The mental barrier?
Ok this is for the guys who are doing marathons, triatholons long distant bike rides etc....
how do you break the mental barrier?
I am in great shape....the best of my life, I'm extremely fit, low body fat, I can lift weight (modified of course because of back issues etc), but when it comes to doing any type of aerobic activity, I have a mental barrier that just drags me down.
Let me give you a for instance: I sometimes take a spin class to just mix things up. At my fitness level the class isn't that hard....it is challenging but not impossible. Anyway about 1/2 hour into the 45 minute class, I just stop. NO REASON....i just didn't want to do anymore. I wasn't really sweating, I was a bit tired, but not exhausted, and physically I could have done the next 15 minutes...but mentally I was just done.
I've been looking into doing some type of distant event for the spring...i'm thinking a long distant swim or something along that lines...but if I can't break this mental barrier I dont' know what I'm going to do.
The weird thing is that I don't get this way with weight lifting.....I'm thinking because even when your doing a lot of reps it seldom takes more then 5 to 10 minutes to complete each exercise.
Anyway, any tips would be great.
Scott
how do you break the mental barrier?
I am in great shape....the best of my life, I'm extremely fit, low body fat, I can lift weight (modified of course because of back issues etc), but when it comes to doing any type of aerobic activity, I have a mental barrier that just drags me down.
Let me give you a for instance: I sometimes take a spin class to just mix things up. At my fitness level the class isn't that hard....it is challenging but not impossible. Anyway about 1/2 hour into the 45 minute class, I just stop. NO REASON....i just didn't want to do anymore. I wasn't really sweating, I was a bit tired, but not exhausted, and physically I could have done the next 15 minutes...but mentally I was just done.
I've been looking into doing some type of distant event for the spring...i'm thinking a long distant swim or something along that lines...but if I can't break this mental barrier I dont' know what I'm going to do.
The weird thing is that I don't get this way with weight lifting.....I'm thinking because even when your doing a lot of reps it seldom takes more then 5 to 10 minutes to complete each exercise.
Anyway, any tips would be great.
Scott
(deactivated member)
on 10/29/08 1:37 pm - Houston, TX
on 10/29/08 1:37 pm - Houston, TX
Ok I do not fit in the catagory of people you asked...but anyway..
you are losing focus...it happens to me when i do cardio..if I let my mind wonder...i'm shot...I'll just climb right off of that death trap...and go home..
ok dude...what size jeans are you in....???
you are losing focus...it happens to me when i do cardio..if I let my mind wonder...i'm shot...I'll just climb right off of that death trap...and go home..
ok dude...what size jeans are you in....???
(deactivated member)
on 10/30/08 9:48 am - Houston, TX
on 10/30/08 9:48 am - Houston, TX
it's been about a year..and the scars are starting to fade..for real...
but brother....it takes about 6 months for you to say..yes it was worth it...it's not pain..just feeling like you are going to bust open from the swelling
but brother....it takes about 6 months for you to say..yes it was worth it...it's not pain..just feeling like you are going to bust open from the swelling
Long distant events of any type are all about shatering the mental barriers .the barriers that we as former fat boys have empossed upon ourselfs years ago. I too find myself feeling the same way right at about the same time into a spinning class also. ( strange ! )
I have found though once you find a way to get over the hump it is easyer the next time .
After you have slayed that demond enough times it no longer is a issue, or MENTAL BARRIER.
The only thing I can say that works for me ,is I am extremely tenacious and not about to give in!
And my wife goes to .I think that kinda pushes me too.LOL
Good health and best wishes
Nick
I have found though once you find a way to get over the hump it is easyer the next time .
After you have slayed that demond enough times it no longer is a issue, or MENTAL BARRIER.
The only thing I can say that works for me ,is I am extremely tenacious and not about to give in!
And my wife goes to .I think that kinda pushes me too.LOL
Good health and best wishes
Nick
Whenever you find out, let me know Cookieman .. I've just not been able to get into aerobic stuff even since my WLS .. 
I just noticed from the DS Labrat Chart that your cc length is actually longer than mine, although we had similar starting weights and BMIs .. . We also still both eat pretty large, yet you have lost almost 100 lbs. more than me . (wow, I'd SO love to be 170s) .. I can only attribute it to more exercise on your part than me
(or possibly youth? I think you're only in your 30s, right?) .. 
But, as to your question, I think we former MOs and esp. us SOs have a natural resistance to get into anything that involves lengthy physical activity for us, for the reason that as a pre-op it usually spelled disaster for us and was something we avoided at all costs (e.g. walking a long distance, hiking up a mountain, swimming across a lake, etc.) b/c of our poor shape . Heck, I'd get shivers just thinking of having to walk a long way across a big parking lot to get to the store from my car and back again ..
