You have heard it a thousand times before. You have to exercise to lose weight. Make it 1001 times but! It has to be the right type of exercise.

The reality is that unless you have factored exercise into your life on a 7 day a week basis you cannot expect to lose weight or experience great health.

Don’t go away just yet! I’m not trying to scare you off! Please keep reading.

By seven days a week, I’m not referring to hitting the gym daily or power walking yourself into a big sweat ball every day.

I’m talking about becoming a seven day per week active person. It is just a mind shift.

Is it going to be hard at the start?… Probably.

Will you want to quit?…. Probably!

Will you get instant results? Probably not!

Will it get easier? Yes

Will you enjoy it? Yes if you decide to! No if you decide not to! But a Mental shift is definitely required.

Will you start to have more energy, sleep better and lose weight within a few weeks? Yes

Will you have also made significant improvements in all health parameters in 3 months?

Definitely, so don’t wait, get started today..

Be aware! As you become fitter and stronger, you will add some muscle mass, as you lose fat. Therefore the scales may not show a big change, but your body shape will!

‘Your scales will lie to you! Scales can only tell you’re your total weight. This gives no true information as to your body composition.

I know a woman who wanted to lose weight. But she was already slim. A proper investigation revealed that she was carrying several pounds of fat packed around her internal organs, which is a very unhealthy form of fat. But she was also severely under muscled.

Her programme was to lose some fat and gain muscle. She was right but for all the wrong reasons.

So dump the scales and monitor how your clothes fit you. But I don’t want to become over muscular, it may not look feminine. Don’t worry, ask any body builder how hard they have to work to gain significant muscle mass, you will not be doing anything like that. Of course you guys will be keen to have some extra muscle, but if that is your goal then a heavy weight routine will have to be added to your programme.

An important benefit for you is that as you gain even a little muscle mass or muscle quality. Your ability to burn fat improves. Think of your muscle quality as a guide to how efficiently you can burn fat.

So what do you do? Walking is easy, 30 minutes minimum, at a pace at which you can maintain a normal conversation. At the start that may be slow, but you will increase over time.

N.B. If you cannot possibly walk for 30 minutes, rather than burn out or hurt yourself, start with a realistic time. 15-20 minutes. 5 minutes if that is your limit. This is for you to decide, who cares what anyone else thinks!

If you are too self conscious to exercise in public, then walk around your yard, up and down a corridor, even marching on the spot. Which is not a bad option if it is too cold, hot wet, etc. Just do it!

Here is a major take away point for exercise:

Do not decide whether you will exercise or not when you are lying in bed or slumped in a comfortable chair. Get up, move around, have some water, then do it. The great Australian long distance runner Herb Elliot stated that the hardest part of running was getting his shoes on. Yes, even the great struggle with exercise.

Resistance exercise is fantastic for your upper body. For most people their upper bodies have the poorest muscle tone. After all we use our legs everyday whether we like it or not.

Your local sports store can provide you with the stretchy bands, with the handles on the end. They should come with instructions, but it’s not difficult to create your own routine’. Just a few minutes once , or even better, twice per day will dramatically improve the quality of your muscle mass in just a few weeks.

Importantly it will increase your strength also, which will make many daily tasks easier, and you will feel less fatigued.

There are all sorts of different exercises, and you can further explore specific exercise for your body type. But remember you have to do it; you have to keep doing it, once the benefits are obvious it will be much easier.

You don’t need to rely on expensive exercise machines, keep it simple and just do it!

It’s very important to remember that if you stop your programme, don’t call yourself a failure, just start again.

For specific weight management assistance go to http://www.livingwellpublications.com/diet/bodytype/

Ian Newton is a health management specialist from Australia. Assisting businesses and individuals to be happier and more effective.

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