Compassion – A powerful resource to transform your life

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNRbOC7wUQ67qkclfDX4gAAtMk7TbnKqI_G7xgTZgDv2bQehNQonXmJR15o1G6t0HURgaZNgcjnaQM-ZkWD5frTrZlUOtXUihZWMVZcF5C08GYpGB9_fwJsxYTdF5FLt9OPnUJSPq6J1Td/s1600/o-SELF-COMPASSION-facebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNRbOC7wUQ67qkclfDX4gAAtMk7TbnKqI_G7xgTZgDv2bQehNQonXmJR15o1G6t0HURgaZNgcjnaQM-ZkWD5frTrZlUOtXUihZWMVZcF5C08GYpGB9_fwJsxYTdF5FLt9OPnUJSPq6J1Td/s1600/o-SELF-COMPASSION-facebook.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <div class="article-content-top" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> <br /> <div class="article-content-top" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> <br /></div> “Be Kind to Yourself: It’s Better for Your <a class="pt-basics-link" href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/diet" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; text-decoration: none;" title="Psychology Today looks at Diet">Diet</a>,” a 2011 <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thin-within/201104/be-kind-yourself-youll-eat-better-really" style="color: #236fb5; text-decoration: none;">article</a> told us — summarizing new work on self-compassion and weight loss. The idea that beating yourself up after overeating doesn’t help had gained attention. It turns out that being nicer to yourself, no matter how “good” or “bad” your eating, works better.</div> <div class="article-content-top" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> <br /> <br /> These ideas have spread via <a class="pt-basics-link" href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/social-networking" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #333333; text-decoration: none;" title="Psychology Today looks at Social Networking">Twitter</a>, women’s magazines and other channels. However, many an overeater still fears that greater self-compassion breeds less <a class="pt-basics-link" href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/self-control" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #333333; text-decoration: none;" title="Psychology Today looks at Self-Control">self-control</a>. Also, habits of mind — such as thinking in terms of “good” and “bad” eating in the first place — are hard to dislodge, even when you agree they’ve outlived their usefulness. They’re reinforced, too, by media promoting the idea that you can change your eating habits in a day, or lose 30 pounds in a monthBeing kinder to yourself leads more surely to habit change for several reasons.<br /> <br /> Habit change comes easier when you’re more relaxed. Helpful <a class="pt-basics-link" href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/motivation" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #333333; text-decoration: none;" title="Psychology Today looks at Motivation">motivation</a> and enthusiasm grow when you’re feeling <b><i>worthy and deserving</i></b>, not when you’re down on yourself. Also, change paradoxically happens more readily from a place of self-acceptance, as certain types of resistance quiet down. (This last idea has long guided Buddhist psychology, and it continues to prove helpful in all kinds of settings.)<br /> <br /> So perhaps you can see the sense in all this, yet you still hook into self-recrimination after an extra brownie or those fries you didn’t need. And now maybe you’re beating yourself up because you can’t even get this self-compassion thing right! Stop, and remind yourself that this habit, too, like those eating habits, will take time to grow and strengthen. Here are four key ideas for building the be-nicer-to-yourself stance.<br /> <br /> 1.) <b>Progress, Not Perfection.</b> This idea, long promoted by 12-step groups, says it all. You’re not going to break old behaviors, thinking habits, or emotional reactions overnight. Remember that even noticing what you’re doing, or trying to think differently, is a change in the right direction, even if the whole pattern hasn’t budged much. When you find yourself being harsh, remind yourself that it’s a process, not an all-at-once event.<br /> <br /> 2.) <b>Watch Your Words.</b> Here, again, are pieces of the pattern that won’t change all at once. These pieces comprise all the words and phrases that keep self-criticism in place. Try to catch yourself using terms like “I cheated” or “I’m a pig” — any negative terms that you wouldn’t use with a friend or with a child you were trying to support in making changes. Try to not say these words out loud. Notice when you think them. In time try to replace them with more supportive terms, like those you’d say to that friend or child — “maybe that wasn’t a great choice … but this is a hard thing … I’ll figure this out … I’ll keep going …”<br /> <br /> 3.) <b>What Happened?</b> Give yourself permission to see each lapse (episode when you do what you want to stop doing) as a place to examine “what happened.” What thoughts or emotions or situations or physical states made you vulnerable to doing something impulsive or self-sabotaging? What might have helped prevent it? What can you do to help protect or bolster yourself in the future? Approach this examination with as much neutrality as you can — again, as you would for a friend or child.<br /> <br /> 4.) <b>Small Choices Add Up.</b> Remember — and remind yourself often — that every choice you make in the new direction helps your body and <a class="pt-basics-link" href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/neuroscience" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #333333; text-decoration: none;" title="Psychology Today looks at Neuroscience">brain</a> to assimilate a new habit. You don’t necessarily have to change everything for positive change to be happening.<br /> <br /> <span style="color: #666666; font-size: 11px;">shared from psychologytoday.com published on June 20, 2014 by </span><a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/experts/terese-weinstein-katz-phd" style="color: #666666; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;" title="View Bio">Terese Weinstein Katz, Ph.D.</a><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 11px;"> in </span><a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thin-within" style="color: #666666; font-size: 11px; text-decoration: none;">Thin from Within</a></div> <script id="hiddenlpsubmitdiv" style="display: none;"></script><script>try{for(var lastpass_iter=0; lastpass_iter < document.forms.length; lastpass_iter++){ var lastpass_f = document.forms[lastpass_iter]; if(typeof(lastpass_f.lpsubmitorig2)=="undefined"){ lastpass_f.lpsubmitorig2 = lastpass_f.submit; lastpass_f.submit = function(){ var form=this; var customEvent = document.createEvent("Event"); customEvent.initEvent("lpCustomEvent", true, true); var d = document.getElementById("hiddenlpsubmitdiv"); if (d) {for(var i = 0; i < document.forms.length; i++){ if(document.forms[i]==form){ d.innerText=i; } } d.dispatchEvent(customEvent); }form.lpsubmitorig2(); } } }}catch(e){}</script>