Think of it like those guys that climb walls and tall buildings with their bare hands alone and no safety equipment .. We don't want to risk getting part way there and .. then what, as pre-ops? If we can't fini**** we fall (and die) ..
I guess it's very hard for us to overcome our old way of thinking of ourselves as SO pre-ops, and being able now finally to achieve something that normal people can and do all the time .. going the distance .. 
I just noticed from the DS Labrat Chart that your cc length is actually longer than mine, although we had similar starting weights and BMIs .. . We also still both eat pretty large, yet you have lost almost 100 lbs. more than me . (wow, I'd SO love to be 170s) .. I can only attribute it to more exercise on your part than me
(or possibly youth? I think you're only in your 30s, right?) .. But, as to your question, I think we former MOs and esp. us SOs have a natural resistance to get into anything that involves lengthy physical activity for us, for the reason that as a pre-op it usually spelled disaster for us and was something we avoided at all costs (e.g. walking a long distance, hiking up a mountain, swimming across a lake, etc.) b/c of our poor shape . Heck, I'd get shivers just thinking of having to walk a long way across a big parking lot to get to the store from my car and back again ..
Think of it like those guys that climb walls and tall buildings with their bare hands alone and no safety equipment .. We don't want to risk getting part way there and .. then what, as pre-ops? If we can't fini**** we fall (and die) ..
I guess it's very hard for us to overcome our old way of thinking of ourselves as SO pre-ops, and being able now finally to achieve something that normal people can and do all the time .. going the distance .. Frank talk about the DS / "All I ever wanted to be was thin, like that Rolling Stones dude ... "
HW/461 LW/251 GW/189 CW/274 (yep, a DS semi-failure - it happens :-( )
i know it's a pre exisiting condition....maybe a comorbidity even......a part of being fat is being trained by our "fatness" that we just can't do things. But how do you break out of that once you can do them? I guess that is the question.
As for the common channel...and my weight. I think the common channel helps me maintain my weight loss, I think the fact that I was much more of a carb nazi for the first 18 months post op also helped. Don't forget, I didn't go carb crazy until I got very close to goal. BUT exercise has defintely played a big role in my post op life, I do it regularly, and I think it really makes a difference when it comes to losing.
Scott
As for the common channel...and my weight. I think the common channel helps me maintain my weight loss, I think the fact that I was much more of a carb nazi for the first 18 months post op also helped. Don't forget, I didn't go carb crazy until I got very close to goal. BUT exercise has defintely played a big role in my post op life, I do it regularly, and I think it really makes a difference when it comes to losing.
Scott
"I guess it's very hard for us to overcome our old way of thinking of ourselves as SO pre-ops, and being able now finally to achieve something that normal people can and do all the time .. going the distance .. "
Hey batwingsman,
I think you have hit on something. I am not sure it is what Scott is experiencing but I think I am. I find myself not doing stuff that I probably could because I just 'think' I can not because of past experience. Some how I have to convince myself that I can carry my kids up the stairs at night if they have fallen asleep. That I can get up there without huffing and puffing and keeling over. That I can push some exercise and it will not hurt me. That I can extend myself and it will not make me exhausted for the rest of the day.
It is hard to change the limits that weight put on us and say 'yes' we can change and do things we did not do before. That it is OK to push a little because it really is only a little now that we have some of the weight off. That we can expand what we used to do into some real healthy fun activities. (Rock climbing though might be out for me. I do not like heights.
)
"Hey batwingsman,
I think you have hit on something. I am not sure it is what Scott is experiencing but I think I am. I find myself not doing stuff that I probably could because I just 'think' I can not because of past experience. Some how I have to convince myself that I can carry my kids up the stairs at night if they have fallen asleep. That I can get up there without huffing and puffing and keeling over. That I can push some exercise and it will not hurt me. That I can extend myself and it will not make me exhausted for the rest of the day.
It is hard to change the limits that weight put on us and say 'yes' we can change and do things we did not do before. That it is OK to push a little because it really is only a little now that we have some of the weight off. That we can expand what we used to do into some real healthy fun activities. (Rock climbing though might be out for me. I do not like heights.
)
I think that is true for most people that have been obese all of their lives. I have a cousin who had the RNY ( I KNOW ..WTH!!!..hello die hard DSer here)..anyway he was thin and active most of his life and now that he's lost the weight, he has gone right back to doing what he's done all his life. ON the other hand, I've been fat all my life, obese since I was 7, and I'm finding it hard to be a normal thin person.....i still find myself lazy and having to mentally convince myself I can walk from the car to the store and it won't be hard, etc.
Scott
Scott
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