HAVE you turned LAZY in EARLY RETIREMENT ??

[rkser]

Since I retired about 6 months back at age 59, I have put on 6-7 pounds, with present BMI of 28, have not been regular to the gym & generally slacked off daily schedule of shaving...etc.

Apart from the sketchy Gym attendance, my activity level is understandably much less. We are travelling a lot to relatives & friends, I eat about the same, although I have not kept a calorie count, my gym membership is still active(albeit sleeping)

Have other retirees noticed such behavior ? What & how are others coping with this ?

Any suggestions/help will be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Philliefan33]

Well, yes and no. Before I retired on April 1st, my plan was to increase my running (frequency and distance) and add in some cross-training once I ER'd. I ran the Broad Street Run (10 miles) on May 1st....and then pretty much stopped running. It wasn't that I turned lazy, but I found other exercises I'd rather do over the summer. I'd wake up in the morning and think "do I want to paddle board or hike or kayak or bike?" I just never felt like running from May until September.

Then, just about six months after ER and five months after my most recent run, I felt like running again. I lost a lot of running fitness by taking four months off, but my overall fitness and weight didn't change much.

I bet that soon, after the initial euphoria of ER, you will settle back into an exercise routine.

 

[HadEnuff]

Great question. 3 months ago I started my phase-out from work, and I only work Monday AM and Friday AM. March 1st, 2016 I will be completely done. I'm not sure "lazy" is the word, but I do have trouble some times getting myself focused on a task. We've had an unusually nice autumn, and I walk 9 holes of golf nearly every day, but today is rainy and there is more of that to come, so I definitely feel a need to get myself going on something besides golf.

I try to write myself a list in the evening of a few household chores I want to do, a few hobby things I want to do. Once I start on the list I am OK. Once I sit down and start browsing the internet, as I am doing right now, an hour or two can slip away.

I definitely need to incorporate some exercise stuff to do on these non-golf days.
In fact, I think I'll do some yoga, right now.

 

[REWahoo]

No.

I was lazy long before I got here.

 

[MRG]

I used all my free time to start walking, changed diet, got fit. Wish I had done that 20 years earlier but. ... .... .

 

[scrabbler1]

No.

I was lazy long before I got here.

LOL just what I was gonna say!

 

[ls99]

I was never lazy, just very efficient at avoiding doing stuff I did not like.

I still do.

 

[rkser]

Thanks for your replies,

Phillyfan, we share the retirement date, yes I want to mention my Laptop time has easily more than doubled.

Maybe, I need to start making a list in the evening prior & get more exercise time in. This automatically happened once you showed up at work in the morning.


Thanks & let more feed back coming.

 

[sengsational]

I walked 2 miles every day at lunch because the megacorp rule said you couldn't take a short lunch and then leave early. Now I only occasionally ride my bike. So I'm less active since I don't have a daily thing. I have plans to start a regular thing, but haven't managed to do that yet. Gym is not an option for me...those places are the farthest thing from enjoyable exercise that I can imagine. As to the shaving, etc, even the years I worked from home, I shaved on schedule. Now, not at the same time and sometimes skip a day. So yes, more lazy I guess.

 

[HFWR]

No.

I was lazy long before I got here.

Yep.

 

[davismills]

I am more disciplined now that the schedule is mine and not Megacorp. I walk 5 miles per day while listening to various podcasts. Hit the gym 3-4 days a week for strength training. I feel much better than when I was being "managed". Life is good and much improved.

 

[W2R]

No.

I was lazy long before I got here.

Me too. Guess this is the definitive answer, since several others said the same thing.

We go to the gym regularly, I try to walk or ride my stationary bike on non-gym days, and I am a perpetual Weight Watchers member and attend regularly. Beyond that, I haven't done much about it.

 

[jim584672]

Been ER'd about 14 months, lost 12 lbs. need to loose 12 more to get me to the "normal" BMI range. Blood pressure is now being treated and back to normal.

I think working made me put on stress weight. Feel much better physically now.

 

[RunningBum]

I've run 27 marathons or longer in the nearly 5 years I've been retired. Exercise-wise, I'm not lazy. I am kind of lazy about doing chores though. Used to be I had to take advantage of weekends or evenings to get things done. Now I just look at a mostly blank calendar and say "Eh, I can do that anytime."

 

[hakuna matata]

We retired last year and adjusted our gym time to 6:30 am (from 5:00 am) and overall did fine until recently. I needed to get new running shoes and new orthotics so we took 3 weeks off--it was glorious! Alas we went back yesterday and started anew. When I retired my focus/thoughts were that I would take care of myself now, and overall I have done that. But it hasn't been as clean and smooth as I had mentally envisioned it.

