Being active will help burn extra kilojoules, decrease body fat while conserving muscle and increase our energy balance.  Adding exercise into your day and getting active doesn’t have to be hard work, actually if you are puffing too much this shows you are working too hard so slow down and then you will achieve a state where burning fat is easier, for example walking uses the same amount of energy as running the same distance, the difference being that when you run you puff, you burn mostly sugar, if you walk and do not get puffed you burn more fat.

Exercise has many benefits especially if you are trying to lose weight or maintain your weight. I don’t believe long term weight loss can be successfully sustained without some form of exercise in your week. Being active will not only help you slim down but will increase your cardiovascular fitness, keeping blood fat levels low and decreasing your chances of heart disease. Most often when children get angry they may yell, scream, jump on their bike or kick a soccer ball, as adults we may head for the kitchen pantry, a totally non-productive way of handling bad feelings so don’t do exercise just for weight loss but also to help you vent your negative feelings and bad moods as exercise can help the body to calm down and become more relaxed.

I read a survey recently that showed some of the changes regular exercise had made in the lives of some people, 82% said that they had more energy since they started exercising. 73% felt they were more in control of their lives once they started exercising, 69% said they approach life more optimistically and 58% found they were sleeping better. Here are some really simple ways to add exercise into your day:

• Take stairs instead of lifts
• Enrol in a fitness class
• Take up tennis, squash or golf – a great way to meet new people
• Start a garden or fix yours up – you can’t eat with dirty hands
• Try aqua aerobics, great for all ages
• Park further away when shopping or walk to the shops
• Get off a couple of bus stops earlier than you need to
• If you don’t like going to a gym then hire exercise equipment, or exercise videos in the privacy of your home
• Swimming gives the entire body a work out
• Buy a skipping rope, start with 1 minute and build up
• Go out for a night of dancing
• Roller blade with the kids
• And finally you just can’t beat walking it’s fantastic for general wellbeing.