Excessive Exercise Rears its Ugly Head
It's Friday. It's been a long and trying week, even though it was only a four day work week. I am switching jobs, running around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to help my husband establish his first classroom, coaching volleyball, looking for a church home, and trying to cook and clean, all on top of not feeling well. And what happens this week? Excessive exercise rears its ugly head.
Excessive exercise can tend to go hand-in-hand with eating disorders. It is another way to gain control of one's life. Exercise in itself is a healthy and wonderful thing, however, in excess, it can turn to a dangerous and thought consuming obsession. Excessive exercise is not a joke and it, just like eating disorders, is not something that people can typically "snap out of" or choose freely. It may have started out innocently enough, but let me tell you, it takes over quickly, violently, and without much warning.
Excessive exercisers likely have a routine for a workout, set routes or machines, planned and obsessive repetitions and sets, perfected the timing of the activity, or a variety of other habits. They may have certain days of the week or a minimum number of times in a set period that the disease tells them that they "have" to workout. Often, aspects of the workout are regimented and if anything is throw off, such as not being able to exercise in the precise way, at the right time, or at all, the individual may go into panic.
You see, I was trying to exercise only every two days post-tonsillectomy recovery. However, that wasn't quite working for me as somedays I felt motivated to enjoy a workout and other days felt like a complete drag. I remember a quote from my high school weight room, "You can't get much done in life if you only work on the days you feel good," it read by Jerry West. This plays in my mind often and drives my excessive exercise and ED habits when I wish it wouldn't. What was meant to be a helpful and motivational quote, Ed took to the extreme, changed, and engrained in my memory in attempts at destruction. I have felt as though I HAD to workout out a certain amount of times per week, if not almost daily. Making it so that I was only exercising every two days definitely felt like a step down in the workout realm, which I thought would be good and helpful for my recovery, especially since my psychologist recommended that I wait to engage in activity until I was weight restored.
In all reality, I told her that I didn't trust myself enough to not exercise. In my mind, weight restoration could take a very long time, literally years. I don't know how quickly I will recover from excessive exercise or Ed, but I am confident that it WILL happen.
So what happens when it is Friday, I have already worked out more than my psychologist has recommended (zero workouts), more than the goal I set for myself (every two days), and I want to workout again? Excessive exercise rears its ugly head. You know what? I am choosing to write this and to text and call my loved ones instead. I am choosing Jesus because He wins every time.
"A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, 'Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly....'
Jesus replied to his disciples, 'God has sent me to help only the people of Israel. They are like sheep that have lost their way (no longer obeying God).'
The woman came and knelt before him. 'Lord, help me!' she said.
Then Jesus said to her, 'Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.' And her daughter was healed at that moment." Matthew 15: 22, 24, 25, 28
Jesus simply tells this woman that He is only here to help the Israelites, but this woman persists. She begs and longs for Jesus to help her, and her devotion to Jesus is evident. Jesus even says she has great faith! Oh, how I want to have faith always that Jesus will get me through and provide. He always does, and most of the time I do trust in that, but not every time. But then I read Hebrews 3:6, which says, "But Christ is faithful as the Son over God's house. And we are his house if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory." I have no reason to not trust in the Son of God because of who He is as the Son of God. He is faithful and deserving of my hope. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. He is love. Thanks be to God that He is good and worthy to be trusted, even when I am lacking in faith. With Him, we will overcome.
I started this blog as a memoir to share some of my life stories with you. My goal is that these encourage and educate you on how to live a more joyful, healthier, full life; one of hope.
Excessive exercise can tend to go hand-in-hand with eating disorders. It is another way to gain control of one's life. Exercise in itself is a healthy and wonderful thing, however, in excess, it can turn to a dangerous and thought consuming obsession. Excessive exercise is not a joke and it, just like eating disorders, is not something that people can typically "snap out of" or choose freely. It may have started out innocently enough, but let me tell you, it takes over quickly, violently, and without much warning.
Excessive exercisers likely have a routine for a workout, set routes or machines, planned and obsessive repetitions and sets, perfected the timing of the activity, or a variety of other habits. They may have certain days of the week or a minimum number of times in a set period that the disease tells them that they "have" to workout. Often, aspects of the workout are regimented and if anything is throw off, such as not being able to exercise in the precise way, at the right time, or at all, the individual may go into panic.
You see, I was trying to exercise only every two days post-tonsillectomy recovery. However, that wasn't quite working for me as somedays I felt motivated to enjoy a workout and other days felt like a complete drag. I remember a quote from my high school weight room, "You can't get much done in life if you only work on the days you feel good," it read by Jerry West. This plays in my mind often and drives my excessive exercise and ED habits when I wish it wouldn't. What was meant to be a helpful and motivational quote, Ed took to the extreme, changed, and engrained in my memory in attempts at destruction. I have felt as though I HAD to workout out a certain amount of times per week, if not almost daily. Making it so that I was only exercising every two days definitely felt like a step down in the workout realm, which I thought would be good and helpful for my recovery, especially since my psychologist recommended that I wait to engage in activity until I was weight restored.
In all reality, I told her that I didn't trust myself enough to not exercise. In my mind, weight restoration could take a very long time, literally years. I don't know how quickly I will recover from excessive exercise or Ed, but I am confident that it WILL happen.
So what happens when it is Friday, I have already worked out more than my psychologist has recommended (zero workouts), more than the goal I set for myself (every two days), and I want to workout again? Excessive exercise rears its ugly head. You know what? I am choosing to write this and to text and call my loved ones instead. I am choosing Jesus because He wins every time.
"A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, 'Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly....'
Jesus replied to his disciples, 'God has sent me to help only the people of Israel. They are like sheep that have lost their way (no longer obeying God).'
The woman came and knelt before him. 'Lord, help me!' she said.
Then Jesus said to her, 'Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.' And her daughter was healed at that moment." Matthew 15: 22, 24, 25, 28
Jesus simply tells this woman that He is only here to help the Israelites, but this woman persists. She begs and longs for Jesus to help her, and her devotion to Jesus is evident. Jesus even says she has great faith! Oh, how I want to have faith always that Jesus will get me through and provide. He always does, and most of the time I do trust in that, but not every time. But then I read Hebrews 3:6, which says, "But Christ is faithful as the Son over God's house. And we are his house if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory." I have no reason to not trust in the Son of God because of who He is as the Son of God. He is faithful and deserving of my hope. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. He is love. Thanks be to God that He is good and worthy to be trusted, even when I am lacking in faith. With Him, we will overcome.
I started this blog as a memoir to share some of my life stories with you. My goal is that these encourage and educate you on how to live a more joyful, healthier, full life; one of hope.
I write about my fascination with whole foods, my love of Jesus, my struggles, my childhood stories, my passion for education, and my devotion to creating a healthy life (body, mind, and spirit) for every person in the world.
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