Good News For People Who Hate to Exercise
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 03:52PM By Cheryl Jones-Reardon
The recent article in TIME magazine entitled "The Myth About Exercise" stirred up a lot of confusion and controversy for both fitness professionals and those trying to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
To sum it up, recent research has found that exercise does not promote weight loss. In fact, it may be making it harder to lose weight. Some people eat more because exercise makes them hungry while others eat more to reward themselves for a good workout.
Here's the problem. We used to be hunters and gatherers covering several miles every day to forage for food. We're wired to move. I can promise you, early humans were not thinking about the need to exercise. And they didn't have fast food restaurants on every block!
Our modern convenience oriented culture has stripped away any normal movement. We enjoy the convenience of escalators, elevators, and drive up/drive through businesses for almost everything. Our computers make it so we can order anything we desire with a click and a credit card and then have it delivered to us.
Home entertainment centers keep us cozy on our sofas with the remote controls close at hand. We have indeed become a sedentary, non-moving culture. This reality combined with fast-foods as a replacement for home cooked meals explains our rising obesity epidemic.
Here's the great news!
You don't need to rush to join a gym or purchase any fancy equipment. You don't have to exert your body, sweat, and exhaust yourself to be healthy.
The key to engaging in regular physical activity is to do shorter, more frequent bouts of low to moderate intensity movement throughout the day. It's better to move your body for 5-10 minutes, 3 times each day than go to the gym for an hour twice a week.
All physical activity counts whether you're walking the dog, putting the trash out, vacuuming, gardening, playing tennis, dancing, doing a few yoga poses, or lifting weights.
Think cumulative...your movement all adds up at the end of the week! If you combine this strategy with healthful eating, you will increase your metabolism, remove toxins from your body, reduce your stress, and feel more energized.
Healthy eating means being aware of both the quality and quantity of foods you eat. If you have a great workout and burn 500 calories and then go and Supersize yourself, you're back behind the eight ball. Sort of common sense isn't it? If you're hungry after a workout, eat a banana or some other snack that is lower in calories and fat.
There's a basic formula for weight loss; the number of calories taken in needs to be less than the number of calories burned off. No one wants to count calories for life, but a little simple math will help you a lot!
Estimate calories for just one week. You'll have greater awareness of how many calories are in the foods you're eating. And you'll better understand how many calories are burned off doing different physical activities.
The bottom line? MOVE MORE! EAT HEALTHIER!
Try these tips this week! Take the stairs. Choose the farthest spot in the parking lot. Get out of the car instead of driving thru. Take a lap through or around your office building a few times during your workday. When watching TV, move your body at the commercials.
I look forward to hearing how it goes for you!
Cheryl Jones-Reardon, holds a Master's degree in Exercise Science from the University of Connecticut and a Certificate in Spirituality from Saint Joseph College. She has completed extensive training in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Cheryl is a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics, Science, and Health Careers at Manchester Community College. She presents wellness programs for a number of local hospitals and has a private practice as a fitness and wellness coach in South Windsor, CT.
Join her networks: http://www.themindfulpath.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cheryl_Jones-Reardon
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