But I have found that overall I need to focus much more on that aspect. It seems I have ALL the time in the world and I can't seem to fit it in! When I was working full time I just did things and now I find myself saying I will do it tomorrow, and tomorrow it doesn't happen and I put it off another day and then again.

So in that respect I do feel I/we have gotten lazy.

 

[Walt34]

Shortly after we moved to WV we both "got into" cooking for a while, mostly because we like it and finally had the free time. Unfortunately, we ate all we cooked and both of us put on about 20 lbs in a few months. Realizing there wasn't much of a future going down that road we cut back on the cooking and eating and got ourselves back to normal weight.

Both of us go to the gym regularly although I'm more dedicated to it than DW, in part because I have some health issues that I hope to forestall for much later and the exercise will help that. And frankly I could feel the atrophy setting in and didn't like it.

The hardest part about the gym is forcing myself to get off my butt and go. Once there I'm fine with doing the exercises.

 

[RAE]

I am more disciplined now that the schedule is mine and not Megacorp. I walk 5 miles per day while listening to various podcasts. Hit the gym 3-4 days a week for strength training. I feel much better than when I was being "managed". Life is good and much improved.

Same here. I'm actually in much better shape, and healthier overall, than when I retired 6 years ago. When I was working, I had no desire to get up extra early to exercise, or after I got off work - too tired for that. Diet was just okay, as a lot of meals were rather rushed. After retirement, I have a regular exercise schedule.........I walk/jog and do some simple bodyweight exercises daily. My diet is much better now too.......I eat more whole foods that I have time to prepare properly. I also increased the size of my vegetable garden, so I have access to great fresh veggies from spring thru late fall. Diet variety is better too, as we have time to experiment with new recipes if we feel like it.

It is just a matter of being disciplined to use the time you have to improve your health and fitness. It may seem like a chore at first, but I actually look forward to my daily exercise routine now, and I always look forward to the great meals we prepare. The way I look at it, my "job" now is to take care of my health for the long haul......

 

[mystang52]

I eagerly anticipated my ER so I would have more time to exercise, and I have fulfilled that desire. My fighting weight ranged from 178-182; now the range has gone down - 174 to 178.
I do find that on a given day, lazy-boy inertia can set in and I might defer a planned run for another day. So, I make it a point to "force" myself outside by 1 PM. Once I'm out there, I have an enjoyable run.
Maybe you skip the gym because that form of exercise is not much fun for you. If so, the answer is obvious. Figure out what you do enjoy and pursue that.
Or, maybe you're like me and need to avoid that lazy-boy inertia. If that is the case make yourself an exercise appointment early in the day before you take on non-physical activities for the day.

 

[RunningBum]

Figure out what you do enjoy and pursue that.

This.

 

[rkser]

Great suggestions my friends, I have to work on a schedule for the day & keep repeating it for the most part daily.
Another one of my vices is the Laptop addiction, which has turned malignant in these 6 months.

Thanks every body for chiming in, keep them coming.

 

[misanman]

Yes, getting increasingly lazy. Not doing much at all. Not very motivated.

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[Elbata]

I've often thought that when someone retires, his main focus would become his health and getting fit.

What I've seen is that it's just not the case. Whatever habits one carried into retirement becomes even more so.

It seems to me nothing is more important than our health, especially as we get older. It does befuddle me how many can be indifferent to such a serious matter.

 

[LauAnn]

I feel less active in retirement. At w*rk I was frequently walking across campus, repeatedly climbing stairs to my fourth floor office, and using the campus fitness center daily. Now I love sleeping in and have to force myself to get a measurable amount of exercise. I will need to get serious with a new year's resolution that builds some exercise into my daily routine.

 

[jjquantz]

My problem is that I had built so much of my daily exercise into my commute by bicycling to and from the office. I find that I don't enjoy doing loops or out and backs for exercise on the bicycle, I really need a destination. Sadly(?), we live so close to the golf course that biking to the course really doesn't work. So, although my walking miles have gone up slightly with a little more golf being played, the aerobic exercise is definitely down. So far, no weight gain.

 

[tmm99]

I have been exercising a whole lot more than I ever did because I now have more time to do so. I also spend a whole lot more time grocery shopping and cooking because I have more time. But after exercising, cooking/shopping and sleeping (and oh I surf the net more too), I don't seem to have that much time left for anything else and I feel like I got really lazy in other areas.


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