For my maiden column, I decided to write about exercise in relation to health and fitness, and it’s most significant role in keeping a healthy lifestyle.
Being in the fitness industry for a few years now, and fortified with a myriad of testimonies from my students about their journey into health and fitness, I constantly encourage them to integrate exercise as part of their daily lifestyle for a healthier and more fulfilled life.
My conviction is, and my Walk students can attest to my mantra in class, let’s gets those bodies moving as our bodies were designed to move and move a lot!
The frequently-asked question I get these days from people hoping to get into an exercise program is how soon they will lose the excess weight, fat or flab if they exercise?
Thinking about it now as I pen this article, almost everybody’s goal to exercise was on a purely physical level. Of course, why would we venture into exercise if we can’t see, feel, and touch the results! But before we start to hop, skip, jog, run, walk, and sweat away those pounds, let’s talk about motivation.
I wasn’t really the fittest person before I started teaching yoga. Growing up, I was the chubby kid in school, but my mother enrolled me in ballet class at the age of five, and I kept up with it for the next 10 years, so moving my body in all ranges of motion wasn’t new to me.
Being in dance school, the body fat soon melted away, and being overweight was not a concern, until I gained a lot of excess pounds while pregnant with my son.
Even before I gave birth, my goal was to exercise the soonest I could, much to the dismay of my late grandmother. I was desperate to lose the excess weight gained during pregnancy, so in essence, I was ready to change my lifestyle.
Back then, I wanted to lose weight because I wanted to look good. Being young, one never associates losing weight for health, because all I wanted was to fit back into my clothes.
Most people begin to think of exercise when the need for it comes like when the doctor says we have to because of high cholesterol, diabetes, or hypertension.
Are we really interested in a healthy lifestyle? Or do we just want to fit into those jeans, look good for a coming high school reunion (of course!), or wear that pretty dress to a wedding?
It’s a most acceptable goal if we’re doing it to fit into those jeans — if that is what will get us started.
Many people begin a diet and exercise program with an immediate goal of changing looks for a special event. But you will realize, almost anyone who loses weight for looks merely puts it back on later.
The reunion fever is over; the people loved your dress in the wedding, so what happens when all the parties and special events have ended? We revert back to our old habits.
If you lose weight through a crash diet, depriving your body of food, your metabolism actually slows down, you burn fewer calories, your muscles atrophy from inactivity, and you would, in fact, easily gain the weight back and more, even if you stuck to the diet.
My yoga anatomy teacher Neil Barker always says, “Never go on a diet and deprive your body of food and nutrients, because if you take out the T from diet, what remains is the word DIE!”
Nurture a healthy relationship with food, he says, know what you eat, and when to eat. A healthy lifestyle is one where food, sleep, and exercise are regulated.
People who lose weight for better health, rather than looks, tend to keep it, and continue to stay healthy.
Health is an ongoing part of our lives, and if our goal is to lose weight through exercise for better health, we do it because we care about ourselves, and our loved ones.
We know that being overweight makes us more susceptible to diseases like arthritis, osteoporosis, cancer, and stroke.
Keeping healthy, we stick around longer, able to lead full, rewarding lives, and face life with a sunnier outlook. Our health is an amazing gift from God; it would be a shame to waste it just sitting on the couch.
Cathy joins the MetroPost as a regular columnist. She studied Sivananda Yoga and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. In 2006, she received her yoga teacher certification from Centered Yoga Institute at Yoga Thailand in Koh Samui, Thailand. In 2010, she received her Walk Leader Certification from the Leslie Sansone Walk Leader Program in Rutgers University, New Jersey. She now holds the distinction of being the only Certified Walk Leader in the Asia-Pacific region. She manages The Yoga & Walk Sanctuary in Dumaguete City, and holds weekly classes at different venues in Cebu City. She also organizes yoga retreats and workshops. She holds a bachelors degree in mass communication from Silliman University.
