Why exercise first?

05Aug09

My eating habits haven’t changed at all yet; they’re deplorable and I know it. Fast food, fatty snacks, constant munching, overlarge portions, you name it. I have a big problem with food, and I can’t really start shedding pounds until I change my eating habits. But for now, I am deliberately focusing on exercise, not food. Why?

The studies I’ve read about that examined the habits of people who lost significant amounts of weight and kept it off found one habit in common: All of the successful dieters exercised almost every day for at least an hour. I’m convinced that exercise is going to be critical to changing my habits and sustaining long-term weight loss.

Now, exercise alone is not effective in losing weight. It’s simple physics: There’s just no way that exercise can burn enough calories to really lose pounds. Changing my eating is important, and I’m looking forward to starting that part of the project.

The other reason we’re focusing just on exercise first and not on diet change yet is because of our motto: slow, sensible, and sustainable. Since we’ve got one hundred weeks to work with, almost two years, we can afford to start very slowly. I think that taking a few weeks or even a month to entrench one small change at a time will be much more effective than trying to dive in head-first – and ending up in a belly flop.

Finally, exercise is pleasant. We’re taking evening walks around our new neighborhood, enjoying the summer ocean breezes, and talking. We’re enjoying spending the time together. It’s relaxing and calming. We want to work up to more strenuous exercise, like jogging and maybe some weights. It’s really important to me to rediscover the side of myself that loves to work hard and get sweaty.

For all these reasons, we’re starting with exercise first. In a few weeks, when the exercise habit has taken root, we’ll start changing the way we eat, but for now, we’re making this one small change.

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