Maybe you're unable to make it to the gym as much as you'd like every week or you have a love-hate relationship with exercising well either way the good news is that you don't necessarily have to hit the gym to burn some extra calories. I'm not saying you're going to be burning as many calories as if you ran a marathon or went to a cross-fit class, but hey every little bit counts. So what I'm talking about here is making small changes in your day to day activities to get you moving more. For many people just starting a health transformation, there's a lot of information to take in that can be pretty overwhelming. Perhaps, what might work best for someone is to just get active more with their daily routine before they start vigorously exercising. Whatever you may decide, I believe that becoming more active will help you maintain a healthier lifestyle in the long (pretty obvious stuff).
When I was at my heaviest, I used to hate moving around because when I did it always reminded me of how out of shape I was. So instead of doing something about it for the longest time I would just take short-cuts to get things done or get somewhere faster. Nowadays, I'm the complete opposite and hopefully you'll be like that too, if you're not already!
Need examples? Lets get to it....
- Drive a car? Whenever you and your car happen to be in a parking lot park all the way in the back. Yes, even if the lot is practically empty or if you think you can snag a spot in front if you circle around long enough
- If you have the opportunity to take the stairs instead of an escalator or elevator take it! No stairs? Walk up the escalator!
- Make brushing your teeth more eventful by throwing in some calf raises or squats. Who doesn't love clean teeth and toned legs?
- Say goodbye to your television remote. This is when you go and hide it from yourself. If you need to adjust the volume or change the channel you're going to have to do it the old-fashioned way and, gasp, get off the couch.
- If you find that you're calling all your local food joints more often then you are your friends, this one applies to you. No more food deliveries, go walk and get the food yourself. Plus it makes the (healthy) food you got that much more enjoyable knowing that you went and got it.
- Who doesn't love their cell phone and of course, multitasking? When you're talking walk around, and if space is limited where you are, pace around. Anything's better than just sitting!
- Morning routine a little sluggish? Kick it up by dancing around while you're getting ready in the morning. It's fun and hey it might actually take away the need for that morning coffee!
- Since you're already drinking more water (ahem, look at a previous entry), burn some extra calories by frequently getting up and filling up that water bottle. If you work in an office and have multiple coolers go fill up at the farthest one from your desk.
These are just a few, but the list is endless. Think about what you do everyday and how you can tweak your daily activities to be move your behind a little bit more. No more cutting corners!
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