120. Back To Basics - Principle 9, Movement - Feel the Difference

Today in my back to basics series I’m talking about intuitive eating principle 9, movement - feel the difference.

Exercise does not have to be gruelling. You don’t have to live by “no pain, no gain”.

Exercise also does not have to be a way for you to earn your food, extra calories, points or syns.

Exercise can be full of joy and fun.

And, hear me out, exercise is not mandatory - you get to choose whether you exercise or not!

I’m going to help you have a better relationship with exercise. Let’s start by simply calling it movement. Feels better already, right?

Transcript

A quick heads up before you start reading..... My transcriptions are automatically generated. I do not type them manually. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode.

[00:00:00] Hiya! Welcome back to the Intuitive Eating Back to Basics series. How are you enjoying it so far? Do you love it? Are you getting new insights into the principles? Uh, in each episode, if you do not know yet, I'm going to walk you through one of the 10 principles of intuitive eating. I'm going to explain it to you, help you understand it a little bit better, give you some takeaways, give you some tips, things you can try and think about, um, so that you can figure out how the principles apply to you.

If you do not know yet, this forms part of a series. If you don't know that, where have you been? It is, of course, perfectly fine to stay where you are. Just stay here and enjoy this episode, but to get the best out of it, do go back and start at the beginning of the series. It's a good place to start. It's a good way to, to take it all in.

So [00:01:00] in this episode, I'm talking about intuitive eating principle nine, which is movement, feel the difference, and we're going to chat about exercise. By the end of this, you will realize you do not need a grueling exercise routine and instead you can just find some movement that you really genuinely love.

A lot of people when they're in the dieting zone, use exercise as a means of losing additional weight. It's either a way to earn some extra calories or burn some calories. Or it's a way to, uh, to gain extra points or syns or, you know, whatever you're counting at any given time. Very quickly, that exercise becomes a chore.

It becomes something you have to do, not something you want to do. So, here is my question to you. Any exercise that you do at the moment, if you do any, do you love it? Do you [00:02:00] genuinely love it? Or do you struggle to get up and do it? Do you feel excited by it? Or does it feel you full of fear and anxiety before you get there?

Do you exercise somewhere you love and you feel safe? Or is it somewhere you feel that you're constantly being watched and judged? And do you do it because you want to? Or do you do it because you feel like you should do it or have to do it? It's so easy to be on the negative side of those questions and to not enjoy what you're doing and to be doing it totally.

Wrong reasons. I feel really sad, actually, for people who don't enjoy their exercise. And I'm not saying you have to do the traditional definition of exercise, but if you do, you should at least enjoy it. All too often, people are moaning about dragging themselves out for a run, going to the gym, going to a class that [00:03:00] they hate, you know, don't even get me started on the people that say they have to do it.

Because they had something to eat earlier and now they feel like they've got to go burn it off. Because, let's get this straight right now, exercise is not a punishment and you never have to earn your food or burn calories. Exercise should be complementary to what you do with the rest of your life.

Here's a nicer way to think about it. Think of it as movement. Not exercise. Movement is good for you. It keeps you supple. It'll keep your muscles in a good functioning condition. It keeps your bones strong and healthy. It will help with circulation. It helps with your energy levels. It helps your sleep.

Movement should be done for the sheer love of it. It should be something you can't wait to do. [00:04:00] It should be something that you do because you enjoy the way that it feels and you look forward to going and you look forward to doing it. Do you remember when you were little? Do you remember when you were little?

I don't know if I can remember that far back. Do you remember when you were little and physical stuff was just Fun, just fun. You used to jump around on a trampoline or a bouncy castle or you used to dance around your bedroom with your hairbrush as a microphone. Skilty, I used to do that. Um, do you still dance around the house?

When the music is on, has that disappeared from your life now? What about when you used to kick a football around the park? Or you'd ride your bike so far that you got lost and then you couldn't find your way home? Or is that, um, is that just me because I've got a terrible sense of direction? Um, what [00:05:00] about when you used to go swimming?

Used to go to the swimming pool? Just splash around? None of this I've got to do a hundred lengths malarkey. You just went to have fun. This is what we miss. When we're an adult and we're exercising, where did the joy go? Where did the fun movement go? We've swapped it out for something like a sweaty gym class or a spin session.

Life is too short, right? To spend doing things that you just don't enjoy. So find a way to move that you do enjoy. One man's pleasure. It's going to be another man's torture. Some people love spin classes. I cannot for the life of me figure out why. But they do and that is fine. Let those people go and do spin.

