says "Keep calm and practice self-care."]

Critical Awareness - challenges scientific and cultural assumptions;
values body knowledge and people's lived experiences.
[Picture is a man with jigsaw puzzle in his head holding a puzzle piece.]

So that's what I'm trying to do. I'm maintaining an awareness of fat phobia and the lessons I've learned through fat acceptance. I'm working on respecting people of all body types, including myself. And I'm aiming for compassionate self-care. The most relevant part to this post being "finding joy in moving one's body and being physically active."

So there it is. My primary goal with exercise is to focus on easy structural changes that make me more active and also on finding physically active things I love to do so I won't feel like I'm being punished when I exercise. This means no treadmills EVER.

Pug doing a handstand.

Here are the structural changes: 
* No more elevators or escalators. I will take the stairs unless I am with a disabled person who needs my help pushing elevator buttons.
* Walk or bike everywhere under 5 miles. This also helps the environment so it's a win-win!
* Take public transit to work. Why waste gas and pay for parking when I can take the bus? This gets me exercise because I have to walk to/from the bus stops, it saves me money, and it helps the environment.

Here are my specific fitness goals:
* Be able to do a handstand.
* Also cartwheels.
* Be able to do 25 pull ups, 50 pushups, 200 situps, and 200 squats.
* Do a split - either type.
* Run a 5K - maybe a color run? - ideally with a friend.
* Take a ballet class.
* Do some yoga.
* Try the kickboxing studio in the center of town.
* Find a rock climbing buddy and go climbing.

Picture of a fat woman hoola hooping that says
"Yes, I work out! No, I am not trying to lose weight."

Do you know about Health At Every Size? If so, have you tried applying the ideas to your life? How has that worked for you?