What Do You Do When You Just Can't Start Exercising

By Leeann Simons

I was visiting a good friend the other day-we've known each other for years. Our sons went to elementary school together. I remember a time when the boys weren't talking to each other-we were so upset! If we could be friends, what was their problem?

She’s been so good to me, and we’ve talked on many occasions about health, nutrition and exercise. Being a nutritionist, I’m a big talker in these areas, and as a teacher (I teach nutrition to business students), I want to make sure everyone agrees with me.

After offering all my sage wisdom on how to increase activity (you know, start with something you like, anything...just do it)-she looked at me and said "but there is nothing that interests me. How can you help a person like me?"

My first reaction was "absolutely nothing, I’m afraid," figuring she was simply doomed to be inflexible (literally and figuratively), having high blood pressure and hoping she had paid up her life insurance.

But then I began to think about this conundrum. After all, she’s not the only person out there who can’t figure out what do to for activity. She’s not the only one who is bombarded with information (including mine) about the health benefits of exercise and being active. And by no stretch of the imagination (which may be the only stretching she does right now) is she the only one who feels guilty and angry at being made to feel like she is doomed to die young. My friend doesn’t smoke, she tries to eat well, she has the occasional drink. She is a wonderful friend who listens and has helped me out tremendously in the past-and she deserves to have my attention and not be written off as someone who has ""chosen" to be unhealthy.

The question then, is "what can I do for folks like her?The truth is, if she does want to increase her exercise, she's already begun (by asking HOW)-and this is wonderful. However, she is just not interested in any activity that seems to be "in"-fitness classes, walking, biking.

What she needs to do, I decided, is work on her attitude. If deciding that "just do it" isn’t for her, then she needs to think more seriously about what type of changes she is willing to make to find an activity to do. If we can’t get her started physically, we have to get started mentally. The question is-how?

While I may teach to business students, I have learned a bit about business from them. One topic I've begun to start using is the "cost/benefit analysis"." The concept is to first figure out the cost of a behavior, then compare it to the benefit out that behavior. If the benefit outweighs the cost, then you’ve made a good decision. . Perhaps I should talk to my friend about this. Maybe I could talk about the cost of walking (putting on her sneakers, dragging herself out of the house, walking to the end of the block and back) versus the benefit of walking (getting outside in the fresh air, stretching some muscles, finding out that 5 minutes isn’t really a long time and maybe walking longer next time). This is pretty "user friendly" information-and maybe then she would be able to take that first step-literally. It wouldn't make sense to discuss the long term benefits (weight loss, chronic disease risk reduction)-she already knows this; why make her feel even more guilty.

I think I’ll try that. Hopefully it will work for her. Will it work for you?

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