Just Move More!

I’m travelling in France right now and despite the fact that I’m sampling French pastries, cheeses and baguettes as part of my cultural experience here, I’m losing weight!

Although I don’t recommend just walking as a means for weight loss – strength training is definitely far more efficient and effective - it’s been a great highlight of how an active lifestyle will affect your waistline and your wellbeing.

My idea of a holiday isn’t one of eating, and drinking to excess and lazing by a pool only to return home less fit and with a few extra kilos on board.  I actually see holidays as an opportunity to give attention to my physical and mental wellbeing so I return home fitter, healthier, rested and relaxed ready to take on the full lifestyle that I choose to lead.

This doesn’t however mean deprivation while on holiday though.  In fact it means the opposite!  I love to indulge in the cuisine, the sights and the local lifestyle to get as true an experience as I can of the places I visit and by using as many physical modes of transport as possible – walking, running, cycling, paddling, etc.  I’m able to include some extra gastronomic delights while on holiday.

A growing body of research is finding that sitting for most of the day has been linked to an increase in diseases such as heart disease and diabetes as well as reducing your longevity.  Not only will these diseases decrease the quality and most likely the length of your life but they will also severely impact on the quality of your holidays! Who wants that to look forward to?

To ensure you enjoy your everyday life and any future holidays, include a planned exercise routine into your lifestyle and just move more.  In fact, I’m declaring August “Just Move More” month.  Spring is just around the corner in the southern hemisphere so now’s the perfect time to wake up from any hibernation you may have been in and pay some attention to your wellbeing.

Catch up with a friend while taking a walk, take the family out for a walk along the river, join a regular Boot Camp, jog on the weekends, take the stairs, walk or run at lunchtime, walk the kids to school.  How many ideas can you come up with to include more movement in your day? It definitely makes a difference.  I’ve just experienced it.

Please let me know your thoughts here. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Keep Fit, Be Healthy, Have FUN!