The hard part is getting started . . .

Remember when you were a kid, your Mother always insisted that you eat your peas before you could leave the dinner table. If you dared to ask why, her answer was always “because they’re good for you.”

I often get the same reaction when I talk about the importance of physical fitness and good nutrition. It’s natural to want to have a reason – or a whole lot of reasons - to follow good practices that otherwise may not be part of the way you normally live your life. We need to be motivated and to understand the benefits of what we are being asked to do. It takes a certain amount of discipline to take time out of your day for physical exercise or to pass up that piece of delicious cake.

In a previous blog, I mentioned a Mayo Clinic doctor who has written a book entitled, “Move A Little, Lose A Lot.” He stated that many overweight people have what he called “sitting disease,” and that they would lose weight if they did more walking, standing and moving around during the day.

You want to know what you could accomplish by taking a daily half-hour walk at a brisk pace? One fitness authority states your aerobic capacity would increase by 19% and your physical functions by 25% while decreasing the risk of disability by 41%.

According to this source, each walk would burn 150 calories which would take off 1.3 pounds a month, or 15.6 pounds a year. Your cardiovascular health would improve, you’d have a better chance of fighting off illness and disease, and very likely you’ll be spending less time in the doctor’s office.

Those are good reasons to me and certainly don’t sound too difficult. The difficult part is making it all happen. A behavior research study suggests that if you adopt a change for roughly 20 consecutive days, your brain adapts, and you’ll find yourself living in a more energized way throughout your day. Give it a try!

Wid