One of the biggest causes of the current 'obesity epidemic' that we're going through is a lack of physical activity.
This should be obvious when weight loss exercise is one of the first things that are suggested when a plan to shed pounds is put in place, but the amount of people wanting to lose weight that refuse to do any exercise is staggering.
Studies show that even our kids at school are nowhere near as fit and active as they once were.
And as for adults? Well, we're falling behind at an alarming rate.
Think of this...
The average farmer 40 years ago burned the equivalent calories as a 15 mile jog.
Just from working his day to day job.
You think you burn that many calories off sitting in an office? I bet you dont.
If we want exercise in the 21st century, we have to go out and find it.
Physical exertion is in fact one of the two main factors of being overweight.
Obesity is a combination of ingesting too many calories and not burning enough off.
It's difficult enough to keep a steady, healthy weight if you have a sedentary job, made doubly so if you over-eat as well.
And it's also a fact that adopting just one of these two good habits, either eating less or exercising more, is not always effective in itself.
You will more than likely need to take on BOTH of those things.
The amount of factors that go into keeping up a program of weight loss exercise are enormous, so I'll only go into a few of the main ones here.
Suffice to say that you'll need a lot more than just running for the bus and walking up a couple of flights of stairs.
When you've exercised, you really know you've exercised.
I'm not saying workout until you drop, but if you haven't worked up a sweat ask yourself 'have I done enough?' Once you get into a habit you'll find it easier and easier to maintain the longer you keep doing what you're doing.
This is why overeating becomes easier.
Let's change that from eating too much to exercising just enough! Sleep Rest is super important in getting fitter and losing weight.
This is when your body does all of its changing, growing and shrinking.
It's when your body is healing the muscles you've been working out.
Getting regular sleep and being well rested also makes it easier to exercise.
Being tired and sluggish, with no energy, will make it so much more difficult, mentally too, to get yourself to the gym to work off those pounds.
In fact it's my opinion, shared by many, that being tired makes it more likely you will snack.
Walk What's nicer than a walk? Lots of things! Yeah, I hear you, but walking is an excellent way to burn off calories doing something that's virtually no effort at all.
Taking the dog, or your spouse/partner out for a walk, somewhere beautiful, doesn't only win you brownie points and soothe the soul, but it burns off the calories like crazy and is excellent cardio.
Don't overlook the benefits of simply walking.
Treadmill I'm a terrible runner, I'll admit it.
I'm made for sprinting (that's my excuse!).
Anything approaching long distance running is a nightmare I don't want to face, but you know what? If I have a spare hour, I'll get right on that treadmill and go as fast as I can.
Often as fast as I can is just a walk, but that a million times better than watching TV for an hour.
And the way I look at it, if I want to have some garlic bread with my pasta in the evenings, spending an hour on the treadmill, walking briskly while learning Italian on my iPhone, I can and won't feel like I'm cheating.
Bread is my weakness by the way.
Time As above, I exercise when I have spare time, but if I really only did it when I had time, I would never do any.
There's always something else that has to be done, so I make the time.
I'm pretty organized, so I just juggle my priorities, but not everyone can do that.
But you can reframe your priorities.
What's important to you? Is it losing weight? Some people suffer terribly, in their hearts, from being overweight, and yet don't take the steps to help themselves.
I know it's hard, but you must make that time for yourself.
Exercising and losing weight are two of the most important things you will ever do.
For yourself, and your family.
Use these little tips to increase the amount of weight loss exercise you do and you know what? You'll see results in no time.
This should be obvious when weight loss exercise is one of the first things that are suggested when a plan to shed pounds is put in place, but the amount of people wanting to lose weight that refuse to do any exercise is staggering.
Studies show that even our kids at school are nowhere near as fit and active as they once were.
And as for adults? Well, we're falling behind at an alarming rate.
Think of this...
The average farmer 40 years ago burned the equivalent calories as a 15 mile jog.
Just from working his day to day job.
You think you burn that many calories off sitting in an office? I bet you dont.
If we want exercise in the 21st century, we have to go out and find it.
Physical exertion is in fact one of the two main factors of being overweight.
Obesity is a combination of ingesting too many calories and not burning enough off.
It's difficult enough to keep a steady, healthy weight if you have a sedentary job, made doubly so if you over-eat as well.
And it's also a fact that adopting just one of these two good habits, either eating less or exercising more, is not always effective in itself.
You will more than likely need to take on BOTH of those things.
The amount of factors that go into keeping up a program of weight loss exercise are enormous, so I'll only go into a few of the main ones here.
Suffice to say that you'll need a lot more than just running for the bus and walking up a couple of flights of stairs.
When you've exercised, you really know you've exercised.
I'm not saying workout until you drop, but if you haven't worked up a sweat ask yourself 'have I done enough?' Once you get into a habit you'll find it easier and easier to maintain the longer you keep doing what you're doing.
This is why overeating becomes easier.
Let's change that from eating too much to exercising just enough! Sleep Rest is super important in getting fitter and losing weight.
This is when your body does all of its changing, growing and shrinking.
It's when your body is healing the muscles you've been working out.
Getting regular sleep and being well rested also makes it easier to exercise.
Being tired and sluggish, with no energy, will make it so much more difficult, mentally too, to get yourself to the gym to work off those pounds.
In fact it's my opinion, shared by many, that being tired makes it more likely you will snack.
Walk What's nicer than a walk? Lots of things! Yeah, I hear you, but walking is an excellent way to burn off calories doing something that's virtually no effort at all.
Taking the dog, or your spouse/partner out for a walk, somewhere beautiful, doesn't only win you brownie points and soothe the soul, but it burns off the calories like crazy and is excellent cardio.
Don't overlook the benefits of simply walking.
Treadmill I'm a terrible runner, I'll admit it.
I'm made for sprinting (that's my excuse!).
Anything approaching long distance running is a nightmare I don't want to face, but you know what? If I have a spare hour, I'll get right on that treadmill and go as fast as I can.
Often as fast as I can is just a walk, but that a million times better than watching TV for an hour.
And the way I look at it, if I want to have some garlic bread with my pasta in the evenings, spending an hour on the treadmill, walking briskly while learning Italian on my iPhone, I can and won't feel like I'm cheating.
Bread is my weakness by the way.
Time As above, I exercise when I have spare time, but if I really only did it when I had time, I would never do any.
There's always something else that has to be done, so I make the time.
I'm pretty organized, so I just juggle my priorities, but not everyone can do that.
But you can reframe your priorities.
What's important to you? Is it losing weight? Some people suffer terribly, in their hearts, from being overweight, and yet don't take the steps to help themselves.
I know it's hard, but you must make that time for yourself.
Exercising and losing weight are two of the most important things you will ever do.
For yourself, and your family.
Use these little tips to increase the amount of weight loss exercise you do and you know what? You'll see results in no time.
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