Love Hate Relationship with Exercise

I have never been one to LIKE exercise. I don't know why. Maybe because I was so clumsy as a kid and terrible at sports. Maybe because I was not exposed to a wide variety of activities, so I had trouble finding one I was good at. Who knows why I dislike it so much, but I know now that I must change those views if I am going to be successful at keeping this weight off that I am losing.

The first step is to not view exercise as a chore and to realize that it is more than just jogging and sit-ups. Any physical activity is exercise in my book. So, that being said, I did a little reading on exercise and losing fat, and discovered that you don't have to work really hard to burn the fat.

The key is to stay within your Target Heart Rate. This will ensure that you are burning fat, not just calories. Exercising too intensely will burn the calories that are readily available in your body, for example, what you just ate for lunch. It will not burn much fat. So, why work that hard if you don't have to? Right? Unless you are training for a marathon, you don't need to work that hard to burn the fat. Find out more information on Target Heart Rates by visiting
the American Heart Association website.

Another way to burn the fat is to strengthen your muscles. Strong muscles, burn more fat. This also does not need to be a complicated workout and you only need to perform strength training twice a week. From what I've read, the muscles start strengthening after your workout is over and they require 5-7 days of rest between workouts so that you don't over aggravate the muscle. I'm sure you can find more info about this on the Internet.

I am currently using Resistance Bands to help strengthen my muscles. They are not expensive and are available everywhere. On Saturdays I will be working my upper body. On Wednesdays I will be working the lower body. This will allow all the muscles groups a chance to rest between workouts and keep my workouts to 15-20 minutes each. Everyone can fit in 15-20 minutes? Can't You?

You can see some exercises using resistance bands by going to this blog.

The rest of the week, I will work on my cardio whenever possible. Currently we are snowshoeing, which provides a great cardio workout.

I'll be listing more items on our Etsy store over the next couple of weeks. If you haven't visited our shop, check it out sometime. www.gardensandcrafts.etsy.com