Really, this "motivation trainer" rhetoric coming out of obesity-infested America is tiring.
You sound like there is only two extremes: Couch potatoes and people that run a marathon every weekend. There is actually a middle-ground. And a not-so-small group of people is actually comfortable in that middle-ground.
You can feel relatively healthy without running around like a wound-up monkey. Step on, don't eat too much. Then you don't have to burn calories to get rid of extra fat. It almost sounds like "uppers and downers"... Mind you, I am not arguing against sports in healthy doses. But whenever I read or talk to fitness fans, I feel like I am talking to a person following a cult.
Do you have any data/research to back up your claims that people who think they are in the middle are actually unhealthy or that they compare themselves to outliers?
“Research suggests that changes in the social perceptions of what constitutes overweight and obesity may contribute to the increased prevalence of obesity (Burke et al., 2010; Johnson et al., 2008; Johnson-Taylor et al., 2008). The growing prevalence of overweight and obesity could change the subjective threshold for what most people consider a “normal” weight level, thereby resulting in under-detection of overweight and obesity (Robinson, 2017). This explanation highlights the fact that social context affects weight perceptions (Hammond, 2010; Leahey et al., 2011b; Mueller et al., 2010; Robinson and Kirkham, 2014) because individuals adjust perceptions of their own weight based on the weight of those around them (Ali et al., 2011; Burke and Heiland, 2007; Maximova et al., 2008; Robinson, 2017)” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6304710/
The comically fat guy on some old shows looks reasonably normal today. However being overweight with a high fat person simply isn’t healthy. The healthy person who doesn’t exercise much should be quite thin rather than simply replacing muscle with fat and keeping the same weight.
People talk about being a couch potato because there’s a massive difference between activities that involve passively sitting and things like gardening that require occasional movement that adds up over time.
1) Feeling like shit: I found out that when I felt like shit it was a sign that I was going too hard. After falling off the wagon a few times because my workouts were so unpleasant, I decided that instead of quitting, this time I would keep going to the gym but just exercise like a pussy. Turns out light to moderate exercise is dramatically better than no exercise. Exercising like a pussy has eliminated all the aches and pains I used to have, fixed a wrist that was developing carpal tunnel, fixed a bad knee, lowered my blood pressure by 12 points, etc.
2) For me cardio is mind numbing, but weight training isn't bad. I mean weight training is basically doing a set, then sitting around for a few minutes messing with your phone or listening to a podcast or reading a book or whatever, then repeating. This is why most of my exercise is weight training, and my cardio sessions are 20min max. It works just fine, you get a ton of cardio from doing compound lifts. Also my gym has a jacuzzi where I can zone out after my workout and listen to podcasts, this turns the gym into the highlight of my day tbh.
As fascia stabilizes joints it explains your joints getting better. Focus on soft, bouncing movements if you want to regain, enhance or simply conserve fascia tissue.
Also, with time, it enables you to do with heavier weights and plainly brings back joy to moving. All the best.