How to Keep Exercising and Keep it Exciting!

17 Tips from Thyroid Patients

9. Cardio Glide With the Soaps

"Can sympathize with you and exercising. Tried a lot of means to lose those proverbial 10 lbs. and always found it a drudge. Decided to walk around the block, and found it rather delightful. Every few days increased the walking until I was doing a mile 3x a day. You get so addicted to it. Now after a total knee replacement, I have resorted to a Cardio Glide, and use it several times a day. Any thing will do as long as your mind is occupied. Watch a favorite soap opera and the time goes by quickly. It is so easy to put that weight on, but difficult to remove it. I usually try to control it after 10-15 pounds. Good luck and don't give up."

10. Try Speed Walking, Total Gym and Crunch Master

"I find speed walking to be a very good exercise for me. I love to walk and most times I find new areas that I have never been to before and discover while walking. The only times, I don't walk is when it is raining heavily or snowing heavily. Other times, I have a total gym, i have different exercise tapes and that usually keeps me going. I have this one particular tape I love, Crunch Master Class. It is really a burner and boy, does it make you sweat!!"

11. Try "The Firm" Videos

"I'd like to tell you what has worked for me. I've been exercising with videos from a company called The Firm. These are the best exercise tapes I have ever done. They are a combination of aerobics and weight training, they have quite a few of them, so you can switch them around and never get bored. I have found that aerobics alone did nothing for me. I was doing step aerobics religiously for about two years with little to no results. Then I added weight training and have finally started losing weight! Not to mention the fact that my thyroid has started to kick in and my thyroid doc has steadily been reducing the amount of Levoxyl I've been taking. It's great to see the muscles develop and for the first time in 4 years I actually am happy. I attribute it all to aerobic weight training. You can find out more by visiting their web site: www.firmdirect.com/. I don't have stock in the company, just this is what has worked for me.

12. Watch a Movie!

"I jog about two miles a day on my treadmill, and without a doubt it is the most boring thing there is, so I watch a movie. Put in a movie, relax and get started. I find that as I have built my strength I am getting farther and farther into the movie before my strength wanes.]

13. Listen to Books on Tape

"You were asking about ways to help treadmills from getting boring... What I do is go to the library (a free service here in Canada) and pick up 4 or 5 audio stories and I listen to them ONLY when I'm on the exercise machine. It helps the time pass more quickly and keeps me going back to it so I can find out what happens in the story. As everyone probably knows there's everything from romance to self-help to science fiction, mysteries and almost whatever else you might want. I use a Walkman because it kind of seals me off from the world. Just me, my story and my exercise machine. A side benefit is that it helps me to catch up on my reading for fun stuff which I often think I'm too busy to 'waste' time on."

14. Try Circuit Training

"I am 64 years old and for the last 4-5 years, I've been attending an Over-50 Circuit Training class. We have members from age 50 to age 86 attending regularly. The class is one hour long, three times per week. Because I have to pay to attend, I feel like I have to get my money's worth and that keeps me going. Plus, after attending for such a long time, it has become a large group of friends who have pot luck lunches and all that sort of friendly type of thing. The best part is that my husband who has mature onset diabetes finally started coming with me. That helps. You hate to hang back if your better half is ready and willing and needs to exercise too."

15. Watch Soaps and Oprah on Tape -- No Exercise, No Soap!

"I have found that the best way for me to exercise is to tape one of my favorite one hour shows. For instance, my soap opera! Or else something like Oprah. I get on either the elliptical trainer or the treadmill (both of which we have at home set up in front of a TV) and then I put in my tape. If I want to go an hour, I don't let the remote come near me. If I want to exercise for 40-45 minutes, then I have the remote and fast forward through the commercials. I wear a cheststrap heart monitor and make sure that I stay in my cardio zone. With something to keep my attention (thus, the reason I treat myself to my daily soap opera), I don't notice that I'm working hard and I know I can't get off until the show is over. This has worked for me for years now. It's the only way I'm "allowed" to watch my soap. No exercise, no soap!"

16. Make Friends to Help the Time Go Faster

"I have lasted 1 whole year going to the Y 3 times a week (2 hours per time) I have met great people there and we talk while we are working out - sure makes it go faster! "

17. Walk, or Maybe Even Take An Adventure Vacation!!

Camilla Mork, a thyroid patient and adventure travel consultant, wrote me the following really compelling email! I just had to share!

"Machine-based exercise only remains fun for those very select few who truly fall in love with it. Most of us usually end up discovering alternative venues for staying healthy and fit while using the gym environment as an adjunct to our favorite active pursuits. I was a gym buff in my late teens and very early twenties and now feel perfectly comfortable with gyms, but that does not mean it is my preferred way to get exercise. I have discovered I prefer getting my exercise outdoors. Big difference. I am the person who wrote you a year back or so about walking instead of using public transportation. If you are not in a city conducive to walking you can make a deal with yourself that you always walk when you visit so-and-so person or store or office. That right there would place a couple of good walks into your life per week, and pretty soon it will feel as if it has always been that way. With a breathable rain suit and Goretex boots, the rain can become a rather friendly element to spend time in.