Most of us associate being physically fit with having an exercise program which we continuously maintain. While that may be true for the exercise-oriented individual the fact of the matter is you don't need to follow an exercise regiment in order to be physically fit. How is that possible you may ask? Well, being physically fit essentially means you are capable of doing physical activity on a sustained level. Of course the amount of work and its intensity may vary but the point is it's the amount of work you can do which defines how much physical activity you are capable of doing.
Let's get some basic groundwork laid out first. Physical activity, in essence, means any bodily movement that you do. Exercise, on the other hand, is something you plan or structure out. The goal of exercise is to be physically fit. Although there are standards which defines how fit you have to be in order to be physically fit the key here is there are some physical activity we can do which burns nearly or as much as exercising. Any chore that you can do around the house, given enough intensity and length of time, actually can give you a good cardiovascular workout, hence losing weight becomes a result of that.
One of the top leading causes of death in the United States is actually caused by a lifestyle choice we make and that is having a rather poor diet and lack of exercise. In this sense exercise can mean physical activity with effort as these individuals are often overweight, lethargic, and cannot sustain an exercise regiment. So the question becomes how do we become physically fit without actually exercising?
Our body is a very efficient machine in burning off calories. We metabolize the nutrients we ingest, replenish our cells with energy, do the daily activities we partake in, and excrete metabolic waste byproducts via our bowels, our urine, and even via our sweat. The point to remember is whatever we ingest we must burn off. If we do not we store these unused calories in our adipose tissues or fat cells. Over time we become overweight and fall into the category of being obese. A key factor in disease prevention is that a simple lifestyle decision making in your part can mean the difference between you acquiring a risk factor for lifestyle caused diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and others, or living a long and healthy life.
But enough of statistics and medical lingo; let's rundown over a list and pointers which you can do on a day to day basis which can actually improve your physical well-being and, in return, you feeling better about yourself.
1. The magic of walking- walking is a low intensity exercise that's not too hard on your knees and ankles. these joints, along with your lower back, are problematic areas if you are indeed overweight. Walking trains your body to utilize more of your reserve energy but on a longer scale unlike the short high intensity workouts afforded by weight lifting where you release energy in short bursts. Besides that walking is good for the heart. The moment you feel yourself breathing more than usual your heart is keeping pace with the amount of activity you do and your heart rate increases accordingly. A point to remember about walking though is allow yourself a cool down lap or go the extra block but at a leisurely pace. Wear comfortable shoes and loose clothing and bring water along.
2. If walking is difficult for you, get a bicycle.
3. Do your chores and more of them. For instance, don't pay some kid from your neighborhood ten bucks to do your yard, do it yourself. You'll be glad you did.
4. Do morning breathing exercises. Breathe deeply and slowly release the air you breathed in. This slow exhaling exercise trains our lungs and accessory muscles for increased volume so when we do exercise we will not experience any "air hunger" or shortness of breath (SOB).
5. Know your limits. Your body will tell you what your limits are. Over time, as you become more proficient in exercising those limits will become higher but don't push yourself just yet. Remember this; a lot of people fail to lose weight exercising because they push themselves too fast and too hard. The amount of fatigue they experience prevents them from exercising on a regular basis. Give your body time to adjust to the workload physiologically.
6. No amount of exercise can help you if you don't adjust the way you eat ( your diet ) accordingly. This is plain is and simple common sense. A point to take into consideration is on the days you know you will be doing strenuous activity. Since our body preferentially utilizes glucose from carbohydrates as a primary source of fuel this carbo-loading.
The benefits of increasing your daily activity towards physical fitness include:
1. You increase the number of good cholesterol(HDL) and decreasing what we call the bad cholesterol (LDL) thus lowering the risk for coronary heart disease and stroke.
2. Lower risk for adult onset diabetes. As your body utilizes glucose more efficiently your cells are more "primed" towards glucose uptake.
3. Increased bone density lowers the risk for degenerative diseases like osteoporosis and arthritis.
4. Lowers the risk for some cancers like Breast CA, Colonic CA, and others.
5. There is a direct correlation between people who exercise frequently and longevity.
Sometimes it's really hard to stick to a daily regiment such as exercising but it's all a matter of perspective. Eat less when you can't do a fair amount of exercise or physical activity. Make the first half of your morning walk a brisk one and cool down with the latter half. Consider your options about increasing daily physical activity. It's not really exercising in the fullest sense but it does help you burn those unwanted pounds off your waist, in a slow but steady rate. More on losing weight sensibly. Most of all, try to enjoy these activities. No sense of thinking about it as a tedious disease prevention you are forcing yourself to undertake. Did you know that exercising also affects your outlook in life? When you start to lose the weight and feel good about yourself you boosts your own self-esteem. Exercise also increases our "feel-good" hormones. Until our next post, take care.
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