Lifestyle Modification Regular exercise is a necessary part of losing weight and maintaining weight loss. Exercise can help prevent many chronic diseases and also improve your overall mood. Incorporating regular exercise in your weight loss and weight maintenance program significantly improves your chances of achieving long-term results. Before you begin exercising, consult your physician to make sure your exercise plan is appropriate for you.
Benefits of Exercise Lifestyle Modification
- Helps in shedding body fat,
- Reduces high blood pressure
- Helps prevent chronic diseases (such as heart disease), stroke, and diabetes
- Lowers stress levels
- Makes you feel good, keeps you happy, helps prevent depression
- Strengthens muscles and joints; increases bone density, which helps prevent osteoporosis
Types of Exercise Lifestyle Modification
These are some of the common exercises performed for better health:
- Lifestyle exercises
- Walking
- Aerobic exercises
- Strength training
1. Lifestyle Exercises
Often you may find it hard to fit regular exercise into your busy lifestyle. By following these simple guidelines for lifestyle exercises, you will burn more calories on a daily basis:
Park your car far:
- By parking farther away from the entrance to work or shopping, you can easily add valuable steps (exercise) to your busy day.
Bathroom breaks:
- Instead of using the bathroom near your desk or office, walk to another floor.
Walk during lunch break:
- After eating a well-balanced lunch, walk for the duration of your lunch break. Even if your lunch break is only 15 minutes, a quick walk around your office building is an easy way to add physical activity to your busy schedule.
Spend time with your family:
- Outdoor activities, such as soccer, cycling, hiking, etc. with your family are an excellent way to burn calories. It keeps you active while having fun with your family at the same time.
Do your tasks:
- Everyday household tasks provide an easy way to stay active with a busy lifestyle. Sweeping and mopping the kitchen, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, or doing yard work are great ways to burn calories.
2. Walking of Lifestyle Modification
Walking is one of the easiest ways to stay healthy. If you include walking activity in your daily regime, you can trim your waistline and reduce overall health risks, such as depression, type 2 diabetes, etc. Research suggests that walking 10,000 steps a day is beneficial for your health. Usually, in a day you walk between 3,000 and 4,000 steps, so reaching a goal of 10,000 isn’t that difficult. Walking in a correct posture is recommended for at least 30 minutes, five days a week.
3. Aerobic Exercise of Lifestyle Modification
Aerobic exercises have long been a popular approach to achieving weight loss and physical fitness. Aerobic exercises can be performed:
- 3–5 times per week
- 20–60 minutes each time
- At 60–85 percent of your maximum heart rate or at 50–60 percent of your maximum heart rate if you are just starting an exercise program or have a heart condition
4. Strength Training for Lifestyle Modification
Strength training helps increase your metabolism, allowing you to burn more calories on a daily basis. In addition, strength training can help tone muscles, increase strength and bone density, improve posture and even reduce the potential for injury. You should participate in a strength training routine that incorporates all of your major muscle groups 2–3 times a week. Before you begin your strength training routine, you should take instructions from your fitness center staff or a personal trainer.
Enjoy your Exercise
Performing the same exercise routine can become boring and hard to stick with. Adding different activities to your exercise routine can help you stay focused. Having a positive attitude will definitely help with motivation, so think of ways that you can incorporate the fun ingredient into your activities:
1. Enjoy your activity:
- If you don’t like to run, try power walking, swimming, or riding a bike.
2. Try something new:
- If conventional exercises just don’t do it for you, sign up for baseball, basketball, soccer, badminton, swimming, rock climbing, or something else. You will be learning something new and exciting!
3. Change your routine:
- Walk around your neighborhood one day and then pick a different route the next. Keep it interesting!
4. Jog with your friend:
- Jogging with a friend and having a nice chat along the way might make it more pleasant for you.
5. Join a class:
- Try a spinning, pilates, or dance class. These classes will challenge you and you’ll see a huge improvement in both, your physical and mental strength.
