The idea is to not overwhelm yourself with a giant change in your lifestyle overnight. However, reaching your goals of living a healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise can lead to a plethora of benefits.
Weight Loss
Reduced Risk of Cancer
Diabetes Management
Heart Health and Stroke Prevention
Mental Health (Better Mood)
Strong Bones and Teeth
Improved Memory
Improved Gut Health
Getting Good Rest
What is The Recommended Amount of Activity?
Science says we need at least 150 minutes of aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week, or a combination of both. More exercise will provide better results, but even small amounts of physical activity helps. Being active for short periods of time throughout the day (think taking a brisk walk, go for a short jog, or yoga, or biking) can add up to provide healthy benefits.
Strength training is the counterpart to cardio or aerobic activity. Using strength training exercises for all the major muscle groups at least twice a week is recommended. Try to do a single set of each exercise, using a weight resistance level heavy enough to tire your muscles after about 12-15 repetitions.
Examples of Moderate and Vigorous Cardio Exercises:
Moderate: Brisk walking, jogging, swimming.
Vigorous: Running, dancing, fitness classes that are focused on high intensity cardio such as spinning, kickboxing, tennis, yard work like continuous digging or raking, biking long distances, jumping rope, and sports offer a way to increase vigorous activity into your exercise routine.
Benefits of Weight Training and Stretching Properly:
Weightlifting isn’t just for those who want to bulk up and building muscle mass. The benefits of including weight training improved posture, better sleep, increasing bone density, maintain weight loss, boosting metabolism, reducing inflammation and keeping chronic illnesses at bay. Much like your brain needs stimulation to be strong and healthy so does your muscles. After about age 30 you start to lose bone density each year. Loss of bone mass increases your chances of osteoporosis, which is nearly 80 percent higher for women than men.
Stretching properly before and after a workout is essential. Benefits of stretching include increasing flexibility, increase range of motion, improves physical performance, increases blood flow to your muscles, improves posture, assists with healing and prevent back pain, provides a path to stress relief and can even calm the mind.