Man, seeing a ton of people all experiencing great returns on their hard work just makes me feel even worse for never experiencing any of it beyond the weight loss itself. For literal years. No good feelings, no endorphins, even some of my joints felt worse simply because they were being used more.
And now the exact same thing two days in a row!
Its great. I'm fine. This is fine. I'm not jealous or spiteful at all. Have fun working out for me I guess.
The only time I've ever felt the "runner's high" they keep talking about was in the mosh pit at a concert, and I think the music and crowd did more for it than the activity.
Sadly, the local YMCA doesn't have mosh sessions available.
Whack. The only thing I can think of is if your base activity level has never been low enough in that several year period, you might not know what it feels like to be completely sedentary by comparison?
I've also never, ever felt endorphins or wanted to exercise - this despite being verifiably "in shape" for at least five years of my life and running half marathons during that time. I always just suffered through it because it was part of my job. Oh, occasionally I would find something fun, like when I went to a boxing or BJJ gym, but the fun never lasted more than a week before it just became like anything else.
Though I do want to see my dog happy, and that motivates me to get walking twice a day these days 👍
I started weight lifting and intermittently doing cardio (intermittently because it's boring and I hate it). It fixed basically all the random aches and pain shit I was having but I also never got any endorphins out of it. I look good naked though so there's that.
I've been doing P90X because I like lifting and hate cardio. I like the structure a lot because there's a ton of lifting but there's also a pliometrics day and a kenpi day for cardio that isn't boring.
I loathe exercise for it's own sake. I kayak the creeks and swamps, canoe the rivers, build stuff at my camp, hike around the woods, all that. The things I see and experience and create are the reward.
And by the way, saw a family of 5 teenybopper armadillos foraging last week! They weren't babies and there wasn't an adult around, guess they were siblings. It was hot as hell, but there was a cold creek to swim in at the end of the trail. Lifting weights and yoga won't get you that kind of experience.
Maybe you can find a way to couple activity to something else that you do want to do. Exercise for its own sake is tough for me, but I don't mind walking 15 minutes to get lunch, and then, obviously, 15 minutes back. The meme's message is that you don't need to sweat, get out of breath, or get swole to have meaningful physical activity.
Damn that sucks. For me it was pretty subtle. Like I would tell myself "well at least my body feels pretty good" even though the rest of me wasn't. And then I started to notice that I wasn't feeling as bad as I normally was.
And then I have had some slices of actually feeling good after 30-60 minutes intense cardio + rajma masala on rice, but maybe I just got lucky.
Definitely feeling more sore in my joints though. Stretching and limiting workouts to 2-3 times a week helps some with aches and pains in my experience.
How long have you been at it? It took me a few months before it started to even feel like a habit I could keep up
EDIT: oh you said years. Dannng, have you tried switching it up? Maybe talk to a doctor?
It didn't help ME with chronic pain, but it does help my wife with her fibromyalgia.
I'd wager if you are up in weight, and chronic pain is in any of your weight supporting areas (hips, knees, ankles, lower back, etc) then chances are your pain could be weight related.
My parents are 100% weight related issues, and when I was trying to lose weight in 2013-2015 I tried to get them to do light stuff with me. Walk around the trees behind the house a few times. A couple light calisthenics. Ride some shitty cheap bikes around the park.
Since then their knees, hips, and ankles are their biggest complaints.