Exercise Motivation Evaluation

Why do people exercise?  Why do I exercise?   It's something I've been thinking about lately. 

I've written about, "Pound Penance" or working off calories because I ate more than I wanted to eat in a particular day.  Pound penance can be a good motivator.  You can't burn thousands of calories, but you can work off some if you've overeaten.  You can also be motivated away from eating something because you'll feel obligated to exercise later as a result.

Motivation to work off calories consumed can be both a good and a bad motivation.  It's a good thing if it drives you to exercise.  It's a bad thing if taken too far, taken to the point where you must exercise because you're worried you might have eaten a little bit more than you ideally should have.  It's a balance, but it can be a good thing.

You can also exercise to lose weight.  Fourteen burgers of exercise later, I can say weight-loss isn't my main motivation for exercise, but it did factor into the overall weight-loss plan I had.  And it has helped.

What about feeling good?  It is a nice feeling to know you set out to accomplish something.  That you're working towards a goal and you're making progress towards that goal.  It also helps you to feel better physically and mentally after completing a workout.  My friend said to me, "I can put up with an incredible amount of crap at work if I've gotten exercise that day."  And it's true. 

I think I run the balance across all three.  It's important to keep a healthy outlook on diet and exercise.  I am working hard at both and I'm endeavoring to make sure I keep my mental attitudes just as healthy as my physical self.  Thinking about that and writing about it here are part of that process.

The Big Boy Update:  With The Big Kids.  He wants to hang out with the big kids at movie night now.  He wants to hang out, run around and be so excited no one is going to get to watch a movie, but he is still super-excited to be part of the kids and not the babies.  Tonight, he was so happy that he got all three of the other kids away from the movie and up in the bonus room playing with collapsible swords and blocks with him. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  French Fry.  She has been getting better at finding her mouth.  At some point babies figure out how to put things in their mouth and after that point, everything goes in their mouth.  For months on end.  She's just been able to get the pacifier back in when it falls out, including rotational issues within the past two days.  Tonight, I gave her a french fry to hold and squish while we ate dinner.  We looked down and it was in her mouth and she was chewing it.  I gave her a second fry at a strange angle for her hand.  She rearranged it and got it in her mouth.  Chewed, swapped hands, put it back in her mouth and chewed again (with her two bitty teeth.)  Time to start watching what's in range of her hands starting now.