Hello again!
I hope all of you are doing well! March is rapidly flying by! Soon we will be poolside and lakeside with the warm weather, which means shorts and swimsuits.. So in the grand tradition of blogging on the “March into Wellness” week theme, it seems appropriate to discuss getting active! This week if you exercise for 60 minutes per day, then you will receive another shot at the $250 gift card raffle!
The problem with getting active are the same culprits that sap so many of our dreams, goals, and successes: the three-headed excuse monster of too tired, too boring, and not enough time. I can name them all because, sadly, I’m too well aquainted with them too. Perhaps, it’s a cultural thing but we seem to have this whole “all or nothing” or “go big or go home” concept so ingrained in us that we often fail to see the value in small changes. We all do this, right? I mean we start eating well, slip up and eat one cookie and suddenly feel like this is an invitation to eat 15 cookies because we had already failed. Or maybe we don’t save our money because all we can afford to save is 5 or 10 dollars a week, but we all know this will add up, but often think its “just 5 bucks” and give up. I think where we see this most is with exercise plans. A person may have not exercised for a long time and when they can’t run 5 miles or do 50 push ups in the first week, they quit. Here’s the thing when it comes to healthy eating and exercise: little changes can equal a little you!
Start with small goals: don’t think about the total weightloss you want, but focus on a 5% reduction of your current weight and then move on to other weightloss goals. A 5% reduction is where, even if you don’t think you’ve made huge changes, you’ll have more energy, improved blood pressure, and will have achieved a goal so that you have some momentum.
When exercising, a daily program is important, whether it’s lifting, walking, etc. However, little changes lead to big changes. I was reading Men’s Health (March 2010) and there was an article about N.E.A.T or nonexercise-activity thermogenesis. These are the calories burned “each week fidgeting, doing chores, and walking in and out of buildings.” I wanted to share this with you because the article offers a way to use N.E.A.T to increase your metabolism about 10%. That’s a small change that will quickly add up. It comes to small choices not big ones that total this 10% metabolic boost. Here was what they had to offer: 20 minute walk instead of sitting all of lunch break = 49 cal burned, stand during three 10 min phone calls vs sitting = 33 cal burned, play with your kids or pet 15 min before dinner vs watching TV before dinner = 82 cal burned, spend 15 min washing dishes after dinner vs heading straight to the couch = 27 cal burned, and take 10 min to straighten up one room vs going straight to bed = 21 cal burned: grand total 212 cal burned or about a 10% increase. All of these activities can fit into your day. We all have time for at least the majority of these things! That total calorie burn is about the same as running 2 miles! It takes so little for us to make a difference through activity, sometimes so little that we fail to notice! Remember, though, the little things will add up! See you next time!
In Health, Dr. Graham, chiropractor