Howdy folks… it’s Monday.. I am a little late - heavy week!
A tough week with no real progress - all my numbers are the same, with the exception of my waist measurement which is again down 1cm. No weight loss which doesn’t suprise me given I found it hard to do my normal 240 minutes of exercise. A trip across the ditch to New Zealand (and a two hour time difference) meant a very late night Tuesday travelling, a very early start Wednesday training all day, and the equivalent of a 2am start getting an early flight home on Thursday! This along with a full training, speaking and coaching agenda meant I got 2 work-outs done, instead of 5.
Just goes to show… abuse the natural laws of health, and you suffer the consequences. I didn’t expend as many calories copared to those I put in…. which brings us to…
The 4th Law of Health
EXERCISE AND STRENGTH
The human body is designed for action and movement. The trouble is, we have adopted a more sedentary lifestyle and we simple don’t move our body enough. There are many benefits of regular exercise:
· Lowers resting heart rate and blood pressure.
· Burns up unwanted fat so you look and feel better.
· Lowers cholesterol and lipids (fats) in the blood.
· Increases air flow through the nasal passages and lungs.
· Reduces stiffness in the joints.
· Controls the appetite, as the brain’s “appestat” operates more effectively.
· Increases circulation and oxygen intake, thus nourishing nerves and body tissues.
· Improves muscle tone and blood vessels – changes weak flabby muscle to strong, firm tissue.
When deciding to start an exercise routine, choose an activity that will hold the training heart rate for 20 minutes at a time, then exercise 3 to 6 times a week.
Also, don’t forget to enjoy your exercise! If you don’t enjoy it, you will most likely not do it for long. Decide when you will exercise and make a definite appointment and choose to take time to be well.
Remember:
“Those who cannot find the time for exercise will have to find the time for illness.”
AEROBIC & ANAEROBIC EXERCISE
“Aerobic” means, literally, “with oxygen”. Your aerobic system gives you your endurance, and it encompasses the heart, lungs, blood vessels, and aerobic muscles. If you condition your metabolism to operate aerobically, and supply it with proper diet and exercise, you burn fat as your primary fuel.
“Anaerobic” means “without oxygen” and refers to exercises that produce short bursts of power. Anaerobic exercise burns glycogen as its primary fuel, while causing the body to store fat.
BODY FAT AND THE SET POINT
After a few days of reduced caloric intake, the body adjusts by lowering its base metabolic rate (BMR), thus permitting more efficient use of the calories. This automatic biological response makes losing weight while dieting progressively more difficult.
HOW CAN YOU RESET YOUR SET POINT?
Increase your physical exercise to rest your set point. To date, physical exercise is the only known way to lower your set point, raise your BMR, and “program” your body to store less fat than it did before. Exercising aerobically will give your body more oxygen for energy, burn fat as fuel, and, most importantly, help you accelerate your metabolic rate so that you become a virtual fat-burning machine.
ORGANISING PRINCIPLE
You will not healthfully lose weight unless you change your set point.
I was doing well on this front, and yet I’m human, and fell of the pathway this week - so time to get back into the swing of things and up the ante on the exercise front.
Join me this week in…
1. Doing at least 240 minutes of exercise
2. living the 4 laws we have explored so far.
Stay excited. If anyone wants some great graphs to track your progress, yell out, and will e-mail them to you. A fellow pogger blogger member forwarded them to me and they give a great visual of your progress.
Cheers for now
Ian (AKA, the pogger Blogger)