Go beyond the cosmetic benefits of exercising and eating right. About two weeks into an exercise and diet program, start to write down and record other benefits you may be realizing such as, “feel more flexible,” or, “more energy and endurance at work,” or even, “sleeping better now.” After adopting a healthier lifestyle, the benefits to you will be numerous, each one building on a previous benefit until pretty soon it’s a snowball effect of good things.
Here are just some of the things I’ve heard over the years as a Health and Fitness Coach from my clients after they’ve taken charge of their health and wellness:
“Stronger and more flexible”
“Feel constantly happier”
“Improvement in biomarkers such as cholesterol and triglycerides”
“Better range of motion”
“Less headaches”
“Better eyesight”
“More self-confidence”
“Improved bone density”
“Easier pregnancy and birth”
“Reduction in T-cell count (HIV virus)”
“Less Stiffness and pain in joints”
“Better mental focus and clarity”
“Improved performance for sports”
“Cure diabetes”
“Better balance “
“Less heartburn and acid reflux”
“Feel the need to drink less alcohol”
“Less sickness with flu and colds “
“Breathe easier”
“More sociable”
“Better quality time with my children”
“Able to volunteer more and give back to my community”
“More spiritual”
“Stronger faith”
And the list goes on and on and on and on and on and on! Kind of seems too good to be true, doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t. I’ve seen and witnessed all this for the past 12 years doing what I do for a living.
Some other benefits are: the longer you remain consistent with maintaining an exercise program and good eating habits, the more efficient your body will become at burning off its fat stores for an energy source during exercise. Your body relies on stored carbohydrates (glycogen stored in the body) for energy, too, especially for more intense, shorter-duration exercises. Lower intensity, longer-duration exercises tend to utilize more of your fat stores for energy, so here you can see how jogging, hiking, or biking can be a great way to start to train your body to use fat for fuel. Once that starts happening, when you do more intense shorter-duration workouts such as resistance training, your body becomes better at switching over to fat for fuel.
Also, as we age our muscle mass starts to decrease, which makes our metabolism slow down (metabolism is our body’s ability to convert food and other substances into energy, essentially its calorie burning ability). In particular, this becomes a real issue for people over the age of 50. Strength and resistance type of exercises help to retain as much of your muscle mass as possible, therefore keeping your metabolism elevated. Always remember a pound of fat on your body only burns about 2 to 3 calories per day, whereas a pound of lean skeletal muscle burns roughly 50 calories per day. Can you see the difference it can make as you replace your body fat with lean skeletal muscle tissue? Your body becomes a lean, mean calorie burning machine, even while you are watching TV and sleeping!
(This article was an excerpt from my new books “Tight, Tone, and Trim” and “Cut, Cool, and Confident”, on sale now at www.amazon.com/author/jackwitt and available as paperbacks or e-books. )
Cheers,
Jack Witt, MS, CPT
Fitness and Health Coach
“Get Fit with Witt”
Individuals / Groups / Corporate
310.562.5629 Cell / 818.760.3891 Main
www.getfitwithWitt.com
https://twitter.com/GetfitwithWitt
New paperback books “Tight, Tone, and Trim” and “Cut, Cool, and Confident”
available at https://www.amazon.com/author/jackwitt