Have you tried aerobics, kickboxing and other exercise fads only to become disenchanted with them? Are you unmotivated to try yet another new workout routine? I’m sure you’ve contemplated how to lose weight without exercising and wondered if it was indeed possible. Well, we’ve compiled a list of tips on how you might be able to achieve weight loss and the benefits of exercise without taking up yet another new sport.
Some people are just not “made” for exercise. They abhor it and they will not change. By exercise, I’d like to clarify that I mean sports–oriented exercise. We are not all joggers, runners, boxers, martial arts lovers, tennis players, swimmers and the like, so although, sports are wonderful FORMS of exercise you needn’t pick a sport necessarily to get the benefits of it.
To reap the benefits of exercise, all you need to do is incorporate more activity into your daily routine. Since we all cannot exist by merely sitting in one spot all day long, we all are exercising our bodies to some degree or another as we live and carry out our daily chores. Here are our tips:
1. First, adjust your thinking about exercise and what it means. After getting it drummed into our heads by doctors and family members, we sometimes begin to hate the mere mention of the word! But, in its simplest form it means “movement.”
2. Think about your daily routine and what you do. Get a piece of paper and list what you do everyday. It can involve the chores you do around the house to start or even involve things you do when you leave the house, such as shopping. When you write your list be as detailed as possible. (For example: Instead of “I go to the mall,” include details, such as “I walk to my car, park close to the store, and walk 10 steps to the store, etc.) This will help you understand and become aware of your habits.
3. Next, think about ways to change those habits that inhibit you getting more exercise. This could mean parking further away from the stores – forcing yourself to walk more, not taking a shopping cart – so you carry your parcels, and choosing to avoid elevators – forcing you to take the stairs. Of times, gaining weight is a result of small choices we have made in our routines that have caused us to become less and less active.
4. Think of ways to change your daily routine that may benefit you in other ways, such as financially. Okay, so what does that mean? It could mean getting out the lawn mower to mow your own grass, instead of paying a landscaper to do it (The added benefit? you save money!).
5. Keep track of what you are doing. Make yourself a chart. It may sound silly. But it will motivate you to see how you’ve changed your habits over several weeks, especially if you see a change in your weight loss. By looking back over your personal activity history, you can continue adjusting it until you’ve come to a point where you are satisfied with your activity levels.
The key to losing weight without exercising is making thoughtful changes to your lifestyle which you interpret as being motivating and which won’t make you FEEL like you’re torturing yourself.