I need some input on the benefits of exercise.

I know, exercise is great exercise is wonderful all hail exercise!

Now that the exercise junkies have had their say... I've never been able to stick with an exercise program. For one thing, I've never really been able to see any BENEFITS. I can't lose weight, I don't really gain muscle, and I don't feel better. But then again, I don't stick with it.

Has exercise helped your ADD? I'm most interested in those who were previously sedentary who got on (and stuck with) a rigorous exercise plan. I'm not interested in the exercise cheerleaders who (it seems :) just assume that exercise helps everything.

I need some real motivation beyond the normal exercise preaching. Does exercise really do anything? Or is it just how the pretty people keep themselves feeling morally superior to us fatties?

Blah. Negative tonight!

-- Tom

No Tom that's not it....not morally superior...it really does DO something....BUT it takes a while to see results....I mean I've been swimming -- and walking -- sort of alternating BOTH -- here at school now for a year and a half since I got here -- and I swear if I didn't have these two activities to literally fall back on -- I think I might have gone nuts by now -- not really.....but it's made my life a heck of a lot easier....I mean life is damn stressful, is it not????? Okay, what is my regimen?? Simple -- one or the other -- swim -- 40 minutes -- or walk 40 minutes -- both quite briskly -- 6 or so days per week -- religiously...if it got dark outside and I was planning to walk that day -- I found a mall...it's never dark in a mall...the pool is outdoors and heated...no excuses if my knee hurt...what's the benefit??? NONE in the short term, quite frankly...LONG term -- I just FEEL better over all -- it's unexplainable...I can COPE better...a guy doesn't love me the way I've wanted him to -- yes that's happened recently -- well because I've been doing this "thing" called exercise for myself -- it's not so bad...I can cope...and studying isn't so bad...in fact I can study as I swim..yes I do talk to myself in the pool..who cares if I look ridiculous...does exercise help my ADD?? YES...because it clears my brain and my head...it always clears my brain and my head and anything that clears my brain and my head -- helps my ADD...cuz then I can focus better...and that is what ADD recovery is all about -- focussing better....is it not?? Have I lost weight?? Yes but I'd have done this even I didn't need to lose weight...I'm a fatty too by the way...so what...60% of America is..that's most of us....irrelevant nowadays...exercise is for health and feeling better and for disease prevention too....I'm amazed at how very few times I've gotten sick in the last year and a half by the way.....so there ya go Tom. It's a matter of choosing something you like and sticking with it....IF you stick with it -- all those things that you said never happened for you -- WILL happen for you....you have to hang in there though long enough to allow the benefits to happen....i.e. to give them a chance......Just choose something you like....doesn't matter what......get someone to do it with...easier to do with a buddy...then you HAVE to show up for each other......okay, pool's closing in an hour...must get going...:) Just kidding....

Also, Atomx, if you're still around, I'm trying to get back to my TaeBo and actually stick with it. I'll keep checking in each month, b/c when I DO stick with it it feels really great. And if anyone has been on the fat-thin rollercoaster for most of their lives, it's me. My mom moans about how much weight she gained when she lived with my dad (and it does suck and I do feel bad for her 'cuz he had the advantage of a less stressful schedule AND the male muscle tissue advantage (which I think is totally unfair), and I told her, "yeah, but at least you didn't GROW UP FAT!" (She was really skinny.) For once she had to admit that I had suffered something she hadn't.

OK, I'm rambling now. I'll keep you posted.

I go back and forth enough to know that I am way happier and focused when I get regular exercise. Winter is what slows me down. I am very cold sensitive.

Excercise also helps lower cholesterol along with many other benefits.

Tom,

I tend to, if anything, over do it myself. My OCD makes it a little hard to stop once I get started. However I think I know what you are getting at.

The benefits are there for sure. But the way many people "market" exercise and diet separately and the way they chose to do so to each of them influences the "pop cultural" perception of them. The phrase "no pain, no gain" is an absolute load of crap.

The most constructive way to look at excercise and diet is "Lifestyle modification". Step one: Take a good look at your overall diet. No need to count every calorie here just ballpark it. It does help to learn a little about nutrition at this stage. You may already know it. If not, Joan up there may be able to help you out as she probably knows more about it than anyone here. :-) Once you have an idea of where you stand nutritionally pick a few items you know you don't really need that you are sure you can do without in your day to day diet. For example if you go through a sixpack of pepsi a day, cut down to three, and drink three glasses of water the other times or something similar. Now, that may not sound like a huge change, but it amounts to a roughly 400 - 500 calorie a day cut. If you were to add a half hour to 45 minute walk to that and make it a daily routine, or any other form of increased activity for that matter as long as you maintain it you have just added to your calorie usage as well. Now that may not seem like much, but a good brisk walk can use as many calories as you just cut out on the soda in an hour. Between the two your body is now taking in 500 calories less a day and buring five hundred calories more a day than it usually does.

If you maintain these two small, and relatively inoffensive changes you have succeeded in modifying your lifestyle. It will shift your weight. How much will it do so? I have no idea. For example it won't shift far at all if you replace the lost calories from soda with more from beer. Or eat twice as many twinkies as usual. If everything else stays the same though it can have as much of an impact as a ten pound weight loss in the course of a year with just the addition of walking 45 minutes a day.

Cutting calories without exercise often results in a metabolic decrease which conserves calories. End result? You break even. When you exercise it increases your average metabolism. You actually burn more throughout the day (not just durning the exercise) than you would when not exercising.

Point is Tom, you can start small and work your way up as you see benefits. In fact it is best to start small and not allow pressure from others to jump start you into biting off more than you can chew. People get frustrated and unmotivated and stop because of that. Best bet just take little bites and maintain them. Make a chart of small lifestyle changes you would like to implement and do so. If you find any one of them hard to maintain, take a step back and modify it so that is is easier to maintain. Track your weight every so often. You may find that over time the life style changes become easier to maintain, and bigger in nature. I think Joan would be a wonderful resource in this department if she is willing to help because she is a dietician by trade and knows so much about general health and nutrician.

I am willing to share as well, but all I have to offer is my military training in this department and personal experiences. It has helped my ADD some. In the same way the meds do. More accurately in a complimentary way. It's just as effective for different things. I have Anxiety and depression co-morbid with my ADD and the running and execise in general helps deal with those issues and prevent a lot of the collateral damage they can create in your body over time. Too bad I didn't know that sooner. I might not have all the damage to my digestive system. :-O