Admit it, you have been inactive for a while. You have enjoyed a rather sedentary lifestyle, with very little activity, and now you want to start exercising. That is fabulous. The benefits of exercise can improve your mind and body substantially.
However, you shouldn’t expect miracles when you just start out.
Here are some things to ponder about. Did you begin running the day after you first started to walk as a toddler? Probably not. A week after you first started swimming you were probably not in the Olympics. It’s not like you ate burgers, chips, and cookies yesterday and this morning you woke up weighing 20 pounds heavier. Nor should you expect working out after long periods of being sedentary to deliver immediate results. It took time for your body to get to the state that it’s currently in so it will take time to lose the extra weight you’ve gained.
The good news is, you will start to feel better when you exercise. Sitting and physical inactivity can truly harm you. It is proven to take years off of the average human lifespan. So anything you do other than sitting on your rump is going to make you start to feel better.
Quick story – after giving birth to 3 kids – my life and my body changed. My focus shifted from “me” to “the kids”. As the kids slowly grew, so did my body. It was a sad day when I finally realized and accepted that I gained weight. A highschool reunion changed all that. The fear of having my old friends judge me for how big I have become – pushed me into deciding that I needed to lose weight – quick. I worked out every day for 3 weeks before the reunion and I lost 5 pounds. That may not be the success I was looking for at the time but – it helped propel me into a healthier lifestyle. It was enough to keep me going. It has been over 9 years since that reunion and I have not gotten back to my old unhealthy habits.
If there is one thing I want to emphasize, it is “a consistent and repetitive exercise program will eventually deliver the health benefits you are trying to achieve“. Just keep at it. You probably know you should start off slow in the beginning. This keeps you from becoming injured and ditching your exercise program altogether.
The story of the hare and the tortoise is applicable here. Slow and steady wins the race, so adopt a regular exercise routine. Stick to it, week after week, month after month, and you will eventually achieve the results you’re looking for.