Research continues to indicate
that Americans are becoming more sedentary..
and fatter every year. This move toward
inactivity and an increase in body
fat is even more pronounced
in children, who don't get out
and play anymore. Instead, they
sit in front of a TV or computer (perhaps
like their parents) for many of their
waking hours. We know that there
is a very direct, inverse relationship
between a person's level of
activity and the percentage of their
weight that is fat. less activity equals
more fat, and more activity equals less
fat.
I received
an email message recently that
I have to share with you. It's a weight
loss and fitness success story that
makes you want to start exercising while
you're reading it. It's from
a 48 year-old lady, Elizabeth, who
lives in Lexington, Kentucky. She is
living proof that less activity equals
more fat, and more activity equals
lees fat. Here's her letter:
"Greg,
I'm writing to thank you for your inspiring
articles and to tell you about my
journey (a rough one) to fitness. I was
at a healthy weight in my early twenties
and had my first child at age 26.
I remained about 30 pounds overweight after
she was born."
"I managed
to gain 15 more pounds during the
next four years, mostly because of several
diets I tried. After the birth of
my second child at age 31, I was 60 pounds
overweight and very frustrated. Over
the next 15 years I tried numerous diets
(even eating just rice) that ultimate
led to me being 120 pounds overweight."
"I started
reading your articles two years ago
and it finally began to sink in. I finally
realized that exercise wasn't just
about the calories I was burning during
exercise. I finally realized that
I would never lose the weight and keep
it off without some real exercise in
my life."
"I reached
a point in my life where my weight
was ruining my life. I got to the point
where everything was a struggle, none
of my fat clothes fit, I didn't want
to see anyone because of the way I looked,
and even walking made me breathless.
I decided that I would either make
a drastic change at that point or I
would give up. I chose to make a drastic change."
"I knew
that exercise needed to be a priority
and so I changed several things in
my daily schedule to make that happen. I
started with very little but I was very consistent.
I worked up to 45 minutes of aerobic
exercise in the morning and 30 to 45
minutes in the evening. On Saturdays, I
take a less intense, but longer walk throughout
my area of town enjoying all the
sights. I'm up to 8 to 10 miles on my
Saturday walk. I also weight train three
days a week. Please don't get the impression
that this was easy. I went through
MANY difficult struggles but it
definitely got easier as I progressed."
"I'm
now 12 pounds from my goal weight. Greg, I
can't begin to explain how my life has changed.
Everything is different. Even the
way people talk to me. It's almost like
people didn't even see the person under
all that fat. Probably best of all is
that I have energy to function now. I'm
not constantly tired like I used to be."
Thanks again
for your words of encouragement."
Elizabeth
Lexington, Kentucky
Wow! This lady is
unstoppable. Notice that she
first realized the true benefits of exercise
and then decided to do whatever she
had to for exercise to become a consistent
part of her life. Exercise radically
changes how your body handles
fat! when you're sedentary, all the
physiological signals tell your body to
hang on to the fat and dump the metabolism
boosting muscle. When you're exercising
on a daily basis, all the physiological
signals tell your body to dump
the fat and increase the metabolism boosting
muscle. Which signals do you want?
