My Love/Hate Relationship with Exercise (and How It Finally Changed)

If anyone had told me 30 years ago that at the age of 68 I would be exercising several times a day – and enjoying it – I would have laughed in their face. Loudly. At that point in my life I was married to a dentist with a busy practice and we had 2 young sons about 5 and 7 years old. Exercise was something I vaguely knew I should be doing but simply didn't have the time to mess with. Looking back, I realize I didn't just have a love/hate relationship with exercise — I had a broken mindset around movement, motivation, and what exercise was supposed to look like.

I felt somewhat ashamed about my lack of movement and that added guilt into the mix. But to be honest, one of the main reasons I didn't exercise was because I just didn't like doing it! When I did try to do some type of workout, things hurt – everywhere! It was no fun at all.

The Mental Messages That Were Sabotaging Me

I eventually realized that my mental messages weren't improving the situation one little bit. The 2 things I told myself repeatedly were:

• I hate working out
• I hate getting hot and sweaty

I finally figured out that these messages, while true, weren't helping. In fact, they were making things worse. I knew that I couldn't just start saying "Oooh – I love working out!!!" because I would laugh hysterically. So I thought and prayed about it and came up with these revised mental messages:

• I love how I feel after I finish working out.
• I love what exercise is doing to my body.

I could get behind both of those! They were true so I could say them with a straight face. And that's exactly what I started to do.

The Transformation — Slow but Real

I wish I could tell you that within the next 6 months I lost a lot of weight, gained huge muscle tone, and went down several clothes sizes. All those things eventually happened, but instead of a few months, they were spread out over the next few years. This was the beginning of my transformation into a healthier, happier person — not through extremes or perfection, but through consistency, mindset shifts, and sustainable habits.

To be honest, while my weight has dropped a lot, I'm still not exactly where I want to be. I'm still working on my last 10 pounds. But I'm down about 70-75 pounds from where I was at my heaviest.

Where I Am Today

One thing that has absolutely changed for the better is my relationship with exercise — and my overall exercise mindset. I work out – regularly – several times daily. I average 18,000-20,000 steps a day. I walk my dogs every day (weather permitting), I jump on my rebounder, I walk in place in front of my TV, and I have various tools that I use at home. I'm also a member of the local YMCA and I go 3 times a week to work out in the pool when the weather is warm.

Something I hadn't anticipated was how exercise positively impacted every area of my life — not just my weight. I move easier, I sleep better, my focus has improved, my stress is much more manageable, I was able to get off blood pressure medication, and I feel and function so much better!

It's Never Too Late to Start

If any of this resonates with you, my hope is that you'll be inspired to make some changes in your life as well. And yes, it IS possible to start exercising at any age — even after 60! If you've struggled with exercise, motivation, or consistency, please know this — you're not broken, lazy, or failing. Often, it's not your body that needs changing, but the messages running quietly in the background. Once those messages change, everything else follows.