attitude, compassion, good habits, health and fitness, how to lose weight, lifestyle, mental health, self-care, Weight loss

Compassion – A powerful resource to transform your life

“Be Kind to Yourself: It’s Better for Your  Diet ,” a 2011  article  told us — summarizing new work on self-compassion and weight loss...

If you’re struggling with your fitness goals, feel free to quit. Just quit tomorrow.

<div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">article from precisionnutrition.com by Craig Weller</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;">Coach Craig Weller talks about the importance of finding your “deep reason” when things get tough and</span><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;"> how to keep going when the going gets tough, Craig explains how</span><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;"> </span><strong style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;">small daily decisions can help to keep us on track.</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <span style="font-size: 30px;">More lessons from Special Operations Forces</span><b></b></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In Special Operations Forces selection we used to have a saying:</div> <blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.4em; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> “Finish out today and quit tomorrow.”</div> </blockquote> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> SOF selection is essentially a system of heavy-duty hazing, ruthlessly tormenting a bunch of people until most of them drop out.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> During this intensive process, it’s so tempting to tell yourself that <em>The run is too far</em>.<em>The water is too cold</em>. <em>My arms are too weak to do one… more… pushup… unnnggghh</em>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> It’s so tempting to tell yourself: <em>It doesn’t matter. It’s not worth it. <strong>Nothing</strong> is worth this pain or boredom.</em></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> So what’s the secret to staying the course?</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Quitting. Later, that is.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> My buddies and I promised each other we’d never quit in the middle of an evolution. At least, we’d wait until the end of the day, when the intensity of the moment had passed.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> The carrot of quitting dangled enticingly in front of us. A little treat, the promise of eventual relief to keep us going. It was just a <em>little</em> farther away.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Of course, at the end of the day, we’d look back on the incident that had made us want to quit, realize it wasn’t so bad – and feel good about our decision to continue. Invariably, this simple trick would pull us through.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> We didn’t quit today. And every one of us made it through selection.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Precision Nutrition Motivation Secret 2 Quit Tomorrow Body Image Motivation secret #2: Quit tomorrow" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-40022" height="400" src="http://www.precisionnutrition.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Precision-Nutrition-Motivation-Secret-2-Quit-Tomorrow-Body-Image.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; margin: 10px auto 18px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" title="" width="600" /></div> <h2 style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Self-herding</h2> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Great, you might be thinking – but what’s the carry-over to ordinary life? How do small daily decisions (like my decision to postpone quitting) support or detract from our longer-term commitments, like a commitment to fitness and health?</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Upside-Irrationality-Unexpected-Benefits-Defying/dp/0061995037/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314645593&sr=8-1" style="color: #0a7baa;"><i>The Upside of Irrationality</i></a><i>, </i>author Dan Ariely describes a phenomenon he calls “self-herding.” “Herding” is what happens when we follow what others are doing. “Self-herding” occurs when we allow our own previous actions to govern our current behavior.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Sounds pretty innocuous. But here’s the thing: <strong>Many of our small, daily decisions are governed by our emotional state in the moment. </strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> And self-herding is such a powerful force that <strong>each decision has the potential to establish a habit</strong>, which in turn could help or hinder our long-term goals.