I just hate it. Not that I haven't tried. I've tried running, weights, walking. It's boring, and makes me feel tired and irritable. I just want to go to bed after exercise. Not my thing.
Sorry if that comes off as patronizing or hokey, but if you can stay in shape "enough" early, I've found that it becomes it's own reward as I've gotten older.
But it's a lot of work and take some time to get benefits. Plus the benefits don't arrive in the same order for everybody.
So while this is probably a good advice, I don't think it should be the only solution applied. It's more like a long term advice.
The act of staying in the moment not worrying about the future or repeating the past in my head has significantly improved who I am.
In practice this tends to be me very deliberately feeling the water, counting my strokes, paying Dill attention to my breathing.
Excercise to get somewhere on the other hand - not a problem. When I lived a 40minute bike ride from work, I enjoyed it and looked forward to it.
When the daughter lived 30 minutes walk from school would walk her to school and run back (15 minutes - took a longer detour). Again, I enjoyed it.
If I need to go the shops, I'll walk and enjoy it.
All went to post last year when got a crippling injury and could barely walk. Now with the youngest child also needing to get to nursery not the time in the morning to walk daughter to school and I know work from home. Now that I have to force myself to do excercise for exercise sake, I do nothing
You owe it to your friends and neighbors.
Never mind the health benefits or nicer looks or fitting into smaller clothes - you owe it to everyone around you to be able to:
- run for help
- carry a body
- move debris or pull a hose or help push a car
- (etc.)
If you have any expectation at all of being taken seriously and held as an equal by the people around you, this is the minimum set of capabilities.
I'm in my 50s, absolutely hated running - hadn't done it for 30 years. Started when my wife and kids started doing it, just to help out and got to really enjoy it. Weekly 5km run, hugely mixed ability field, nice friendly atmosphere, nice route. I rather look forward to it now. I also discovered a latent competitive spirit which means that while I puff around the course, I seem to be unable to not sprint for the last 100 meters.
Five years seems like such a very long time when you start. Five years ago I was smoking, consuming way too much sugar, and eating tons of processed foods. Small changes over time and I'm at around 10% body fat, unbelievable lung capacity, and a much stronger psyche and work ethic. I feel like I've gotten younger from 26 to 31, and I'm 32 in June.
It doesn't need to feel like doing sport. Moving your body is what's important.
Anyway, I think you have to commit to it long enough that you actually see some measurable results. Many people give up before they even reach that point. It takes effort and persistence, but not on some superhuman level. Pick a program and stick to it for a few months, while making sure your diet is on point.
https://www.strava.com/activities/954036327 (Shows top speed recorded by my GPS)
I'm actually in that boat right now. For the last few years I have struggled with an exercise program on and off. I have consistently had the experience that it initially makes me feel better, but then I hit a plateau of a certain level of progress that makes me increasingly tired as I try to "push through" and prone to getting every cold that wanders by. Well... guess who's typing this while wearing a heart monitor for a month? My diagnosis is not yet complete but at this point I'm fairly confident I have a condition where my heart goes into some serious atrial fibrillation, only while I am asleep [1], resulting in me not being aware that I may have a moderately-serious heart condition probably for quite a few years (quite possibly decades) until quite recently.
My point is not that you may have this exact problem I have. Delores12 is also correct that this is a known effect of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and as documented on HN that has recently been getting upgraded in the medical community from "ideopathic condition we're not sure we even believe in" to a real diagnosis with a real mechanism, and there are other things this can indicate. My point is "exercise actually makes me feel worse" is a potentially serious symptom of something, and rather than feeling guilty about it or getting moralized at by people who do not have this experience, I would strongly suggest going to a doctor, getting a physical if you haven't already had one, and finding a doctor who takes this seriously as a symptom if the physical doesn't find anything immediately.
I wish I had gone to the doctor earlier. I have some other local health issues that mean that even now I can't actually say what I did was irrational per se, indeed I even found some other issues I had in the meantime, but now I'm in a position where my condition is sufficiently bad that I'm beginning to feel like I'm in some sort of sleep deprivation torture experiment some days, worse than when I was a new parent, and I'm not joking or exaggerating for effect. Unfortunately the medical system is hard to make move faster than it wants to. If you can find what your problem is before then, you'll be happier.
[1]: I do not need people to pop up with the possible causes of this; I am currently engaged with the medical system and aware of the possibilities related to apnea, etc. (I have recorded myself at night and I do not seem to have a snoring problem, so if it is apnea it's the relatively unusual, but existing, no-snoring version. It may also simply be genetic as my mother is prone to it.)
Is there nothing physical you enjoy doing?
Anyway I sort of got over that... but mostly I just have some dogs I walk now. We do a 5 mile loop before breakfast every morning. Made a big difference in my health and mindset. Plus... it means getting up early enough to do a 5 mile loop before breakfast, and since I'm competitive (even with myself) I started saying, "Ok, yesterday was 1 hour... can I do the same walk in 55 minutes today?" So that turned into jogging... and a few years into it I really started liking to jog. My morning feels off if I don't get the blood flowing before I shower.
Think a dog or a stopwatch would help?
There's nothing wrong with going straight to bed after exercise. You'll probably sleep better for it.
But sports is motivating for me, I see all those footbal stars on tv and I'm dying to try the moves, the drills and get better at it.
Also if you pick up a singles sports you probably should get a coach to set you on the right path in the beginning, you'll like it even more.