# People who keep to a regular exercise routine: what are your motives? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 2, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-keep-to-a-regular-exercise-routine-what-are-your-motives/675301 "2013-12-02T18:54:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-keep-to-a-regular-exercise-routine-what-are-your-motives/675301/1 "2013-12-02T18:54:32Z")
Last week I chanced to see a friend of my baby sister’s whom I haven’t seen in years. Her name is Ayo or Eiya or something unconsonanted like that; I don’t know exactly because I wasn’t paying attention when we were introduced fifteen years ago and it’s too late to ask now. What’s-her-name was visibly surprised when she saw me. I’ve lost a lot of weight in the past few years; I weighed 270 lbs at my heaviest, and now I’m down to 170 . Sh asked how I’d done it, and I said that it was partly by diet but mostly by exercise. Laughing, She-Who-Has-No-Plosives asked if I was satisfied with my current weight, or was I going to shoot for supermodel status. The answer to that question is _nay_, by the by. That’s partly because my ugly mug does not benefit from the attention of cameras (I’d post a picture to prove that but I don’t want any of y’all gouging out your eyes), but mostly because I don’t give a rip. I exercise as much as I do because diabetes has nearly killed me twice and I’m not giving it a third try. I keep myself on the treadmill and bicycle (and occasionally in the boxing ring) by muttering the complications that most frighten me in descending order (blindness … amputated limbs … stroke … death) over and over. But I’m never going to do the eleventy jillion situps required for six-pack abs, for instance, because hey, I wear suits everyday anyway, so who cares? For that matter, I wasn’t deliberately looking to lose weight when I decided to stick to an exercise routine; it was all about controlling blood sugar. Weight loss was just a fortunate side effect. But I digress. Ms I-Will-Have-No-Consonants gave me the idea for a thread. Those of you who exercise regularly: what are you motives for doing so? Poll in a moment, but don’t let that slow you down. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-keep-to-a-regular-exercise-routine-what-are-your-motives/675301)._