This is always good advice, no matter what the endeavor, but especially when it comes to exercise. This may be obvious to some, but to me, it really makes sense. Babies aren’t born being able to run a marathon or go on a 50 mile bike ride. What makes us think that as adults we should be able to do that without working up to it? And also – not everyone wants to run a marathon or go on a 50 mile bike ride. Some of us just want to be able to move a little more, a little more easily.
When I started Weight Watchers in March of 2008, I had been inactive for years. I’d been working at a computer-based job for years, and commuting two hours daily, and then spending my evenings just watching TV, so there was a lot of just plain sitting on my bum. In addition, I have fibromyalgia, and this deterred me further from doing any activity.
Week two at Weight Watchers is usually when they start talking to you about activity, encouraging you to add activity to your weekly plan. I sat there and told myself that activity was great for the rest of you guys, but me, I was going to lose my weight without activity, just you wait and see. And that’s exactly what I did for the first few months. And I did lose weight, but I didn’t do any activity. People talking about joining gyms, weight lifting, walking 5Ks (gasp!) and more just turned me off and fired up my rebellion streak and I wasn’t going to do all that stuff. Besides, I’d tried joining gyms and got bored with them and never went. I tried the Gazelle at home and it was a great clothes hanger. All that equipment and membership dues was just a total waste for me. I still don’t like gyms.
Then one week, our leader at the time started talking about small ways – baby steps – that you can use to incorporate activity into your daily routine. Here are some of the things she came up with were really workable – and free – that I could see myself doing. They were realistic, small changes that I could try without a huge time commitment or cost.
Five easy ways to add steps to your daily routine.
- If you have two bathrooms, one on each floor, go to the one on the opposite floor (or opposite end of the house – or office) when you need to. You’ll be amazed how many additional steps this incorporates into your day.
- Most people already know this one, but park at the far end of the parking lot when you go to the store. Added bonus: your car doors don’t get dinged.
- Take the shopping cart all the way back to the store instead of leaving it in front of your parking space.
- If it’s suggested to get a half hour of activity in a day, break it up into smaller pieces. Walk five or ten minutes at a time, two or three times a day. It all counts.
- Vacuum your floors more than once a week. You’d be surprised how many steps you take when you vacuum.
I did all these things when starting out and the amazing thing is that gradually, over time, I was able to do more. Twenty minutes turned into two miles and so forth. The point is, just get started. Start small, start with what you can do right now.
{ 3 comments }
I’m really glad you wrote this post. I started back on my treadmill, doing ten minutes each evening, and felt really foolish about it. Because those are ten LONG minutes, let me tell you. But between my heart condition and my years of inactivity, I found that doing more than ten minutes made me feel physically wiped out and I would avoid it the next day. I needed this reinforcement, this permission to start with ten minutes until I feel well enough to move up to 12 minutes and so-forth..
In the winter of 1995 I realized I hadn’t done a lick of exercise in 15 years! My kids were 15, 13, and 9 and I was still using the “baby weight” excuse to myself. So I started walking to the end of my street, about a three minute walk, once a day, then twice a day. Like you, one thing led to another and by the fall I was up to six miles a day. I’d lost 35 pounds without really changing my diet too much…I did cut out making bread pudding and a cheesecake every week, and I stopped keeping the ingredients for TollHouse cookies in the cupboard. But you’re right, it’s baby steps, and I really needed to be reminded of that.
LOL What’s with that face your website has assigned me?
What? You don’t like that face? LMAO. It’s a random generator. Hmmm. I can change it to something that looks like funkadelic quilt squares, but this one makes me laugh.
As for the baby steps, Wendy, you’re spot on too. Little things all add up. We don’t eat a pie in one bite, right? (Well, I eat only a bite of pie anymore, but that’s beside the point.)
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