Lessons learned (maybe) from my new love of running. Can I make this fun?

56 year old menopausal female here about 35 lbs overweight. That’s about 10 lbs more than the usual plus or minus 20-25 that I’ve gained and lost four or five times since I was in my 20s.

In October I started jogging. Not to lose weight per se, but to improve my cardiac health. I’ve never liked running before, but I like other cardio activities even less and never seem to stick with them. Found Nike Run Club app and started playing with it. They have a great selection of guided runs that are very motivational. In 6 weeks I did my first 5K, and just before Christmas I managed my first 10k. Currently training for a half marathon.

My life changing guided run was one of my first 20 minute runs. I was slogging away and feeling so-so about the run when the coach came on and told me he wanted me to do what it takes to make the run FUN! I never thought that it could be fun, but by following his tips, it turns out it actually is.

Much to my incredible surprise, it turns out I’m a runner! Actually a very slow jogger, but going from not being able to jog 30 seconds straight to being able to jog an hour and a half has really changed my life. I look forward to my runs. Running is actually fun! Who knew? And that novelty hasn’t worn off at all.

I’m now ready to focus on losing the weight. It occurred to me just this morning that if I never liked running before and now love it, maybe I can apply those same thought processes here. Above all I want to make this mostly fun.

I’ve never thought of weight loss as fun. I enjoy the results, but I hate the slog of calorie counting or otherwise watching what I eat. But maybe I can reframe that similar to how I do hard breathing or muscle soreness to a success.

I’m aware that positivity is nothing new in the weight loss world, but for some reason making it fun seems to have been my motivator for running and I’ve never heard that applied to losing weight.

But I’m ready to try with that shift in mentality!

I am looking forward to figuring out how to make losing weight fun. Even just thinking that it could be fun is making me smile, so that’s a win.

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