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Ariely gives an example. Suppose your favorite team wins a game just before you head out to your mother-in-law’s for supper. In your excitement, you stop to buy her flowers on your way. Two weeks later, on your next visit, you find yourself buying flowers again.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> What’s going on here? The underlying reason for your initial purchase (excitement about the game) is gone. But without necessarily meaning to, you use your previous actions as a template for what you <i>should</i> do next and the kind of person you are.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Thus, a passing emotion ends up influencing a long string of decisions and helps to establish a habit – and to shape a character.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Now what if, in that initial moment of happiness about your team’s win, instead of buying flowers for your mother-in-law, you chose to stop at the pub for five or six pints?</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Or what if your team <i>lost</i> and you chose to kick the dog – or open a bag of Oreos?</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Self-herding can turn you into the kind of person who finishes a demanding course of training or brings flowers to your mother-in-law – or the kind who drinks too much, lashes out at others, or eats for comfort.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong>The small, seemingly unimportant decisions we make in the moment can have far-reaching consequences for the kind of people we become</strong>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> That’s why it’s so important to pause and think before we act. To harness the power of self-herding so it works for us, not against us. To finish out today and “quit tomorrow.”</div> <h2 style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> The Opposite Rule</h2> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In our coaching programs, we often like to use the Opposite Rule: If what you’re doing isn’t working, try the opposite. (Ridiculously simple, we know. But it works.)</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Most of us have told ourselves: <em>I’ll start ___ tomorrow</em>. [Insert one or more of the following self-improvement projects: running, getting up early, eating healthy, being nicer to my in-laws, learning Swahili, etc.]</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> “Starting tomorrow” — while it’s a great way to begin — also often lets us justify poor decisions today.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> So what about trying the opposite? Instead of “<em>start</em> tomorrow”, how about: “<em>Quit</em>tomorrow”?</div> <h2 style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Quit tomorrow to keep fit</h2> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Did you just start eating a clean diet and give up processed foods? Did you just start a new and more intensive exercise program?</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Here’s some news: It’s going to suck sometimes, and there is nothing you can really do about that until your body adapts.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> You’re going to have moments of weakness when you want nothing more than a bag of chips or a package of Twinkies. Days when you can barely drag yourself to the gym.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <i>It’s only once. It can’t really hurt. It’s not so bad</i>. The mind is remarkably adept at coming up with justifications.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> But – as the theory of self-herding demonstrates – this decision won’t stand on its own. Every choice you make lays neural groundwork that will bias your future decisions. Eventually, you’re the sum of your habits. No more, and no less.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong>So, my advice when you want to give up is this: Quit tomorrow.</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Nourish yourself with healthy food today. Get yourself to the gym and do that set today. And tomorrow, if you want that Pop Tart or you need a rest, go ahead and take it.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> But I’m betting the urge to quit will be gone. Instead, when tomorrow dawns, you’ll feel just a bit healthier, a little less dependent on sugar, a little stronger. You’ll have harnessed self-herding in your favor. And you’ll be one step closer to your goals.</div>

