Ever wonder why those little lunchtime walks and brisk trips up the stairs that everyone recommends don’t help you lose any substantial weight? That’s because they simply aren’t intense cardio routines. If you really want to lose weight, you have to get your heart rate up for at least forty five minutes or so a day, and for most of us that’s just a minimum requirement. The problem is, with packed schedules and to-do lists, not many of us have forty five plus minutes a day for cardiovascular exercise. Most of us are doing good to park at the back of the lot to increase the amount of walking we get in from the car to our offices. Don’t give up hope just yet, though. There are ways to sneak in that exercise for weight loss purposes, so read on.
First, and you won’t want to hear this, but you really can just set that alarm clock about fifty minutes earlier if you want to find a time to just get the whole workout done and out of the way at once. Yes, that first week you’ll be guzzling caffeine to stay awake at work due to the loss of that precious hour of sleep, but in the long run your better fitness level will pay off in more than enough energy and better sleep during the night to take care of that problem. You may have to make some schedule adjustments in your day at first to be able to make sure that you still receive eight hours of sleep each night (extremely important), but you will also find that getting up an hour early will have your mind prepped and your day planned out before it is well underway, making it easier to get through. A little time saving tip to this approach is to make sure that you don’t have to travel to the gym for your exercise. Get up, throw some clothes on and start jogging around the block or exercising to a cardio DVD. Gyms are great, but most of us never go to them because of the commute and the expense. Just get moving and make the most of your time as soon as you open your eyes in the morning.
If you cannot possibly wake up an hour earlier without sacrificing your eight hours of necessary sleep, that is perfectly understandable. You’ll just have to get a bit creative. As we noted before, walking for five minutes after lunch is healthy, but it won’t do much to blast pounds each week. Ok, let’s be honest here. It won’t do anything. Tiny added bits of exercise are great supplements to your routine, as well as a great way to prep your body for more intense workouts, but you’ll have to do more if you want to slim down in this decade. The following steps can be taken for anyone working a relatively normal job schedule and balancing families, marriages, and other obligations as well.
First, do utilize at least some morning time. Most of us have been forced to examine how we spend our work days because our employers made us take a time management course or because we are simply looking to be more productive, but not many can say that we have really focused in on how we spend our mornings. That part of the day doesn’t matter, right? Wrong. To increase the amount of time you can dedicate in the morning to exercise to at least twenty minutes (anything less won’t do you much good), consider how you can eliminate extra tasks that contribute to the same outcome. Not many of us can say that we couldn’t pre-set our coffee makers the night before, make our breakfasts easy to grab (think breakfast bars and fruit rather than meals that must be cooked), skip the morning newspaper reading, or cut back on the amount of time we spend getting ready in the morning. Little things do make a difference. Get up ten minutes earlier to start (that won’t kill anybody), and add in ten more minutes somewhere else by simplifying your routine. On the first couple of mornings, just try to get the new routine down pat. After that, when you have become more comfortable with your new morning schedule, figure in your exercise time for whenever it is most convenient.
Secondly, pack a cold lunch. No, that doesn’t sound like exercise, but stay with me here. You can utilize lunch time for exercise, but the problem is that so many of us drive somewhere off campus for lunch, eat slowly with friends, drive back, and then have five or ten minutes left to take a walk. Even those of us who are already packing our lunches can spend up to twenty minutes waiting for our turn at the microwave. Just pack a salad, a sandwich, or whatever you like that you can grab and eat quickly. If possible, use that extra saved time to change into some tennis shoes and start power walking around the block. Just get moving and make sure that, whatever you do, you come back to your desk with your heart pumping and the need to freshen up a bit. If you aren’t sweating, you aren’t doing anything, and this may be your only real chance during the day.
Finally, take a look at your evening time. How much of it is spent watching TV, watching kids, watching water boil on a stove, etc.? Who says you can’t be moving during these times? Get inventive. If you spend an hour each night tutoring your kid, move that kid into your exercise area and walk on the treadmill while you answer the occasional question. If you are in the kitchen every night, give yourself a break three or four times a week for a while by using a crock pot or the oven to make your entire meal without the need for your constant supervision. If the only time for you to catch up on the news is in the evenings, walk in place or do some jumping jacks during that time. Heck, you can make up whatever heart pumping routine works for you, just do something for at least twenty minutes in the evening, even if it has to wait until the kids are asleep.
If you manage your time effectively, cut back on frivolous activities, implement time saving strategies, and really commit yourself to getting into shape, you will be able to find the time to lose weight with daily exercise. Remember, by cutting corners and trying to get by on just a few minutes of exercise a day, you’re not doing anything but wasting time and effort. To see results, get in forty five minutes a day, and consider giving up that midday potato chip binge. It will all pay off in the end, and the more committed you are, the faster you’re going to see results.
