That said, I believe the vast majority of us who need to lose weight – a number that grows with waistlines during the holidays – are better served looking at our lifestyles rather than drugs, concoctions or weird apparel that are promised to make us magically “lose weight without really trying.”
An obvious area of improvement is diet. As a nation, and particularly here in Texas, we tend to eat fattening food and way too much of it.
But I’m not going there today. Instead, let’s concentrate on simply keeping our parts moving.
We have come up with so many labor-saving devices that many of us hardly exert ourselves any more. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggests (among other things like improving eating habits) that simply doing away with some modern conveniences can help improve one’s health.
One of the biggest things is to walk more.
If you live close enough to work, then walk or ride a bicycle or even skate instead of driving a car. If you take mass transit or carpool, get off early and walk. If that’s not an option, walk a lap or two around the building before going in.
Once you’re at work, take the long way to the water cooler or rest room. Skip escalators and elevators in favor of taking the stairs. If the trip is more floors than you can do at the time, walk part of the way and ride the rest. If you’re with a group headed to the elevator, speak up: “Who would like to take the stairs with me?”
Got a question for a co-worker? Instead of e-mail or a phone call, walk to her desk or office. If she’s not there, then you get to do it again later.
If walking to work is not an option, maybe walking to the store, church, barbershop or other places is viable. Is there a park in your area? Take the dog, take the kids, take your spouse or just take yourself. Jog or run if you’d like, or just walk at a brisk pace.
Pace is another thing to consider. Even if you’re simply walking from the car to the store, do so at a lively clip. Speaking of the parking lot, find a space as far as reasonably possible from the entrance to the store. You have the time, especially since you are walking faster.
While shopping, use a hand basket and carry your groceries instead of pushing a cart. That might keep you from picking up a bag of cookies if you don’t have room. Should you need more capacity, then you can go to the front of the store and get a cart.
Get into your yard work. Unless you have acres to mow, go with the push mower instead of a riding mower. If you’re hauling bags of mulch, for example, carry them one at a time on foot rather than pushing a wheelbarrow, but that’s better than pulling them behind a lawn tractor.
If possible, break the ground for your garden with a shovel rather than a tiller.
Play outside with the kids or grandkids. You’ll not only help yourself but will instill good exercise habits in them.
Make exercise a family activity. Instead of watching a game show on television before or after dinner, take a walk around the neighborhood or play a quick game of keep away.
While watching TV, ride an exercise bike, do calisthenics or dance to the background music while pacing behind the sofa.
If you live in a two-story house, jump at an opportunity to make an extra trip up and down the stairs.
Fetch the paper yourself. Instead of checking the mail in the car when you arrive home, walk back to the curb. Or run to the mailbox and back. Wash the car by hand instead of driving through a car wash.
Carry your luggage instead of rolling it. Perform curls and lifts with your briefcase or purse.
You get the idea. Do it.
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(c) 2010 by Steve Martaindale
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