attitude, Fitness motivation, good advice, good habits, health and fitness, lifestyle, mind over matter, mindset, Motivation, workouts

If you’re struggling with your fitness goals, feel free to quit. Just quit tomorrow.

article from precisionnutrition.com by Craig Weller Coach Craig Weller talks about the importance of finding your “deep reason” when thin...

Do Your Workouts Feel Like a Chore?

<h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 11px;">by Mark Sisson @ marksdailyappple.com</span></span></h1> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <img alt="todolist2" class="alignright" height="260" src="http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202012/todolist2.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 2px 7px; max-width: 100%; padding: 4px;" title="Do Your Workouts Feel Like a Chore?" width="320" />Evolution tends to reinforce healthy, beneficial behaviors that improve the survival of members of a species by making them enjoyable. <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/sex-health-benefits/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="8 Health Reasons to Have Sex (As If You Needed Them)">Sex</a>, <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-manufacture-the-best-night-of-sleep-in-your-life/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="How to Manufacture the Best Night of Sleep in Your Life">sleep</a>, socializing, and <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/yet-another-primal-primer-animal-fats/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="A Primal Primer: Animal Fats">animal fat</a> either feel good, taste good, and sometimes feel <em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">and </em>taste good at the same time not “just because” but because they are necessary components of a healthy, (re)productive lifestyle. And it’s not just the act that feels good. Evolution has also reinforced the anticipation of the behavior. At the prospect of <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/a-guide-to-maintaining-a-healthy-sex-drive/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="A Guide to Maintaining a Healthy Sex Drive">sex</a>, we become aroused, horny, randy, or whatever you want to call the pleasure of anticipation. Those long, delicious yawns that herald the surge of melatonin and promise excellent sleep as we slip beneath the cool covers with a good book? Nothing better. And I still get happy stomach butterflies when friends are coming for dinner and the scent of crackling <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/pork-belly-croutons-with-kale-salad/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Pork Belly Croutons with Kale Salad">pork skins</a> fills the kitchen.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <span id="more-50238" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> Okay, but what about exercise? There’s the <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-get-high-naturally/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="How to Get High on Life: 10 Natural Ways to Feel on Top of the World">endorphin and endocannabinoid high</a> from exercising intensely, but that exists to keep us moving during an activity as we near the physiological breaking point. It doesn’t get us off our butts in the first place. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">If exercise is so good for us – and it is – why doesn’t everyone crave it? Why does it feel like a chore?</strong> Why do many people dread it so much?</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Here’s the thing: exercise wasn’t always optional.</strong> If we didn’t chase down the antelope, we wouldn’t have dinner. If we didn’t climb that forty foot acacia tree, our glycogen-starved muscles wouldn’t get the <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-honey-a-safer-sweetener/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Is Honey a Safe(r) Sweetener?">honey</a>. If we didn’t make the six mile walk to the spring, we wouldn’t have water to drink. We <em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">had</em> to do these “exercises” if we wanted to survive on a day-to-day basis. There was no “Oh, I’ll just sit on this couch and eat microwaved pot pies and go to the gym some other time.” <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">There was no selective pressure to evolve a love of exercise because we were gonna do it anyway</strong>.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> Today, exercise is in a weird place. Exercise is optional, but it’s also not. Though being sedentary remains disastrous to our health, circumstance no longer compels us to move. There’s no trench-coated goon pointing a gun at us and nodding toward the treadmill, but plenty of “authorities” point their fingers and strongly recommend exercise on pain of disease. We’re buried in studies proclaiming the essentiality of exercise for good health. The message is clear and overwhelming: we’d better work out if we want to be healthy and live long. Just like they tell us we need to work the crappy soul-sucking job to pay the bills, they tell us we need to exercise for thirty minutes a day to stave off disease. