Being a holistic counselor, the one question I often get asked is, Do I “really” need to exercise? Of course, most people think they already know the answer before they ask the question. They are shocked when I say, well it depends; That’s when I get there attention!!
It depends on many things-your health, your goals, your readiness to decide you want to exercise and WHY. Your WHY can make all the difference and provide you with the motivation to continue exercise on a regular basis. So what could your “WHY” look like? Maybe you want to exercise to lose weight, get healthy or just to tone up. Maybe you just had a friend or family member get diagnosed with a disease. I am sick of people getting cancer, autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer’s, etc. These are all “common” reasons people start to exercise, or want to get healthy, but what makes them continue on a regular basis?
For many, exercise is time consuming and stressful. Until you can pinpoint a “WHY” that can sustain your motivation, it can feel overwhelming!
So why do I say, it depends? The fact is you DON’T need to exercise to lose weight…..yes, I said it!! Before you break into your happy dance, let me explain.
I believe the greatest thing you can do for your weight & health is to be aware of what your putting in your mouth. The food you eat can make or break your body. When I have a new client and I’m teaching them how to listen to their body to eat the foods it wants, that is enough to handle at one time. Baby steps…….baby steps create lifelong changes that get you and your body feeling great. The first thing has to be the food; once you start to listen to your body and know what to fuel it with, your weight will get to a healthy place WITHOUT any exercise. If it feels to overwhelming, you will NEVER stick with it, let alone incorporate exercise. Exercise will be much easier once you get to a healthy weight and are loving your smaller pants size!
So why exercise after you lose the weight or if you don’t need to lose weight at all? To prevent disease, have no joint pain as you grow older, reduce stress, gain energy, sleep awesome, prevent disease, and FEEL fantastic! The word “exercise” can mean many things; I actually prefer to say “daily movement” instead of exercise….it just sounds more fun. You can walk, bike, lift weights, do ballet, gymnastics, kickboxing, MMA, boxing, skiing, Zumba, Pilates, yoga, rollerblading, household choirs, etc…any kind of continuance movement for 30 minutes will work! Doesn’t that sound a lot more fun than “exercise”? Exercise doesn’t have to be going to the gym or running.
To learn more about daily movement and how to incorporate it into your day, please join us at Vitamin Shoppe (hall rd, Shelby Twp) on February 8th @ 7 pm – 7:30 pm for a FREE informational class. We will go more in depth on each subject. Attendees will receive a free personal training session and a week membership to my favorite gym and class facility. Register HERE or check out our Facebook page
If you are not local, you can still attend the same informational class webinar on February 23 @ 8 pm
