It was ironic to me for two reasons:
- timing, as yesterday I was reading a book that has a chapter on exercise that talks about its benefits except for weight loss. I assume most in here are not overweight so it doesn’t apply. Just weird timing
- we are spending pages on injuries, fatigue and difficulty- nothing wrong with that and in the long run, like you say, the benefit probably outweighs the short term “pain” but I will say if your goal is just health then I think there’s arguments against. I don’t say this to discourage anyone, everyone in here is inspiring - I’m dying that I can’t get out and do some running
The health thing is definitely a big one for me.
For a good period of time (probably 10 years), I had almost no physical activity. This after being really physically active growing up and through college. My weight hovered between 220 and 225 (I'm 6'2"), and into my mid 30s, I just wasn't in any kind of good shape. Sure, I could go out and participate in an activity, but it was much harder than it ever was. I was 195 in college.
A few years ago, got back into karate (did it some as a kid) with my son and finally got back into decent shape. Then life kicked in again, we moved, and couldn't keep going where we went. Almost 2 years ago exactly my wife told me flat out that I needed to get into better shape. Started lifting some weights regularly, curbed my eating, dropped some weight. And then this thread happened for me.
Up until November, I've weighed 200 pounds for over a year and a half and haven't felt this good in a long, long time. Had lab work done around the time I started running and my cholesterol numbers which were borderline high previously were all normal. As a result, I didn't have to start taking anything for it.
So yeah, for me, health is one of the biggest reasons I'm doing this. Sure, it's fun to get faster, but I don't care about that much anymore. I really don't. At least not in the long term. I've turned this into a lifestyle change that I hope to never stop unless forced to. And this thread has played a major part in that. It's the main reason I come around here anymore.
Just as an extra note about it, between my trip to Italy, Thanksgiving, and having to take a month off, my weight quickly got up to over 210. Since getting back, it still hasn't really come down. That's why I'm working on both the running, the lifting, and trying to cut out extra calories I don't need. It's finally starting to trend down (was at 206 a couple days ago when I last checked). I realized that when I was doing it regularly, I could stay steady state eating what I wanted but it's not great for helping me take it off. The weight lifting has been better for that and I have to be conscious of how much I take in. I'll get back down below 200 in the next couple months but it's not a given for all of us. I don't run as much as the others here, but it still helps me keep it off when I get it down.