move. your. body.
When people think of exercise, they think of intense, sweat inducing running or a spin class. If you’re like the old me, you groan and get depressed just at the thought of exercise. That was before I realized that exercise doesn’t have to make you want to die. You don’t have to burn 600 calories or be dripping in sweat. You don’t have to do something you find boring, painful, or tedious. You can exercise in SO MANY WAYS!
First, if you don’t do any exercise at all right now, and have a sedentary job, just walking around the block a couple times is a fantastic start to get into the habit of exercising. Now, if that sounds boring to you, change the setting. Walk around the mall, or a park, a museum, etc. whatever your scene is, commit to focus on walking there. What I started doing when I first started to exercise was track my steps on my Apple Watch. I made sure I hit 10,000 steps a day, even if that meant pacing around my condo for an hour at night. Then I started to plan my days better. I’d wake up early and go get a couple thousand steps in at the beach. I’d park far away from anywhere I had to go to get extra steps in. If I had to go to the mall, I’d walk the entire mall before going to the store I needed to go to. If I was going somewhere with a drive thru, I’d go inside instead. All of these little steps (heh ;p) made a huge difference, and I started reaching my step goal before the end of the day without much effort at all.
So 10,000 steps per day is the general recommendation, citing improved heart health, less fat storage, improved brain performance, and more stabilized blood sugar. Another super important reason is that it starts changing your mindset, without you even realizing. It gets you prepared for being a more active, healthier person. But if you don’t walk at all, 10,000 steps is A LOT. I’ve tried to go from 0 to 10,000 every day before, and I usually only last a week. It’s super frustrating and difficult to increase your steps on a daily basis by that much.
My recommendation is to track your steps that you normally take for 3 days. Then, add 200 steps per day, for every day that you meet your goal. If you don’t hit your goal one day, It’s not the end of the world, you don’t have to start over, you won’t lose all your progress, just keep the same goal for the next day. When you hit that goal, keep adding 200 more steps, with the ultimate goal as 10,000, or even more if you’re a real go-getter!
Walking is the easiest exercise to facilitate because we already do it every day, but if walking isn’t for you, there are plenty of other ways to get in your exercise without becoming a pro athlete or bodybuilder. The most important thing to remember is to just move your body. Go out dancing, or stay in and dance around the house. Run after the ball with your dog when you play fetch. Stretch while you watch tv. Do jumping jacks while you’re heating up food in the microwave. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Go swimming, play a sport with friends, bump some good music and deep clean your house with alllllll of the energy. Our bodies need to move wayyyyy more than we typically move them. If you commit to moving your body in any way at all for even 20 minutes a day, you will see a huge difference in just a week or two. 20 minutes is not a huge commitment to make, and for the results you will get out of it, it’s like a Black Friday sale!!
