We all know the facts, we need to move our bodies and yet a lot of us (myself included, though not as much these days!) live our lives like trapped creatures.   Our bodies were designed to live in the wild.  Before all the wonderful comforts we now experience we would have been hunting, gathering, washing ourselves in some fast moving river, using our core to maintain our balance, watching out for dangerous animals, always ready to run if necessary to protect ourselves and our young (at least this is the way I imagine it ;-)).  Now, we move from our beds to the kitchen to grab some food, we sit in our cars, we sit in front of our computers, then our televisions and then we are back in bed.

Needless to say, our bodies do not respond well to this treatment.  Not so long ago, people farmed, laboured in factories, did active forms of work, even riding horses is a lot more strenuous than driving a car.

Today, most of our work and daily duties involve our chairs.  If we actually want to exercise then we have to set aside time to make it happen and we have to be very deliberate about exercising for weight loss.

Yes, overeating is probably the biggest culprit of weight gain but a lack of physical exercise definitely does not help.  Any health professional worth their salt (such as me!!) will tell you to try to increase your heart rate regularly to maintain or intensify your weight loss. If you have super amounts of free time then exercising alone could be sufficient to help you lose some weight, but I mean a lot of free time!  However the magic formula is a combination of both regular exercise and a weight loss diet plan.

Ok, now for a few low-cost tips.

Sleep

Ok, I realise this may seem an odd way to get exercise but getting enough rest will help with the motivation levels when it comes to starting to exercise regularly.  Now, if you are a mother and you have not slept a full night in a few years (like me!) then it may seem impossible to consider adding exercise to your life.  But dear lady, it is time to knock excuses on the head.  Just accept it – This is your life for a period and you can still exercise despite your tiredness.  Get your children in on it, they might get tired enough to let you sleep all night!  Just imagine how great you will feel when your body starts to look like you want and all those endorphins swimming round making you feel a lot more able to cope.

For the rest of you out there without the distraction of sleepless children, try to get a good night’s sleep.  There is evidence out there that tiredness does make you eat more as it lowers your defences and you begin to use food as a substitute for rest.  Not good!

These boots were made for walking

Ok, next, put on some shoes, boots, whatever and take a walk.

This is the easiest and most accessible form of exercise.  Most people are able to do it and most people can walk around the streets near their house.  So no charge!

Walk around shopping centres if it is cold and rainy outside or get a raincoat.  If you have children, chances are they will love getting wet unless you have a child like E then they may well complain.  No one complains about walking in shopping centres though, so get out the pushchair and go!

Dogs are great for getting their people out as well.  Consider a pet?

Gradually build up to at least 30 minutes of brisk walking five times a week.

Stay home and work the TV

Maybe you do not want to go out, well even for you there are options.  Get some workout DVDs.  These are my lifeline at the moment as I really do not have time to go the gym.  A DVD like this one by [amazon_link id=”B0006TL9E6″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Billy Blanks[/amazon_link] or this one by [amazon_link id=”B002RNOS2Y” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Jillian Michaels[/amazon_link] are amazing – Some might say amazingly tough, but they grow on you and you can really feel them working!

Do you use any that you particularly like?

Another option could be to get an exercise machine that fits in front of the TV and watch something while exercising at the same time.  An amazing use of time, I say!

I have no time

I have used this excuse on numerous occasions but we have to make the time to improve ourselves.  Start with a ten minute chunk and build it up from there.  You could do 3 ten minute sets but it is more effective to keep your heart beating a little quicker for 30minutes at once.

Let us stop with the excuses, it is not impossible to fit it in; we just do not always give it the priority we should.  We take our bodies for granted and then are shocked when things do not work.

View exercise as a gift we are giving to our family as we support our health by managing our weight.

Wow, that went on for a whole lot longer than usual.  I am passionate about the subject, it seems.  Have a look at my new resources section for the items I suggest to help in your exercise regime.