I don't do spin because I don't enjoy it. I'll find something else that I'll enjoy more. The world would be a very dull place if we all like to do the same [00:06:00] things, wouldn't it? You should not be uncomfortable in the space that you're in either. Lots of people like going to the gym but they feel like the people there are watching them or criticizing them when they're there.

That is not okay. The reality is These people are probably not watching you, probably not criticising you, but I know that those thoughts are really hard to criticise if they are in your head. Whatever the reality is, if you feel awkward, if you feel uncomfortable, and you just can't get past that, it's not the right space for you.

It's not the right activity for you. Go and find somewhere more friendly. Go and find a friendly class, for example, where you're welcomed with a smile when you walk through the door. Go jog with a friend. That you love to catch up with. Do some YouTube videos, um, with your partner [00:07:00] or your kids, if they're up for a bit of a laugh and a bit of fun movement with you.

Do a video game, an active video game. So I love things like Just Dance. That's fun. That does not feel like exercise. I'm not saying I'm good at it, but it's fun. Or do something on your own. If you like your own space. If you just want some downtime and you just want to find your way with this movement thing on your own, nobody around you, fine, do that, but find something you love to do, find something you're excited to start, something you're excited to go to.

If the byproduct of that is health benefits, amazing, that is great, but it should not be the main reason you choose your movement. It shouldn't be the reason that you're choosing your movement type. Also, it doesn't have to be overly strenuous to make a difference. [00:08:00] It does not have to be something that makes you feel like you've been trampled on by a herd of elephants the next day.

To be beneficial for you. You know that saying, no pain, no gain. What a load of rubbish. What a load of rubbish. You can do things that are beneficial without it hurting. You do not have to feel that pain in your muscle for days afterwards. For it to be health promoting. Ideally, what you need to do is something that gets your blood pumping, gets the heart rate up a little bit, then you're going to see benefits from it.

But you do you, right? If you're choosing to find a way to move every day, that is great. It's really, really good. At this point, I will also say it is a generalization. All of these episodes are all about generalization. I know that there are people with differing levels of ability. Physically, different access to facilities, different [00:09:00] access to space that they can get out and exercise in.

People have different demands on their time and also this isn't mandatory, all right? You don't have to have movement in your life if you don't want to. I'm just here to give you some motivation and explain the benefits if you do choose to. Whatever your situation, If you want to, find a way to move that makes you feel fantastic.

It should make you feel empowered and strong. And by that I mean mentally stronger, not necessarily physically stronger. If that comes with it, then great. But if not, that's fine. And if that's not what you're aiming for, physical strength, also fine. But exercise is so good, movement is so good for mental health, makes you mentally more positive.

So find something that makes you feel mentally more positive, excited to do it. Walk, dance, get a [00:10:00] skipping rope, get a hula hoop, ride your bike, play with your kids, lift stuff, breathe, stretch, connect. There's lots of ways to get that into your life in a way that suits you, right? Which of those things that I've talked about make you feel like you want to have a go?

Anything? Which of those words make you feel like you could find some happiness doing them? Because Those are the things you want to start with. What are you doing at the moment, too, movement wise? Take a look at that. If you're doing some movement at the moment, do you enjoy it? Do you like the movement that you do?

Do you need to rehash it and think about something else so that you can bring some enjoyment into it? Maybe today is the day that you go try something new. Maybe today is the day that you get online, on YouTube, on Facebook, um, wherever. Just go hunt out [00:11:00] something new, yeah? Just for a laugh, just to see what happens if you try it.

That's the way movement should be. It should just be fun. It should just be trying stuff and seeing what you like doing. I stand by the old adage that if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got, right? So if you are that person living in misery, jogging on the spot in your kitchen at 10 PM, just because you haven't got enough steps in for the day.

Yes. Been there, done that. Or if you're breaking your back to get to the gym at five o'clock in the morning or to a class that you hate, yep, done both of those too. Or if it's painful and you're not doing the things that you're enjoying, yep, also done that, then now is the time to change that, right? It's not good enough to just say it's okay because I look and feel fabulous now and doing this because you are not doing your body.[00:12:00] 

or your mind, any favors at all in partaking in that exercise. It is not for you if it is not pleasurable and if it's not pleasurable the stuff that you're doing now then make today the day that you change that. Never mind what your mates at work say, never mind what your mates are doing, um, never mind what they say you should be doing, never mind what your Fitbit says or my fitness pal says, you just do you.

You do the things that make you feel good, because if you feel good doing it, you're also going to stick with it longer, right? Where are you hanging out on social media at the moment, please? Is it Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, threads? I'm there. I'm in those places. So come and find me. And we will enjoy the intuitive eating and movement life together.

Shall we? All the links are in the show notes. Come and find me.[00:13:00]