Smart Weight Loss Edge

By Barbara Ling

Ah, exercise.

• Some people love it.
• Some hate it.

Sometimes I astound myself by stating the obvious. But I digress.

Now, I have something very important to tell you regarding exercise. Are you listening?

Good! Here it is:

Every exertion you do can be considered exercise.

Washing the dishes, cleaning the house, lifting the kids, grocery shopping… Everything you do…is exercise.

So! You really can’t say you hate exercise now, can you?

It’s really all the way you look at it.

I discovered this myself when I realized….I hated using the treadmill. Yes indeed, I just could not get myself “into” the notion of walking and walking and sweating and sweating and walking and … you get the idea.

Heck, back then, I had no time whatsoever to even get to the treadmill at the gym!

But! Put a shopping cart in my hands, and all of a sudden, I had another reason to walk. After all, my family needed to eat occasionally..and I needed to go hunting and gathering at my local Shop Rite. And omigosh, I realized, walking is pretty darned easy for me if I could lean on a shopping cart.

It was a beginning. It was a start.

And then my kids! The babies liked being lifted on my knees up and down (baby going up! Baby going down!). During one such playtime, I noticed I could feel different muscles working depending upon how I lifted my kids. That led me to experiment and get some health benefits into my life..even though I still “hated exercising” at that time.

It’s all the way you look at it.

Right now, I’ve evolved to the point that I love pushing my body to exhaustion. I can zoom on a treadmill (and watch Discovery’s How It’s Made at the same time!), become one with the iron via free weights and Cybex machines (weight lifting is a true boon for getting healthy), take my kids on a 2.4 mile circle walk for their exercise, indulge in 2 hours of karate practice at our local dojo.and love every minute of it.

Why? Because now, for me, it’s not exercise - it’s fun.

Just plain fun.

I’ve advanced to that crucial mindset that lets me view something I used to despise…as something I can now enjoy.

And they’re still the same activities!

The only difference is how I choose to perceive them.

Makes all the difference in the world.

Perceptions. That’s what weight loss and getting healthy is all about. If you perceive something to be fun or desirable, you have a far greater chance at succeeding than if you simply say, golly gee, maybe I’ll lose weight by the time my kids graduate from college.

So the next time you decide you hate exercise…sit down and ask yourself, what are you currently doing that you can enhance and still enjoy? Shopping cart fitness, toddler presses, one-arm baby raises…it will all contribute to that vital first step that will get you on the path to a fitter, healthier you.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps - a great clever helper with walking is pedometers, like:

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