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">For most people living in the first world…</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Exercise is something you do to lose weight. It’s a mechanistic way to churn through the calories you’ve eaten and make room for the <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/dear-mark-maximum-4000-calories-a-week-of-exercise/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Dear Mark: Maximum 4,000 Calories a Week of Exercise?">calories</a> you want to eat.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Exercise is something you do even though it’s unpleasant. It’s like brushing your <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/nutritional-cures-for-damaged-teeth/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Beyond Sugar and Soda: Nutritional Cures for Damaged Teeth">teeth</a>, taking out the trash, and emptying the cat litter.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Exercise is about attaining a far-off goal.</strong></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Meanwhile, the journey – the actual experience of exercising, of moving your body through space and time, of challenging your physical capabilities – is forgotten.</strong> It’s not just forgotten, it’s willfully ignored. We actually try to shut it out, because the act of exercising is all pain and suffering and drudgery. It’s the goal that matters to us, the weight lost, the<a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/gain-weight-build-muscle/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="How to Gain Weight and Build Muscle">weight lifted</a>, the miles logged, the calories burned, the <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/health-vanity/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Mirror, Mirror on the Wall">beach body attained</a>, the tickets to the gun show redeemed.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">The evidence suggests that this paradigm doesn’t work all that well.</strong> A <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11002-014-9301-6" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" target="_blank" title="Is it fun or exercise? The framing of physical activity biases subsequent snacking">series of three recent studies</a> illustrates this. In the first, researchers gave healthy adult women (most of them overweight) a map of a mile-long outdoor walking course and told them to walk it for half an hour. Half were told to treat the walk as exercise and monitor their exertion, half were told to enjoy the walk and listen to music. Both groups spent the same 30 minutes <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-definitive-guide-to-walking/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="The Definitive Guide to Walking">walking</a> the same course, but only the exercising group felt grumpy and fatigued. And when they had lunch, the group who’d “exercised” consistently chose soda over water, pudding over applesauce, and ate far more calories than the “fun” group.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> The second study placed a group of men on the same mile loop. Half “exercised,” half walked for fun. After the walk, they were given plastic baggies, access to an unlimited bowl of M&Ms, and instructions to fill the bags with as many as they desired. The exercise group filled their bags with twice as much candy as the fun group.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> Finally, the researchers approached runners as they finished a relay marathon race and offered them a choice of snacks: a gooey chocolate bar or a “healthy” granola bar. Those who said the race had been difficult and unpleasant were more likely to choose the chocolate, while those who’d enjoyed the race usually chose the granola bar.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">When working out feels like a chore, we demand compensation upon completion, often in the form of junk food.</strong> This can derail weight loss efforts, but it also perpetuates an abusive relationship with physical activity. There’s also evidence, at least in non-human animals, that <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0016643" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" target="_blank" title="The Effects of Voluntary, Involuntary, and Forced Exercises on Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Motor Function Recovery: A Rat Brain Ischemia Model">voluntary exercise is less stressful than involuntary or forced exercise</a>. If that’s the case, workouts that feel like chores heap additional systemic <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/rethinking-stress-it-could-save-your-life/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Rethinking Stress: It Could Save Your Life">stress</a> on top of the local stress the exercise already applies to the muscles. This could make it harder to <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/7-things-impair-workout-recovery/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="7 Things You May Be Doing That Impair Workout Recovery">recover from exercise</a> and easier to recover from <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/15-concrete-ways-to-play/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="15 Concrete Ways to Play">play</a> – even if the total work done for each was identical.