Exercise

I just saw another advertisement for a product that allows to you lose weight without exercising or changing your diet. Really??  How is that possible??  To be honest exercising and changing your diet is a good thing.  Saw a news story this morning saying that a study has shown eating “super processed” food results in eating about 500 more calories than one ordinarily would.  What would be bad about changing that?

But what I want to address is exercise.  Why does it evoke a negative response in people?  Almost as if it is a punishment. Is that “leftover” feelings from high school gym class?  Don’t know.

I have always exercised.  My first foray into exercise was a magazine article titled “Six Week Exercise Program” which I faithfully did as written and illustrated.  At the end of six weeks I just stopped.   Pretty dumb.  I was in high school and didn’t know any better.  That was not my last venture into the exercise world.  I have done cassettes, classes, DVD’s, and joined gyms over the years.  Some years I have been more consistent than others, but I never completely stopped.

Have I always been thin?  Nope, mostly I have been very overweight.  That is because of my diet, not my lack of exercise.

At this point I work out and strength train 5 or 6 times a week plus walking 10,000 steps a day.  I have also managed to lose 50 pounds.  Since I have lost weight my love for exercise is even more intense.  As the pounds went away, I could feel my bones moving.  That was so thrilling!  I had to get a poster of the human skeleton so I could see what I was feeling.  Then came my muscles.  I feel them too!  Also thrilling!  Now I have two anatomy posters on the wall.

The point I am trying to make is that the purpose of exercise is to increase or maintain your range of motion.  Sometimes I am doing a move and I think: “Oh ya, I can reach above my head and put stuff away or take it down with no problem”.  I love feeling strong and capable.