Loekken

So I've been sober 6 months and I always had this idea that once I stopped drinking, I would get tremendously motivated to getting in physical shape! Well, this is not the case. I feel extremely lazy and I gained weight and have no motivation to get in shape.

Anybody with the same problem? Wanting to get in shape but just doesn't get on with it. What do you do about it? Thanks in advance for any replies..

flavinho

I have the very same issue, I´m also very lazy, eating only junk food now, but fortunately being sober.

zjw

i never wanted to get in shape. I just wanted to get my blood flowing and hopefully loose a few lbs so i went for an easy walk each day and changed my diet. Eventually walking the hillls got easy and such and eventually i moved on to running etc.. and am very fit now.

But i'm still lazy. i run 50 miles a week or so and i'm so stinking lazy and fight with myself almost daily to get out there and do it.

it sounds like it might be easier for me to sit on my duff do nothing and be fat and happy etc... but it wont be. I'll have the issues i fixed by excercising etc..

So i dunno I guess it depends what you want? in my case the laziness and such is still there.

I will say tho forcing myself out started the habit. and as much as i fight with myself once i get out there and get it done i'm generallly happy i got off my duff.

zjw

and ya know it was at about 6 months i thought uggg i still feel kinda crappy i guess i could try excericsiing *sigh* and reluctantly i put down the cigarettes and changed my diet and started going for a walk.

congrats on the 6 months too!

doggonecarl

My first post to SR was about my concern that I felt that I wasn't using my sober time constructively. Like you wanting to get in shape, I wanted to use my sobriety in creative pursuits, but I was doing nothing.

I was told, wisely, that time spent on one's recovery is not wasted time. It takes time to retrain our minds and bodies to a pre-alcoholic state. So congrats on 6 months sober, that's what is important.

That said, you might be waiting a long time to "feel" like getting into shape. At some point, you have to just start exercising and wait for the motivation to catch up. I liken it to physical therapy. If you get your knees replaced, they aren't going to wait for you to get motivated to start your PT. They will get you out of bed in a couple of days and start working on you. Same with exercise. You can start without motivation. Or better yet, hire a personal trainer. A good one will motivate you. Once you start seeing the results of exercise, you will have all the motivation you need.

August252015

I was very, very sick and it took longer than I expected after quitting (I am at 132 days) to start exercising. I felt bad sometimes hearing a lot of people talk about jumping right into it, and yoga and running and this and that. Daily 30 min walks the first week? No way.

In May, I think, I finally decided to start running. BABY running, I call it. So I googled 1 mile races and actually found a series - one in Jul, then Aug, then Sep. The first is in 2 wks!! I am excited and feel like a mile is easy - but I had to just start. Today was the first day it felt really easy. My plan is to start training for a 5K series (3.1 miles) for an overlap, say, one in Sep, Oct, Nov. Then start training overlap for a 10K series, say Oct, Nov, Dec. I think this is a good plan and a doable goal "Series" for me!

And, ice cream became my nemesis somewhere around 60 days (crap- I just realized that was over 60 days ago!!). I needed to gain weight, maybe 10-12 lbs but since Feb have gained 15-18 and a lot of that in my tummy (which I have never liked even when it really was completely flat- I have issues). But...I have cut myself slack and said this will pass, and am now actively working on my ice cream obsession. And the tummy is going down. So, that's good too!

Just start when you are ready, maybe with a little push to yourself- when you start really thinking "maybe I could do this..." - just start.

You'll get there!!

Mountainmanbob

Bicycle riding is great exercise.
MM

Soberpotamus

Sometimes it helps to find an activity you enjoy doing that offers exercise as a side effect or 'benefit.' Kind of trick your way into getting exercise. Do something you'll have fun doing, that keeps your mind engaged. For me, it's gardening. It is a killer workout. It's kind of like body weight or anaerobic exercise.

If you're like me, you're sometimes easily bored. I started out newly sober with weightlifting; it requires more mind engagement. It required me to concentrate and focus. Lifting weights was completely new to me, something I'd never done before, so the learning curve itself kept me focused and involved.

