Hey there! How’s it going? I hope you had a great week and that you’ve had a chance to watch the documentary. If not, that’s ok, but I do hope that you make time for it because I’d hate for you to miss out on valuable information. I’m also curious to know if you used the fat formula we learned in Part 1 at home or at the store. If you’re trying to eat healthier, leaner foods it’s a great tool to have at your disposal so that you don’t get tricked into believing what’s on the labels you see. In fact, my husband and I had a little fun with it last week and decided to test it. We found a package of ground turkey breast, did the calculation, and saw that it had only about 15% fat. It’s below the recommended 20% so that’s good. Plus, when I compared the price to regular ground turkey I discovered that it was less than 50¢ more. I’m willing to pay a tiny bit extra to have the really good stuff. For sure. Keep playing around with it and make some discoveries of your own.
Today I want to talk about exercise. It’s definitely a key component in losing weight, however when I talk to people about it they typically cringe, shrug their shoulders, or roll their eyes. When I ask why, I receive very similar answers that seem to share a common theme: dislike of exercise as a whole. Most of them think of it as a chore. There’s a negative feeling that goes along with the word. (Kind of like with the word ‘diet’!) Unfortunately, many people associate ‘exercise’ with long, drawn-out weight-lifting workouts in a big gym . . . or running. And what about those weight loss shows? Ugh. No thanks. In fact, in the documentary, Mike Ryan blasts those programs, saying that if you create a “perfect environment” the people will lose weight, but what happens after they leave the show? He asks how many of them actually keep the weight off. So let’s take a closer look at it, shall we?
First of all, everyone needs to exercise. You can’t effectively and safely lose weight without it. You can ‘diet’, but if you don’t exercise Mike says, “it’s worse than smoking.” Yikes. Dr. Roxanne tells us that exercise actually changes the brain chemistry. She says it’s “the number 1 anti-depressant”. She also goes on to say that it relieves stress, improves your mood, calms the brain, and burns calories. In fact, I thought it was interesting that 1 pound of fat burns 5 calories, yet 1 pound of muscle burns 17 calories at rest. (So, if you have good muscle tone, you’re still burning way more calories even when you’re not moving!) Exercise also increases circulation, reverses the aging process, and helps you feel better too. And when you exercise regularly you can improve your health stats like cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, etc. You may already be aware of these benefits but it isn’t always enough to motivate us. Am I right? I’ll get to that in a bit . . .
Next, we learn that exercise needs to include cardio and strength training. Cardio works the heart and gets your blood moving, strengthening the circulatory system as well as increasing your endurance so that you don’t tire so quickly. It also goes hand in hand with strength training. I don’t mean the heavy lifting kind. I mean more like resistance training. Building and maintaining muscle will not only improve balance, mobility, and stability but will lead to increased bone density – very important as we get older. (Please see Muscle Strength and Bone Density if you’d like a bit more information.) Strength training also revs up your metabolism so that you can burn calories even after you stop working out, aiding in the reduction of body fat which makes you look better. Not too shabby. Or flabby.
Mike, Dr. Roxanne, and Chuck give us some great advice about exercise, but Larry North sums it up pretty well by saying that the best exercise regimen should be a combination of 4 elements: strength training, some cardio, flexibility training, and something fun, what he calls “active rest”. There needs to be a balance of these for us to achieve and maintain optimal health. As I mentioned earlier, strength training doesn’t have to mean heavy weight-lifting, but rather challenging, qualitative exercise that puts the muscles under stress. And it doesn’t have to last 2 hours – it can be as short as 20 minutes a couple of times per week. Cardio also doesn’t have to mean running. It’s anything that gets your heart pumping. Walking. Elliptical. Dancing. Swimming. Tennis. Pick something you enjoy! Flexibility training can be anything from yoga to Pilates to active stretching. And the “active rest” stuff can be things like playing with your pets, kids, grandkids, gardening, golfing, or other activities that get you moving but you wouldn’t think to call them “exercise”. When people ask me about exercise I emphasize the fun factor. Make sure that you enjoy whatever it is that you do, otherwise you won’t stick with it.
Finally, there are some things to keep in mind as you contemplate incorporating exercise into your health journey. 1) Take the calorie count on the machine with a grain of salt. It isn’t accurate. 2) Don’t overtrain. It leads to burnout, injuries, chronic pain, and overproduction of cortisol, which can cause the body to actually store fat rather than fight it. 3) Find forms of exercise that you enjoy. When you’re having fun it doesn’t seem like a chore. 4) Give your body recovery time between workouts, especially strength training. Split those workouts up and do other things to allow your body to rest and adapt.
If you haven’t had a chance to watch the documentary, I hope that you’ll make time this week to see it. It truly is informative and interesting. But I also hope that you’ll take some time to think about all the different types of activities/exercise that you actually enjoy doing and begin to add them to your routine. Next time I’ll be diving into the nutrition side of weight loss. Stay tuned . . .
I wish you peace, health, and happiness. Have a great week!
#personalgrowth
The information provided on this website is intended for educational purposes only and is, in no way, a substitute for professional medical advice. The events, practices, and opinions discussed here are those of the author and should be treated as such. ALWAYS talk with your doctor about conditions, medications, and concerns you have about your health and work together to determine the best course of action for you.
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