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Exercise for Slimming
By WLR Dietitian
As well as sticking to your daily calorie
allowance while you're slimming, it’s also important to find ways to use up more
calories through exercise. Being more active in your daily
life is a great starting point, so think about how you can
increase your activity levels each day. It might be as simple
as putting more effort into the housework, taking the stairs
at work rather than the lift, walking rather than driving to
the corner shop for milk or parking further away from the
supermarket entrance so that you have to walk further.
But for the best slimming results, you should also take planned
exercise for a minimum of 3½ hours a week. That might sound
a lot but when you consider that each week has 168 hours, it’s
only a tiny fraction of time! It’s up to you how you divide
this time up, for example, you might like to do 30 minutes of
exercise every day or prefer to do an hour-long aerobic class,
an hour in the gym and a 90-minute cycle or walk each week.
It’s up to you!
Most fitness experts agree you’ll have more success with
sticking to an exercise programme if you find activities that
you enjoy. So do some research to find out what’s on offer in
your local area. You might be surprised to find that you can
do everything from salsa and self-defence classes to belly
dancing and basketball. Think back too, to the activities you
enjoyed when you were at school. If you loved netball, for
example, it might be worth finding out whether there’s a local
team you could join, or if you really enjoyed cross-country
running, maybe there’s a local running team that wants new
members.
If you really can’t find any activities that you enjoy, you
may find it helpful to change the way that you view exercise
and rather than looking at it as something you should have fun
doing, view it as something that you simply have to do, such
as cleaning the house. Most people don’t enjoy doing
housework, yet it’s something they still spend time doing
because they enjoy having a clean house they’re proud off. So
if you hate exercise, start viewing it as something that you
HAVE to spend time on because ultimately you’ll enjoy having a
slim, fit body.
It’s also important to find activities that fit in with
your lifestyle. For example, while you might choose to go
swimming, you’ll never manage a twice-a-week swim if your
nearest pool is a 40-minute drive away. Similarly, while going
to an aerobics class might appeal to you, you’ll never stick
with it if you’re unable to find someone to look after your
children while you’re there.
Once you’ve started taking in fewer and burning up more
calories through slimming and exercise, respectively, you’ll find
the pounds start to drop off. But how do you stay on track,
especially when your motivation starts to flag?
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