Make exercise a healthy habit

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 “Mamma said there’d would be days like this”  You know, the days that you want to stay in bed, the days where you just want to go home after work, the days where your hair is on fire and the inside of a gym is the last thing you want to experience.    Some days exercising is a battle –   a mental battle of you vs. you. 

We all have these days.  And its days like these where I say, just show up.   I’m of the opinion (based on 41 year of experience half of which I hated exercise) that exercise needs to be a habit, a good habit like brushing your teeth.  

Every time you exercise you’d don’t need to be puddle of sweat and have legs that feel like jello.  Light intensity exercise is still beneficial.  

According to the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans,  being physically active on a regular basis

• Improves your chances of living longer and living healthier
• Helps protect you from developing heart disease and stroke or its precursors, high blood pressure and undesirable blood lipid patterns
• Helps protect you from developing certain cancers, including colon and breast cancer, and possibly lung and endometrial (uterine lining) cancer
• Helps prevent type 2 diabetes (what was once called adult-onset diabetes) and metabolic syndrome (a constellation of risk factors that increases the chances of developing heart disease and diabetes; read more about simple steps to prevent diabetes)
• Helps prevent the insidious loss of bone known as osteoporosis
• Reduces the risk of falling and improves cognitive function among older adults
• Relieves symptoms of depression and anxiety and improves mood
• Prevents weight gain, promotes weight loss (when combined with a lower-calorie diet), and helps keep weight off after weight loss
• Improves heart-lung and muscle fitness
• Improves sleep

 You will reap all these benefit just by showing up. And you will burn calories.  

• Walking really really slow at 2 miles per hour you will burn between 20o to 300 calories per hour
• 30 minutes on the elliptical at  moderate effort 175-250 calories  
• A leisurely bike ride at 10 mps can burn 150-215 calories in just a half hour

 Just showing up can help you lose an extra 3-7 lbs per year.  So just show up and reap the benefits of a light workout.  And trust me, once you get there, you have won the battle.