Boost the Power of Your Diet With the Dreaded E-Word

Yup, I’ll say that dreaded E-word out loud: E-X-E-R-C-I-S-E. But as much as you moan and complain about it, if you’re looking for a way to boost the effects of your diet, you can’t find anything better than — *gulp* — exercise.

Yes, this does take work and it isn’t always easy. But if you add even a little exercise to your diet program you’ll find that you exponentially increase your success. Here are a few tips for adding exercise into your day.

• Start slow – don’t begin exercising and expect to win a marathon
• Add 10 minutes of exercise into your day at first, then work up from there
• Find a workout buddy who will go with you to exercise
• Choose exercises you like
• Change your routine – do different types of exercise regularly
• Incorporate strength training, aerobic activity, and stretching into your routine
• Add exercise into every day activities such as taking the stairs and parking further away from stores entrances

Many people start incorporating exercise and try to go way too fast at first. They may add an hour of activity a day – but after a few days that turns out to be too much. Instead, you’ll want to start out slow.

Just adding 10 minutes a day will allow you to have improvement. And if you do 10 minutes for a week or two, you can add five more at a time. You want to be in this for the long run.

Also, think about the kinds of exercises you like to do. For some people there’s no such thing as good exercise. But you may find that there are activities that will get your body moving without making you miserable.

Here are a few examples:

• Swimming
• Walking
• Bicycling
• Rollerblading
• Dancing
• Belly dancing
• Yoga
• Badminton
• Golf
• Fishing
• Gardening
• Hiking
• Cross country skiing
• Skiing
• Water skiing
• Flying a kite
• Frisbee
• Racquetball
• Squash
• Team sports
• Circuit training
• Weight lifting

No matter what activity you try, exercise can be fun and make you feel better than just about anything. It helps you to produce natural hormones called endorphins that lift depression and give you huge amounts of energy.

If you’re charting your progress, pay attention to what happens when you add even a tiny amount of exercise. You’ll find that you have much greater success than you were having before.

One thing you need to know, though, is that you might actually see a small increase on the scale when you begin exercising – this is actually a good thing. If you’ve been extremely sedentary you’re going to begin adding muscle mass to your body.

This muscle mass is lean tissue that’s very compact. It will make you look leaner and you’ll see your inches decreasing even if your weight goes up a pound or two. Eventually, the muscle tissue will help to raise your metabolism.

When that happens, you’ll find that you lose weight faster, can eat more calories, and have more energy than you’ve had in the past. The benefits of exercise also extend to your health. Exercise will help you to enjoy:

• Lower risk of heart disease
• Lower risk of diabetes (and in some cases a reversal of it)
• Lower risk of cancer
• Lower risk of stroke
• Lower risk of arthritis
• Increased focus
• Increased energy
• Ability to move easily
• Decreased aches and pains

No pill on the market can give you all of these benefits. And while you’ll have to get disciplined and into a new routine, you’ll find that you never made a better decision in your life.

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Tags: benefits of exercise, diet, Exercise, Nutrition, Weight Loss

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