Tips to Get You Started

  • Choose an activity you will enjoy.
  • Set aside a regular exercise time. This could mean joining an exercise class or getting up earlier every day.
  • Set short-term goals. Keep a record of your progress and tell your friends and family.
  • Vary your exercise program. Change exercises or invite friends to join you to make your workouts more enjoyable.

Tips to Keep You Going

  • Adopt a specific plan and write it down.
  • Keep setting realistic goals as you go along, and remind yourself of them often.
  • Keep a log to record your progress and make sure to keep it up-to-date.
  • Include weight and/or percentage body fat measures in your log.
  • Upgrade your fitness program as you progress.
  • Enlist the support and company of family and friends and update them on your successes.
  • Avoid injuries by pacing yourself and including a warm-up and cool-down period as part of every workout.
  • Reward yourself periodically for a job well done!

Increased physical activity can lead to a longer life and improved health.

Exercise helps prevent heart disease and many other chronic physical and mental diseases. Exercise builds strength, gives you energy, and can reduce stress. It is also a good way to curb your appetite and burn calories. Exercises that increase your heart rate and move large muscles (legs and arms) are best. Choose an activity that you enjoy and that you can start slowly and increase gradually so that you will stick with it!

How much exercise is enough?

Start off exercising three or more times a week for 20 minutes or more. Work up to at least 30 minutes of exercise 4-6 times a week. It is important to exercise at an intensity vigorous enough to cause your heart rate and breathing to increase. Increased exercise intensity and length of 10% per week is optimum. However, how hard you should exercise depends somewhat on your age, and is determined by measuring your heart rate in beats per minute. Concentrate on finding a steady pace that you can maintain throughout your exercise period. Ask your physician for help determining your target heart range.

Exercise can reduce stress.

Physical activity helps to pump up your endorphins – those little “feel good” neurotransmitters. Increasing self-confidence, with regular exercise can also lower symptoms associated with mild depression and anxiety. As you begin to regulary shed your daily tensions through movement and physical activity, you may find this simple task is the solution to having energy, optimism, and remaining clear and calm in everything you do.

Even more exercise facts that may surprise you.

 

 

Exercise Facts

  • Exercise improves sleep
  • Physical activity helps you lose weight
  • Walking just 30 minutes a day five days a week can increase your life span
  • Physical activity can decrease your risk of breast and colon cancer
  • Exercise improves healthy food choices
  • Exercise can improve bone density
  • Aerobic exercise can cut symptoms of mild to moderate depression
  • Aerobic exercise can reduce your risk of catching a cold
  • Being active can cut your risk of developing heart disease in half
  • Weight loss goal of 1 pound per week is safe and sustainable
  • Exercise can reverse the age-related loss of brain tissue

Close

Make sure you are hydrated

If you lose just 1-2% of your body weight through dehydration, it can decrease energy and cause you to become lethargic, constipated, and overheated.

Signs of dehydration:

  • Poor concentration
  • Headache
  • Irritability
  • Fatigue
  • Thirst
Make sure you are hydrated

What you should know about water.

The average woman needs about 9 cups per day. The average man needs about 12 cups per day.

For physical activity, drink 1-3 cups of water prior to exercise and after every 15-20 minutes of activity. Remember to increase water intake in hot or humid weather. As a reliable indicator of when to drink, check the color of your urine. If it is dark yellow, you need to drink more.

Water will help you lose weight — drink it 20 minutes before each meal to help feel fuller.