I'm making a list post-exercise while my mind is working relatively well, to help remind / motivate me when my energy levels inevitably fade again. It might not be perfectly structured right now, and I'll probably come back and edit it later. But I just wanted to get my thoughts down first.

My main thought was that exercise is such a good way to tie together a lot of really important things and keep yourself motivated and in a positive routine.

Because from my experiences in the past when I've tried to gain weight and muscle and get fitter (unlike right now when I'm just kind of coasting and trying to maintain where I am), I know that it:

• Gives your life some structure and routine (like doing certain rotating exercises on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with rest days in between).
• Which means you feel entitled to relax on 'rest days', and you know which days those are going to be.
• You feel motivated to eat well because you know that good nutrition and eating enough means your body is likely to gain muscle/endurance from the exercise (and it probably increases your appetite too).
• The dopamine release from the exercise as well as from the satisfaction of accomplishing things, alongside the nice feeling of being entitled to rest and relax on off days, is helpful for general energy levels and wellbeing.
• It motivates you to prioritise good sleep and getting plenty of rest, because (like eating) you know that sleep is a vital component of recovering from exercise and repairing/building muscle and endurance.
• The increased subjective priority of food and sleep reinforces the routine, because you are probably less erratic with meal and sleep times. Less likely to get distracted by other things. And building that routine is very helpful for adhd because it reduces a lot of stress that comes with trying to decide what to do and when.
• It keeps you engaged because you see progress and get objective/subjective feedback (from things like weighing yourself, and feeling stronger/faster/fitter, lifting more weight or doing more reps, or perhaps looking better and feeling more confident etc.) and you adjust your weight gain/loss based on your goals. You see and feel the results over time, which is helpful for adhd because staying engaged and doing things consistently over time can be challenging.
• You can keep it as simple as you need to. Doing a small amount of pretty much any type of exercise, as long as you're not doing anything unusually stupid, is going to be beneficial and better than doing nothing. Keeping this in mind is always a nice way to give yourself credit for doing what you can, even when you don't really feel like it. And you can easily build on it and add complexity over time, perhaps using the breathing space of rest days and weekends to idly think ahead and plan (knowing that you don't have to act on anything right now).

...

Hmm

Let's take a short break...

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Some empty space and a reminder / opportunity to let your mind rest for a moment is nice, right?

Much less intimidating than one big wall of text :)

...

Let's get back to it, then:

• It also helps get you used to planning ahead, which is helpful because with adhd you sometimes get so overwhelmed with the present that you feel a little trapped in it and your vision narrows instinctively to the 'now'. I've heard that 'time blindness' is a common characteristic or symptom.
• Exercise helps here because you frequently find yourself thinking ahead about how to adjust your exercise routine based on your own capabilities and goals. You think about how long you want to gain/lose weight for, or whether simply to maintain things as you are. How often to make adjustments, and of what magnitude, calculating how these will add up over time and judging whether they are realistic and maintainable. Whether to go through certain training 'cycles' to introduce variety and focus on different areas at different times. Because exercise is something that usually produces results based on consistency and small adjustments over time, you start to get used to thinking long-term about what goals are realistic over periods of months and maybe years. It's a marathon not a sprint, as I've heard said.
• And it can definitely help make anxiety and depression feel a bit more manageable and maybe reduce some of their severity. Having something positive to have achieved during the day, to know that if nothing else you've addressed and not ignored the really important things (food, sleep, exercise) means you can go to bed a little less anxious or stressed or guilty. A little bit more comfortable with yourself. And that is really beneficial when it comes to going to bed on time, because I know how it feels to have that sense that you're not ready to give up on the day just yet, when you feel you haven't done enough. This helps alleviate that feeling to some extent.
• And I'm pretty sure I've read that exercise and getting enough food help the quality of your sleep as well.

So yeah, exercise is important and I want to try to tie all those important things in with it!

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Is that enough of a wall of text? haha

I'm sorry! :)

Anything to add?

edit: I have something to add!

• I know from experience how easy it is to get into a spiral when you haven’t been sleeping or eating well enough because you’ve gotten distracted or overwhelmed or anxious or depressed. You start to function even more poorly and can’t seem to find the energy to think of a way out, let alone act on it. To make any kind of decisions. To even be able to decide or remember what’s important. What to priorities and what steps you should take. It’s easy to get lost in thoughts and worries and distractions at a time like this and not be able to see the way forward.
• So having a ‘focal point’ like exercise can be really useful in times like these. Because it's easy to remember, and it naturally reminds you about, and links with, food and sleep. And the order in which those things should happen is usually pretty obvious too. It’s a nice source of mental clarity in one idea.
• It also helps you understand your own capabilities and limitations by learning how to push yourself enough to feel kind of energised but not so much that you feel exhausted or feel deterred from exercising next time. Finding that level where you know exactly what you’re capable of, and comfortable with, and can gradually push yourself just a little bit further, is quite nice feeling. This may not be specifically related to adhd, but there are parallels here to how I’ve started to approach things in general – knowing what you’re capable of, your strengths and weaknesses, and knowing not to put too much pressure on yourself or commit to too much, is a very important skill to have when dealing with adhd, I think.

:)