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">How do we change our relationship with physical activity?</strong> How can we reframe exercise to make it less unpleasant and more effective? How can we train ourselves to appreciate the journey of movement?</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> Reframing our own activities and appreciating movement for movement’s sake can be tough. You won’t have a guy in a white coat wielding a clipboard and considerable amounts of authority telling you to “enjoy the <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/17-reasons-to-walk-more-this-year/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="17 Reasons to Walk More This Year">walk</a>” you’re about to take like the people in the studies.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> You can’t expect to make everything fun and games. Few people think of hill sprints as “fun.” I can’t ever recall seeing a powerlifter rock a Cheshire grin in the power cage. But it has to be rewarding. You have to get something from it immediately. The activity must be its own compensation. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">The key, I think, is finding immediate value in the activity rather than relying on some far off goal, like weight loss, to motivate you.</strong> The weight loss, the hypertrophy, the fitness gains, all those “bigger” goals will happen anyway, but they’re not enough of a primary motivator for most people. I mean, everyone has those goals. They’re the reason most people decide they need to start exercising and why there are <a href="http://www.ihrsa.org/media-center/2011/4/5/us-health-club-membership-exceeds-50-million-up-108-industry.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" target="_blank" title="U.S. Health Club Membership Exceeds 50 Million, Up 10.8%; Industry Revenue Up 4% as New Members Fuel Growth ">over 50 million gym memberships</a> in this country. But by and large, <a href="http://greatist.com/health/exercise-weight-loss-071213" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" target="_blank" title="Americans Are Working Out More Than Ever. Why Aren’t We Losing Weight?">they’re not reaching those goals</a>. Something’s gotta give.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> That’s easier said than done. Undoing a lifetime of acculturation isn’t easy. You have to willingly appreciate the flowers along the sidewalk, the birds in the trees above, the sunlight shining down, the refreshing sensations of unused muscles finally used. You have to realize that our bodies are built to move and need to move. We’ve got these shoulders that rotate almost 360 degrees. We can draw our knees up to our chins and touch our toes with straight legs and do the splits (in theory). It’s a crime not to use them – and you have to <em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">feel </em>that. You have to find something of worth in the exercise as you’re doing it.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> That could be a PR in the squat, or discovering that <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/15-reasons-to-sprint-more-this-year/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="15 Reasons to Sprint More This Year">sprinting</a> up the steep hill outside your place is getting a lot easier. It could be the the perfect high-five shared with a <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/p90x-and-crossfit/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="P90X and CrossFit">CrossFit</a> bro after Fran that seems to make time stop and the universe shudder for a moment. Or maybe it’s the meditative <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/flow/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Total Immersion: How to Recognize and Tap Into the Power of Flow">flow state</a> you reach when training, the peace of <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/hiking-around-the-world-what-to-eat/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Dear Mark: Hiking Around the World">hiking</a> through an ancient redwood forest, or chatting with your power-walking partner. It can also be the sheer joy we feel doing something we love to do, like play <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ultimate-frisbee/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #668318; line-height: inherit; outline: none;" title="Ultimate Frisbee">Ultimate Frisbee</a> (winning doesn’t hurt).</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">It took me a long time to reach that place, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I suggest you try to do the same</strong></div> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />link to article: <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/do-your-workouts-feel-like-a-chore/#ixzz35RZbS3zh" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #003399; line-height: inherit; outline: none;">http://www.marksdailyapple.com/do-your-workouts-feel-like-a-chore/#ixzz35RZbS3zh</a></span>

attitude, Determination, exercise and fitness, fitness, fitness goals, good habits, healthy lifestyle, Motivation, strategy, strength, weightloss, workouts

Do Your Workouts Feel Like a Chore?

by Mark Sisson @ marksdailyappple.com Evolution tends to reinforce healthy, beneficial behaviors that improve the survival of members of ...