Exercise anxiety

[prismpower]

I wonder how to overcome this.

I have really bad exercise anxiety. When I was in a boys boarding school, I was forced to exercise enough and eat right. It is so hard now to do that on my own. Over the past 17 years or so I gained 100 pounds due to a sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits. And have felt awful and sluggish and have had little energy. But thankfully I have lost 30 pounds so far! Granted, half of that weight has been because I've been sick but still. I still don't really exercise enough or nearly enough as I should. I lost the weight by simply eating less and re-starting weight watchers.

Idk I have this weird fear of having a heart attack or dying/something really bad happen If I push myself too hard while working out. So I never push myself enough as I need to. I will walk very carefully and slowly and call it 'exercise' but it doesn't really do much, or as much as I want. I should remember how good exercise feels naturally, the release of endorphins. It's very good for my body. Logically, I know this. Emotionally it is so hard to 'just do it.' And exercise is a natural relief for anxiety as well. But I am too anxious a lot of the time to even exercise properly to begin with lol. I start to move and it's often very uncomfortable. Not so much physically, I'm not THAT out of shape- but the anxiety of it will kick in for some reason. (I will want to retreat to my 'default' mode of just sitting on my ass in front of the computer.) This will sometimes fade after some time and it will start to feel really good, and I will be so proud of myself for sticking with it. It is hard to stick it out during that uncomfortable feeling.

I realize my personality and genetics will never be that 'athletic' (both my parents hated sports and working out and stuff like that), but it would be nice to not let fear hold me back so much so I could get in a better shape to do more things.

 

[triceps]

I wonder how to overcome this.

I have really bad exercise anxiety. When I was in a boys boarding school, I was forced to exercise enough and eat right. It is so hard now to do that on my own. Over the past 17 years or so I gained 100 pounds due to a sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits. And have felt awful and sluggish and have had little energy. But thankfully I have lost 30 pounds so far! Granted, half of that weight has been because I've been sick but still. I still don't really exercise enough or nearly enough as I should. I lost the weight by simply eating less and re-starting weight watchers.

Idk I have this weird fear of having a heart attack or dying/something really bad happen If I push myself too hard while working out. So I never push myself enough as I need to. I will walk very carefully and slowly and call it 'exercise' but it doesn't really do much, or as much as I want. I should remember how good exercise feels naturally, the release of endorphins. It's very good for my body. Logically, I know this. Emotionally it is so hard to 'just do it.' And exercise is a natural relief for anxiety as well. But I am too anxious a lot of the time to even exercise properly to begin with lol. I start to move and it's often very uncomfortable. Not so much physically, I'm not THAT out of shape- but the anxiety of it will kick in for some reason. (I will want to retreat to my 'default' mode of just sitting on my ass in front of the computer.) This will sometimes fade after some time and it will start to feel really good, and I will be so proud of myself for sticking with it. It is hard to stick it out during that uncomfortable feeling.

I realize my personality and genetics will never be that 'athletic' (both my parents hated sports and working out and stuff like that), but it would be nice to not let fear hold me back so much so I could get in a better shape to do more things.

Hi prismpower. I'm your classic couch potato. I don't fear exercise, I'm just one lazy son of a B. My wife is the same way (only prettier) but a few weeks ago we set out a reasonable goal of doing push ups, sit-ups and a fairly lengthy walk around our farm fields along with our goofy dog. It feels great after we've done it but I still dread it each day. Someday I hope I can look forward to the exercise.
However, the value of having someone to do it with helps greatly as neither of us would exercise alone. If you can find someone to go along on those walks with you might provide a distraction to your fear and you could 'step it up" a little.

 

[Hurt&Hopeful]

Ugh - I feel you! I was an athlete as a child/teenager, but I'm 40 now and have a desk job, and a very sedentary lifestyle too. The anxiety and depression over the years have caused me to gain a lot of weight...for me, I don't feel anxiety about exercising. But I DO feel Anxiety about failing at it. I don't sign up for classes or make commitments because I get so discouraged the first time I fail or don't make it. Kudos to you for losing 30 pounds already, though. that's amazing!