When you are disabled, exercising is more difficult because you have limitations that most people do not have, but if you are able, it is so important to make exercise part of your routine. Most people who start exercising do it to lose weight, and there is nothing wrong with having your goal be weight loss, but not everyone needs to be on a weight loss journey, and sometimes you just need to maintain. I have been exercising consistently for over a decade, and although that was my goal when I started exercising, it’s not now because I have achieved my weight loss goal and maintained it. Weight loss is a great goal, but you should still exercise even if you don’t need to lose weight, because there are a lot of reasons to exercise that have nothing to do with weight loss. Why do I exercise? In this post, I am going to talk about a few reasons why I exercise as a disabled person that have nothing to do with weight loss.
It makes my life easier- When you are disabled, the smallest task that comes easily to non-disabled people can be difficult for disabled people. You can’t exercise your disability away, and it doesn’t matter how much I exercise, I will always need more help than non-disabled people. Exercise does not change my disability and does not miraculously fix muscles that I don’t have, but it does make my life as a disabled person a little easier. Life is hard when you have limited mobility and always will be hard, but improving the strength in the muscles you do have can increase your endurance and make every day tasks a little easier. As a disabled person, I think it’s so important for me to exercise even though it’s harder, because if you don’t use the muscles you do have you’ll lose strength in those muscles you may not be able to get back, which will make your life harder than it has to be. I strength train because when I have more muscle, I am able to do more without getting fatigued and as a disabled person, that is so important to me. I am not able to exercise to the extent a non-disabled person can, and that is okay, but even small progress is better than none.
It lowers your risk for heart issues- I started walking and doing more cardio because it’s great for your heart, and people who exercise regularly have a slightly lower risk for cardiovascular problems than someone who does not exercise. Heart problems run in my family and although it’s mostly on the male side of my family, that does not mean the women do not have to care about a healthy heart and are immune. Some heart problems cannot be prevented because you can’t change genetics and can still develop heart issues while exercising regularly, but I am going to do my part and exercise regularly to lower my risk. My disability makes me want to exercise because I have enough health problems and don’t want to add more preventable health problems that are caused by not being active enough. Exercise can help lower your risk for certain diseases, and if there’s nothing worse than getting an illness that you can’t cure that could have been prevented.
It helps regulate bowel movements- When you have Spina Bifida, having a bowel movement can be difficult because often your bowels do not work properly and there is nothing you can do to change that. There are ways to manage constipation with Spina Bifida, and doing your bowel regimen often can help prevent painful constipation, but you can still be doing everything right and get constipated because laxatives don’t always work. I exercise to help prevent constipation because people who don’t exercise often struggle with constipation more than someone who does. Painful constipation is a miserable experience, and although I can’t always prevent constipation because I can’t change that my bowels don’t work properly, I can most of the time. Exercise keeps my bowels happy and I will do anything to not have painful constipation. Since being diagnosed with endometriosis, I have struggled with constipation even more, so I make sure movement is a priority. Exercise can be more difficult for people who don’t have use of their legs, but if are able to exercise and get constipated easily I highly encourage you do so.
To feel confident in my body- When I exercise, I am not doing it to achieve a certain weight, and most of the time I don’t even know what my weight is because I don’t get weighed often, since most doctors’ offices do not have an accessible scale. I do not need to know my weight to feel confident in my body, and actually not knowing my weight is healthier for me because when I know my weight and it’s higher than I think it should be, sometimes I let that number get to my head. Exercise makes me feel confident in my body, even if the scale isn’t moving, because it is always amazing to me what my body can do, and I get so proud of myself when I achieve something hard. I don’t always love the exercise, but I do feel more confident in myself when I have finished it and when I don’t exercise a lot of the time, I feel lazy and hate my body.
It helps relieve stress– Living with a disability is sometimes stressful because you have a lot of health issues that you cannot control. Therapy can help you learn how to manage stress, but it can be expensive and is not an option for everyone because not all insurances will pay for therapy. Exercise is one of the best stress relievers you can do at home that will not cost you an arm and a leg. I love to exercise because it’s an escape from my disability and helps relieve some stress. Living with a disability will always be stressful and exercise does not completely make me forget about my disability because fitness is not accessible, but it can help me let off some steam on those hard days. It is easy to get frustrated with the challenges of your disability, and it’s so important that you have something that can help you forget about all the things you are struggling with.
Get some mobility back- When I had hip replacement surgery, I lost a significant amount of mobility and because of that, a lot of tasks are harder than they used to be. A few years later I still do not have full range of motion in my hip and don’t know if I ever will, but I still exercise with the hopes of getting some mobility back. Exercise is so important after hip replacement surgery because, as hard as exercise is, you have to do it to improve your hip strength to make life easier. I have gained a lot of mobility because I exercise regularly and it’s one of the main reasons, I am very consistent with my routine.
Weight loss is a great goal to work toward, but not everyone needs their fitness goal to be to lose weight because sometimes you are at a healthy weight and don’t need to lose more. There are a lot of health benefits to exercise, and it helps slow down the aging process and lowers your risk for certain diseases. Diet culture often makes people believe that everyone should be trying to shrink their bodies as small as possible, but the reality is weight loss isn’t the only good fitness goal. My fitness goal has not been weight loss for a very long time, and I mostly work on improving my strength because doing simple tasks sometimes requires more effort, and I am going to do whatever it takes to make my life easier. Exercise is more difficult with a disability, but I still do it even though I am not working toward weight loss because it benefits your health in so many ways. Why do you exercise? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
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