Say YES to Exercise – Even With a Busy Family Life – because exercise and weight loss go hand in hand. The number one excuse for not exercising, weight loss or not, is time constraints. But, the truth is that regular exercise needs to be a priority, especially when you’re dieting.
Most of us lead busy lives these days, and more so, if you’re a mom or dad. That makes it easy to think there’s just place to fit in a few minutes for exercise. However, there’s really only one way to lose the weight (short of surgery) and that’s to burn more calories than you consume. And exercising 3-5 times a week for 30 minutes to an hour burns calories and more.
It’s Hard to Separate Exercise and Weight Loss
The stark reality is that NOT exercising makes it difficult if not impossible to reach your weight-loss goals. When you reduce calories and exercise at the same time, your body takes its fuel from the fat on your frame.
If you’re only cutting enough calories to lose weight, your body is most likely sabotaging itself by using muscle tissue for fuel. That may not seem important, until you realize that you’re losing muscle tone, and that’s making you feel tired and weak.
And that’s not all, the fact of the matter is that exercise empowers us. It’s a way to relieve stress and increase energy levels that burn even more calories. Exercise always makes us feel more vital and alive.
Depending on your eating habits and other factors, you may wish to exercise a lot, in order to burn off what you ingested. Or, you can reduce calories while adding in a more moderate exercise plan that suits your busy lifestyle.
How to Make Exercise a Habit?
!f you truly wish to take a stand and and commit to combining exercise and dieting for weight loss, then here are some suggestions on how to stick to the plan.
— Take a Stand With Family and Friends
Let your family and friends know that exercise is a non-negotiable. Assuming these are reasonable people who will accommodate your need to be healthy and offload stress, then they should view this as a positive. With any luck, they’ll see and show appreciation for your effort.
In this case, they’ll likely want to give you the time that you need each day, or every other day, in order to get in some calorie-burning, muscle-building movement.
— Make the Time
Many people use their busy family life as an excuse as to why they can’t exercise. That’s just what it is; an excuse. We make time for what we want to do. Maybe we talk on the phone every day. Maybe we spend 3 hours cruising social media. Swap out that time slot and put exercise there instead.
Everybody realizes that losing weight is no easy task. Those extra pounds come on with ease, but it’s going to take a serious stand to get to and maintain a healthy weight. And when you get serious, the time will be there for you.
— Find Someone to Look After Your Children
Your neighbor’s daughter might be home right now, just hoping and waiting to land that babysitting gig. Even if your sitter is on the younger side, this will be a great experience for a 13 year old who hopes to broaden her babysitting experience. You can arrange to have the teen or pre-teen come over and stay with your kids while you take a half an hour or more to yourself. Head out for a jog, stay home and use your home exercise equipment, slip away for a Zumba class, or find another way to burn calories.
— Build Exercise Into Your Family Routine
Kids need to stay active just as much as adults do, if not more so. If your children claim to be bored or seem restless or moody in front of their electronics, this is a perfect excuse for the entire family to get out and get moving.
You can practice sports skills together such as running and kicking a soccer ball, playing catch, running bases, or even just frolicking about in a game of tag or hide-and-seek.
Summary
You really can’t get away from the fact that a good weight loss program needs some form of regular exercise to go with it. Concentrating on your weight loss goals and an exercise program at the same time just makes sense. But it will also make you lose weight faster, have more energy, and feel better all around.
Exercise and weight loss can’t be separated because exercise speeds up your metabolism to create a faster calorie burn to get rid of excess fat and pounds.