An advent of ideas 6 - anything is better than nothing

[GoogleMe]

I can remember starting out doing C25K as part of my weight loss project around the time of Michael Mosley's The Truth About Exercise. It would have been dead easy to give up in the face of what everyone was talking about as it seemed I was wasting my time. Yet I knew that the really intensive kind of exercise suggested there was a recipe for making myself very, very ill indeed. So I kept going for a laugh really - I knew perfectly well that those 8 minutes of running which was the total run time of the first week were not going to be burning up loads of calories.

I also started parking further away in the supermarket car park and pushing the trolley quite fast to and from the store.

I've never been a yo yo dieter, or even a dieter, but about 10 years ago I needed to lose weight and I did it, but I wasn't well enough to do as much exercise as I can and do now (even though I still have to spend most of my time in bed) and it was hard going. The exercise I do rarely burns me more than 200 calories and not every day but I really believe it helps.

[Windswept1]

Well done on persevering with the exercise. I am enjoying your advent of ideas.

[GoogleMe in reply to Windswept1]

Thanks. I have some catching up to do with both the 'advent' and with the exercise. But I am keeping to that idea of something still being better than nothing even though there's been too much going on to cope with swimming or running much eg walking to the town centre post box to get the last post to Canada, and giving myself credit for the 5 minutes of yoga I do when I first get up. Although I have now got into the healthy BMI range, I still have a lot of flab on my front and I know my abdominal muscles need toning. But I have a very dodgy back which complicates a lot of exercises. I've recently started following an idea I got from Ekhart Yoga (also available free from them on YouTube now) called Nauli Kriya. Looks very weird but works on abdominal muscles without risk to my back. And my running knickers (firm control) are going on more easily.

[Penel]

The human body is a complicated thing and I don't suppose that the Mosley program about exercise will have been the definitive answer. It's a great shame if it made people give up on exercise.

I don't think about exercise as a way to burn calories, but as a way to stay healthy. If you are finding yoga helpful, you may find Pilates works too. It is very good for improving strength and flexibility.

[GoogleMe in reply to Penel]

Yes, that's an important point about being active (better word!) being about health rather than weight loss, and then any weight loss is a bonus. Being active reduces the risks of being overweight.

[GoogleMe in reply to GoogleMe]

I am planning to give NHS Strength & Flexibility another go in the New Year and complete it.