For Weight Loss Success Move a Little Even When You Don’t Feel Like It: Why????

Yesterday I encouraged you to come up with a plan that you can take on the days when you don’t feel your best so you can move a bit more than you would maybe want to, but not as much as your normal workout routine.

Today I want to explain a bit about WHY this is important.

We create patterns in our lives...and sometimes those patterns, or habits, are not in our best interests. Many of us have developed a pattern of not exercising...so it is possible that we wake up “not feeling good” as a way to avoid having to exercise.

Why would you want to avoid exercising when you have made a commitment to improving your health?

Pleasure: it could be you are not enjoying the exercising you are doing.
Interest: it could be you are bored—you’ve been doing the same routine for too long

Either of these reasons will lead you to want to pull the covers over your head...and if the only way you have given yourself permission to not exercise is to be sick or injured, you can actually manifest an illness or injury that will keep you sidelined.

On the flip side of this, if your body is really sick and sending messages to take it easy and you disregard those messages and push through the pain you could make yourself more sick or injure yourself.

By moving a little bit, you are sending a message to your subconscious that you are serious about meeting your health, fitness and weight loss goals.

By making it a mini workout you are taking it easy and being gentle on your body...and allowing for the possibility that you will feel better...by moving around (you may be surprised at how often this is the case!) You are also mixing up your routine a bit which can help if boredom with your routine is part of the problem. At the same time, by being gentle you are taking care of your body and by slowing down it gives you an opportunity to listen to and learn from your body thereby minimizing the chance of injury or illness.

So whether you are not feeling good physically, or it is an emotional, subconscious effort to avoid exercising, by coming up with a mid-level plan you can move towards your weight loss goals and have the success you are looking for!

Tomorrow we’ll talk about how this helps us learn to read the signals our body gives us...and why that’s important.