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Hate exercise? A cheeky solution...
12th January 2007
I bought a bicycle last week.
It wasn't planned.... it wasn't a New Year's Resolution... it was an impulse buy.
Usually my impulse buys involve a bottle of malt whisky, an expensive steak or a slab of dark chocolate. (Come on now, don't tut. You know how GREAT life is when you treat yourself to this stuff!)
But I this time I surprised myself with a healthy impulse.
I was in the shop because Lara wanted to get a bike so she could cycle to work.
When I walked in, I was struck by that smell of new rubber I remembered in bicycle stores as a kid, when getting a new bike was a major event.
Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by a wave of nostalgia.
My trousers shrank into a pair of shorts... my shoes turned into sandals... the hair disappeared from my nose... my belly flattened...
I was YOUNG AGAIN!
Yes, I was a little ten-year old boy standing there in the shop, with dreams of tearing down hills on my bike, fast as a whippet, the wind billowing in my coat...
I pushed my tiny, childish hands into my pockets. There I was amazed to find a wallet full of cash and credit cards.
'Please, sir' I squeaked, pointing to a bike hanging from the ceiling. 'Can I have THAT one?'
Five minutes later, the bike was mine.
Of course, when I left the shop and clambered onto the thing, I immediately grew back into a slightly overweight 40 something.
As I wobbled and weaved onto the road, I realised I hadn't been on one of these things for 20 years.
'You look like a pie on a cocktail stick,' remarked Lara.
But a week on, and I'm getting used to it, riding to and from the shops, or wheeling about for 25 minutes each day. Which is great, because it means I can get on with a little weight loss plan I'd like to share with you...
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Two ways to trick the exercise demon
As you know, I'm not the skinniest chap. I do eat healthily, however, and I'm not what you'd describe as 'fat'. I make sure I get all the right nutrients into my diet.
Yes, I pretty much follow all the advice I offer in the Good Life Letter.
I do have my indulgences, and I occasionally over-eat. But these little joys stop me from being grumpy, depressed, or feeling that life is all about holding back and GIVING STUFF UP.
It isn't. Life is about balance. And fun.
Which is why exercise is such a problem. See, I don't know about you, but as I get older, I dislike the idea of doing exercise more and more.
Gyms make me feel like a hamster, what with all the
treadmills... jogging makes me feel like Jimmy Saville... and my rugby days are LONG gone.
So what can you and I do instead?
Well, don't beat yourself up about it! The solution might be to dismiss the idea of formal exercise altogether.
Instead, get a bicycle. That way you never have to go through any hard slog to get fit. You just use the bike for every day tasks and it'll happen naturally.
If a bike is too much for you, then walking will do the trick.
Experts say that taking 10,000 steps per day sets off a chain reaction of physical benefits, lowering your blood pressure, reducing the risk of heart disease.
It may sound like a lot, but most people cover about 4,000 to 6,000 steps in a typical day. So you probably only need to come up with another 4,000 to 6,000 steps each day to reach 10,000.
That's about a 30 to 60 minute walk!
If you stick to this discipline every day, you will find the effects amazing. Bad moods will lift, you will get slimmer, your blood pressure will fall and your brain will become more alert.
To make sure you get the right walking quota every day, get hold of one of those talking pedometers I mentioned last year:
Talking Pedometer
With a few tiny tweaks to your lifestyle, you don't have to do any exercise. Your normal daily routine will make you fitter and happier. |
Just like the 'fatso Dad' I mentioned on Friday
I'm not the only voice in the wilderness when it comes to this subject...
Remember Friday's letter? I told you about Peter Townsley, who lost 68 pounds in 6 months by cutting down on conventional exercise and eating more of the foods he enjoyed.
If you didn't read it, check out his story:
Health Inferno
I too believe that you don't have to eat bland rabbit food to lose weight. In fact, I reckon conventional weight loss wisdom is way off the mark.
A lot of these diets you read about suggest you should UP your intake of carbohydrates and LOWER your fat intake.
But what you should aim to do is LOWER your intake of refined carbohydrates (white bread, white pasta, flour, white rice, etc).
These act like sugars, spiking your blood sugar levels, causing a flood of insulin that makes your body 'crash'... leaving you ravenously hungry.
Go instead for slow-burning foods... green vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, dairy products.
Include carbohydrates for one meal a day only. And choose brown rice, wholemeal bread, brown pasta. Your body won't suffer the lows and highs, so you should be able to eat tasty balance meals every day.
And you'll lose weight.
So does it work for me?
A Good Lifer asked me recently, 'If the diets that you
recommend are so good, why are you overweight?'
My answer is simple.
'You should see how fat I'd be if I DIDN'T think about what I ate.'
And now I have a bike.... so watch out world, here comes Mr Skinny!
Yours, as ever,
Ray Collins
The Good Life letter |
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