I do run as well, but I don't overdo it. I do just enough to get a good aerobic workout. I usually run 3-4 miles at a time and that's it. It's become very meditative such that when I'm out there running, my mind is elsewhere ... I get to daydream.

blueberry2015

Snap!

Mountainmanbob

Not to scare anyone but,
advice from an older guy.

If you don't use it you will lose it.
Exercise = healthy mind and body.

Gets the blood flowing.
The mind works better with good flow.

Mountainman

fini

it's a myth, that we can't do things without being motivated to do them.

Gottalife

I got sober in AA. I never acquired the habit of exercise for the sake of it. I had a buddy who was out running every chance he could get. I thought he was nuts.

However I have always been quite active in AA, and in hobbies, for me sailing related. I eat reasonably well tho still enjoy the occassiona burger to keep my cholestrol up. I have never had a weight or blood pressure problem. And I have never needed knee surgery, though I have a little arthritis in my hip that acts up from time to time. Some of my friends who used to run are now getting through knee and hip replacement surgery etc.

Keeping spiritually fit has been the more important thing. When I am off the beam spiritually I get lazy and dissatisfied. When I tred non spiritual recovery (the first thing most of us try) I finished up not being able to get out of bed. Talk about lazy and miserable. 4-5 months dry and living in absolute squalor. I drank that time as alcohol was still the only solution that worked.

For me spiritual fitness has made all the difference.

BlissWithin

I now think of regular exercise being like a medicine, that I have to take in order to maintain mental health and good moods. I don't care about the benefits for physical health, but they are nice too.

Dave42001

Very helpful, thank you!!!

Berrybean

I'd also suggest that you don't have to be black n white / all or nothing about this. It doesn't have to be either couch potato or fitness fanatic. We don't have to get all obsessive about stuff... That's just old alcoholic style thinking.

Why not just draw up a list of healthy but tasty meals for the week, and focus on eating healthy and fitting in some good long, brisk walks for a bit. As you start feeling better you're likely to feel more motivated to up it a notch as you go on. (The Slimming World website has some good ideas for a week of meals that you can look at without having to join up, so that could be a start. You can just Google slimmingworld uk recipes menus if you want to get some inspiration from there.)

Mountainmanbob

Going for a hike in the morning.
Do I like and enjoy hiking?
Not really.
But, I keep doing it anyway.
Mountainman

endlesspatience

This is a thread I enjoy. I felt like you did for a long time but when I added physcial exercise to my life, things changed a lot for me. I used to be a heavy drinker and very heavy smoker and it was the cigarettes and hangovers that really got in the way of the exercise. I couldn't even climb stairs quickly. So about two years ago I took up swimming, going to the pool a few times a week. Now I'm at the gym every day.

What motivates me to go to the gym is that I have signed up for classes (power pump, total body conditioning, group cycle, dance aerobics etc). The more I go, the more motivated I become and the fitter I become.

You've absolutely done the right thing by sharing it here. We're going to support you all the way if you want to get fit.

Forward12

It is hard to get the motivation to start, but once you do, you'll be questioning why you didn't sooner. Before I would look forward to my booze at the end of the day, now i channel that into a killer workout and feel much better than I did from the alcohol. There are many different things you can try. Find something you enjoy and it will be something you also will look forward to.

Cherrybreeze

I can relate to this as well. I'm newly back to the gym at almost 7 weeks sober. Most of the time I have to really talk myself into it, but once I'm done, I'm always glad I did. If I'm feeling especially draggy and tired, I'll go easier that day.

I've been trying to get back to eating decently (the first couple of weeks not drinking I absolutely craved carbs and ate SO much), I've been downing water like never before, and trying to get some cardio in, but I have to remind myself that results will take time. My body has a bit to recover from. As long as I am doing these good things, results WILL follow.

Start slow and easy, a walk around the block is still more than nothing. Eventually it will become something you look forward to (and not like when you don't do it!).

EndGameNYC

Lace up your running shoes, fire up your Stair Master, jump on your bike, take a walk to the pool, walk in the park, swim in the ocean...Get yourself where you need to be, and the rest will take care of itself.