The Importance of Exercise for Your Weight Loss Goals

Exercise is great for your body, helps you lose weight, and it’s a natural tool to level out your mood. It takes 30 minutes a day to literally turn that frown upside down and boost your energy. As time progresses, push yourself to do more.

Beginners, you can start out slow by adding 30 minutes of exercise per day for 4 days a week. As you build endurance and strength, increase that to 6 days a week with one rest day or active rest day such as yoga, Pilates or stretching.

Discover which types of exercise work for you and your body. This way, you can safely burn those calories and build up your strength, mentally and physically. Choose to be active with family and friends. Work out at the gym if you enjoy the social aspect and the variety of activities. Got a difficult schedule? It’s easy enough to work out from home, on your own time, when it’s convenient.

No matter where, when, how often or what type of exercise you choose to engage in, it will be especially fulfilling to keep track of your progress as you move forward on your weight loss journey. You can track how long you exercise for, how far you run, how much you can lift, and how your body starts to change. You can write it down in an exercise journal, make a video diary of your exercise progress, or even join a group online where each member checks in with their exercise stats to keep each other accountable. Exercise is powerful not just for building muscle, losing weight and cardiovascular, but also to build up the immune system. Once you reach your goal weight, there is no reason to ever stop exercising. It’s one of the best things you can do for your body, that will keep you fit and feeling great well into old age. In fact, the older you get and the more you stay with your commitment to exercise, the younger you’ll tend to look, the healthier you’ll be, and the more energy you’ll have. Let’s Review the Top Reasons to Exercise:

Reduce your risk of heart disease. “Cardio” exercise as it’s known refers to activity that gets your heart rate up and speeds your breathing. This type of exercise, when performed at a sustained rate and on a regular basis, strengthens the heart muscle and gives the lungs a workout.

Improve your mental health and mood. Exercise delivers a boost of feel-good chemicals to the brain, raising our endorphin levels and lowering stress. All of this adds up to a boost of positive feelings, clearer thinking and lift of mood overall.

Help your body manage blood sugar and insulin levels. Did you know that your body processes sugar more efficiently if you move after eating? You don’t have to run a 5K; a brisk walk after a big meal is enough to get your body working to process that glucose.

Reduce your risk of falls. People who remain sedentary tend to put themselves at risk of injury. When we weigh more, we put stress on our joints (knees, hips, ankles) just doing simple things like standing and walking. If we lack muscle tone, we’ll tend to fall harder and be more likely to get hurt after a fall.

Improves your sleep. Exercising daily definitely helps us release tension in the body to ensure a better night’s sleep. Any form of movement that gets the heart rate up for a long time will help you burn calories and lower your stress levels. Even simple stretches such as yoga put the nervous system into a relaxed state so you’re more likely to fall and stay asleep easier after bedtime.

Strengthens your bones and muscles. All forms of exercise, including cardio, stretching, and lifting weights, help us maintain healthy muscle stone to keep us fit and strong. Weight bearing exercise (such as jogging) delivers calcium to our biggest bones which keeps our bones from becoming brittle as we age.

Increase your chance of living longer. People who exercise are less likely to become chronically ill with diseases that take our life too soon, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and cardio vascular disease.

Help you control your weight. You’re reading this because you’re interested in reaching and maintaining a healthy body weight, and exercise, especially cardio which burns calories at a high rate, is one of the best ways to achieve that. The stronger your muscles become, the more efficient you become at metabolizing your food and the slimmer you’ll tend to stay.

Improves brain function. Exercise gets your heart pumping and your blood flowing which delivers a turbo boost of brain power. You’ll also tend to drink more water when exercising, which is also good for cognitive performance.

Improve your sexual health. Getting your body into a healthy shape has the happy consequence of boosting our libido. We also increase our stamina, endurance, flexibility and strength, all of which can have amazing effects on our sex life.

When is the best time of day to exercise? That’s up to you and your own body rhythms.

If you exercise at the same time each day, your body will tend to perform better each time. Research has shown that there isn’t necessarily an optimal time of day when you’ll be likely to burn more calories. However, the time of day when YOU have the highest energy levels will tend to get you performing at your best.

Not sure when is your peak exercising time of day? Try working out in the morning for a few weeks, then afternoon for a few weeks, and then early evening for a few weeks. Compare your results to determine when is your best time to exercise - when you’re likely to have the most energy and feel the best throughout your workout and afterwards.

Have you played around, tried or thought about, with what time of day works best for your workout? Do it! Figure it out, because the benefits are great for your body, mind and soul.

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