Each Central Texan's life is full of choices. We choose our car, the restaurant where we dine, the quality of our food, the purity of our water, how much time we watch TV or play videogames and how much time we spend at work. We also choose how much time we devote to exercise -- and the outcome of our choices affects our health, wellbeing, daily attitude and long term viability.
If you truly understand the way your body works, you will want to make better daily choices that will clean up your routine, empower you, and end up with all the results you were looking for. The ultimate goal: Quality of Life.
A few key principles are: (1) How your body adapts to exercise; (2) How you feel when you exercise; and (3) The long term benefits of continued exercise. Once you fully understand each of these, you will know how to approach each and every day.
First, your body doesn't get stronger when you are exercising but during the rest afterward. You can only improve or adapt at a given rate and it is very slow. So the amount of exercise you subject your body to should be moderate. Any excess stress only increases your risk of injury and mental burnout. If you have been inactive for years, you must start with physical cctivity at a leisurely pace. The pace should be comfortable, slow, and the distance should not be too great. A good distance to begin with is one mile a day. The effort should be easy.
When you exercise at a leisurely rate, your body produces serotonin which is the "feel good" hormone. If you don't exercise, the other way to get serotonin is through sugars and simple carbohydrates. That is why so many people have such a hard time dieting without exercise. Begin an exercise program first to get the body to produce serotonin, then adapt the diet to reduce the serotonin produced from sugars and simple carbohydrates.
If you continue to exercise over time, your body becomes more efficient,which means you can go farther, faster or more often. Another benefit is that your body sheds unwanted weight to become more efficient. Not only do you burn calories while exercising, the body continues to burn calories after exercise as it's recovering Exercise will make adjustments to your food cravings and you can - and will -- eat better.
I see so many who focus on weight loss and dieting alone without exercise, and live a life of restrictions and "no's." This is very difficult in a world full of food marketing messages that are in front of us all the time.
With exercise your body comes alive, needing food as fuel and requiring you eat like an athlete. So many people are eating empty calories out of poor eating habits. You will be amazed at how fast your body cleans up when you eat non-processed foods, drink lots of water and exercise daily. It is a self perpetuating cycle.
It also helps to have a coach, trainer or exercise companion to help you learn how to get active and stay active. If you do it alone, you run the risk of over training or losing momentum. Keep this in mind as you begin the journey to improved health and increased physical activity.