Weight Loss - exercise

Firstly lets consider the importance of exercise:

Exercise is not only vital to your health, its vital to burning excess calories for weight loss. Exercise has also been shown to help your brain to function properly. Human body has evolved to cope with the strenuous daily activities (after all, its only in the last few years that TV, internet and supermarkets have come about). However, with each generation, the human body has become more lazy. This is largely due to time saving inventions that are designed to make life "easy" for us. The car and the television are the two worst culprits in making us do less physcial activities. Instead of walking to work, we take the car, then sit in the office then come home and sit in front of the TV (probably while eating our dinner). Therefore, to ccompensate for this lack of physical activity in our lives, it is important that we introduce activities which simulates what the body would have gone through if it wasn't for the "time saving" inventions. These activities could be in the form of jogging, walking, swimming, Pilates etc.

How should you exercise?

Before starting ANY exercise program (wether for weight loss or otherwise), consult your doctor first.

There are many many ways to exercise. However, if you are obese or over weight it may pay off to hire a personal trainer who would be able to draw up a specific exercise program for you. We have included an example of a training program below (this is only to be used as a guide as every individual's physiology and needs is different):

First month

• During the week days (Mon-Fri), start with a daily 30 minute morning walk before your Weight Loss Breakfast (this is a healthy breakfast which contains complex carbohydrates such as Oat). This will help you raise your metabolic rate before you eat. Walking or exercising before breakfast is the best way of loosing weight, this is because your body will use up stored fat to provide you with the energy to exercise, and also, your metabolic rate will be raised for the rest the day.
• During the weekends, raise your walking period from 30 minutes to an hour. This is to stop your body from adapting to an exercise routine. Once your body adapts to a routine then you would not get as much benefit from the exercise. You normally can tell when your body has adapted because the exercise becomes easy. Once this happens then its time to change the routine. In fact, if you apply this principal, your metabolism would eventually raise to such a high rate that you can almost eat what you want and not put on any weight! But if you are reading this article then believe me, you are not there yet. You still need to follow a strict diet.

Second month

• During the week days introduce a two one hour swimming sessions in the evenings, in addition to your daily walking routine.
• During the weekends, you should look for a single easy exercise class such as Pilates, line dancing or even using yoga for weight loss. This again introduces variety into your exercise plan.

Third Month

• During the week days, in addition to your daily walking routine and swimming sessions, introduce a beginners Aerobic class.
• Keep the weekend routine as it is

Fourth Month

• In addition to your "Third Month" routine, stop your walks before your dinner time, and instead try a Weight Loss Jogging session, which is a very gentle jogging pace, but, remember, you absolutly must consult your doctor first to ensure its safe for you to jog. Also, try swapping one of your swimming sessions for an intermediate Aerobic class.
• Keep the weekend routine as it is.

Fifth Month

• In addition to your "Fourth Month" routine, try swapping the beginner Aerobic class for an intermediate one.
• The weekend routine stays as it is.

Sixth Month

• In addition to your "Fifth Month" routine, try swapping one of the intermediate Aerobic classes for an advanced one.
• You can rest on Saturday, and on Sundays do Yoga or Pilate.

Seventh Month

• You should now be walking in the mornings before breakfast, as well as two Advanced Aerobic classes a week, and a gentle jog in the evenings.
• Weekends are as in the sixth month.

Although exercising is benefitial to your body, bad exercise programs or techniques would be more harmful than not exercising at all. The most common mistake people make is to over exercise at the begining of their program. Remember, as with a healthy weight loss program, your exercise routine must also be gradual. Do not be tempted to go for a jog right from the begining!