Day 6 - Exercise... Move your body to shift the weight...

Start where you are, 
Use what you have,
Do what you can! 

The day I walked through the doors of my local Weight Watchers meeting was also the first day that I started to exercise again.  I have always enjoyed exercise and I played many sports as a child. Exercise wasn’t foreign to me. I have been blessed to have known people, in my life, who are experts in the exercise industry. I had always enjoyed exercise in the past. Why had I stopped? Good question? I think I just thought I didn’t have time. But you will be surprised how you can make time when you don’t have any other option. 

My initial exercise was just using my own bodyweight as well as walking. Every few weeks I would increase my exercise and my reps at home. Funny story... I remember looking up some, 'at home' exercise lists, on Pinterest. I was ready and excited about having all these workouts online that I could do at home and that other people had written. So, I start working my way through the list. Which, from memory, started with 10 jumping jacks. I got through those and thought... Wow that was hard, then I had to move on to 5 squats, and 10 sit ups and 5 lunges on each leg etc... but at the bottom after about 12 other exercises it had one burpee. One burpee I thought, why just one? Well, I did that 1 burpee and thought to myself... that’s not happening again! lol However, I had forgotten to read all the way to the bottom before embarking on what I thought was a very ambitious group of exercises, especially for someone starting out after a long sabbatical. What it said was... repeat 4 times!! I thought, bugger that! But I did the for sets and felt really exhausted, but great that I had started. 

We have absolutely no excuse not to exercise in this day and age. We have exercise resources at our finger tips 24/7 - we have gyms popping up on every street corner, there is a plethora of articles out there supporting the argument that exercise is good for you. 

What is stopping us? Well, we are stopping us. What you have to do is shift your mindset and make exercise a priority in your daily life. Even if it is just a 20 minute stroll around the block. I know I did many 20 minute strolls around the block to keep active and moving. 

The best tip I would give you here is... Start moving, and walking is a pretty good start - if you don’t like walking alone. Find a friend, or a number of friends who can walk with you on different days. This is a good option for many reason. Four of which a pretty convincing, 1) you will not want to let your friend down, so you will have to go, 2) safety in numbers, especially if you like to walk later in the evening like I do, 3) it will definitely help your weight loss and overall well-being, 4) it’s a lot cheaper to debrief and discuss life with your best walking buddies, than it is to pay a professional to listen to your problems...lol 

I started with walking a few kilometers and that gradually increased over a short period of time to 10kms 4 - 5 times a week. I started out with a brisk yet comfortable walk, that very soon turned into a very brisk, sense of urgency, type of walk. We timed our walks and compared previous results. What we were doing without realising, was this, we were constantly shifting the goal posts and challenging our previous abilities. Furthermore, more often than  not, it was showing up on the scale as a good loss.

I have always used a walking tracker too. Pedometer - GPS+ and MapMyRun - these are great apps to use because you can enter all your details into the tracker and it will tell you how many calories you have burned and how far you have walked. It even gives you a kilometer by kilometer run down of how far you have walked etc. It will total up your week, month and year!! 

Something to think about...

My goal weight was always in sight. I was always finding new ways to get me to goal. Little things that would amount to greater success. I was consistent with my exercise and I made the time to workout. We are so worth it and finding 20 - 30 mins a day to exercise for our health and well-being, is not a lot to ask. So strap on your walking shoes and start your walking journey. 

Today, 

My wish for you is...

A good pair of walking shoes and to be blessed with a few good walking buddies, to help keep you company on the footpaths, as your walk your way to a fitter slimmer you.