Nutrition and fitness are the keys to good health. They benefit a person physically, psychologically, and socially. They can also provide many health benefits. Just think about it, being healthy is vital for your everyday lives as well as running your own business!

Benefits of Exercise
There are many benefits that come with exercising. Exercising will help you with things such as having a more restful sleep, improving your body composition, improving your bone density (lowers the risk of osteoporosis), resistance to colds and flues, lowers blood pressure, reduces risk of cardiovascular disease, promotes good health, and you can even live longer.

Exercise may promote good health, but more than 60% of adults in the United States are not regularly active and 25% of our adults are completely inactive. We must also take into consideration that adults – parents, put their health second to those of their children by running them around to soccer games, taking them to friend’s houses, and to other activities. Yes, it’s important to be there for your kids, and we probably won’t completely understand until we have kids of our own, but it’s also important that adults and parents realize that they need to take some time off to do things for their own sake and health. Physical inactivity is linked to major degenerative diseases such as stroke, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and hypertension, which are the primary killers of adults in developed countries.

What Do You Need to Do?
There are many things you can do, play sports, go for a run, swim, resistance train (weight lift), and much more. The dietary guidelines recommend that Americans accumulate at least 30 minutes of some sort of activity a day. The DRI (Dietary Reference Intakes) committee states that 30 minutes is not long enough to maintain a healthy body weight (BMI in the 18.5 to 24.9 range). The DRI committee claims that 60 minutes of daily moderate intensity of physical activity will help prevent weight gain.

There are many things you can include into your weekly planner. You can run 3 to 5 days a week for 20 to 60 minutes. Make sure to keep your heart rate in the range of 50% to 90% of your maximum heart rate. To figure out what your maximum heart rate is take 220 and subtract your age then multiply that number by .55 - .90 (55% - 90%). You can also strength train 2 to 3 days a week with 8 to 12 repetitions and 3 to 4 sets per exercise. This would be enough activity to maintain and enhance your muscle strength and endurance depending on the intensity of your workout. Remember to also stretch 2 to 3 days a week. This will help you maintain a full range of motion especially if you’re strength training and bulking up with muscle. Hold your stretches for at least 10 to 30 seconds a piece and do them 3 to 4 times in one sitting.

How Do I Get Started?
First of all, you need to recognize your own personal reasons for not exercising and focus on your behavioral changes to incorporate daily activity into your life. Find activities you enjoy and commit to doing them a few times a week. When you begin your activities, remember to start slowly, set attainable goals, make it convenient, and reward yourself for meeting your goals. Making it convenient is very important. You don’t want to say you’ll go to the gym 3 times a week when the gym is an hour away. Also, don’t reward yourself with a night of binge eating; reward yourself with a new pair of tennis shoes or something along those lines.

Don’t make yourself a statistic. If you know that you need to be more active then do something! If you’re a parent, ask your child to go outside and “play” with you, which not only benefits yourself but your child as well. Be sure to make healthy food decisions and exercise daily. If you’re looking to lose weight, remember that it takes time and dedication and will not happen overnight. Now, stop reading this and go do something!

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