There is no way around it, if you want to lose weight you have to be active. Recently a study was done focusing on people who owned dogs. It was found that the dog-owners, who were obliged to take their dogs for a walk every day, lost up to 14 pounds because of this extra activity. 14 pounds is more or less the amount of weight that is lost in most weight loss programs.
So what can we learn from this study? That you have to get a dog to lose weight? No, the study shows that just a little bit of extra walking can make a big difference.
Examine your current life style. Do you walk a few steps to your car in the morning, and then arrive at work and walk a few more steps to your office or workplace and then sit down? Do you walk a few more steps at the end of the work day to reach your car, where you sit and drive home. Do you then walk from the car to the house and enjoy dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching TV? If your life is like this, or resembles this sedentary pattern, then you have to do something about it.
You can sign up for some exercise classes. Join a sports league. Get some fitness equipment and do workouts. You can go jogging on a regular basis. These are some of the usual means of adding activity to modern life styles.
But if you are not the athletic type there are simpler ways to do it, similar to the dog walking. Here are a few ways to add the extra exercise to your present life:
1. Walk whenever you can
If you have an errand that can be done by walking, then leave your car in the garage and walk to fetch your child, buy a loaf of bread or drop a letter in a mailbox
2. After dinner take a walk
An old proverb says "After lunch, rest a while. After dinner, walk a mile". If you haven't gotten any exercise during your daytime activities then go for a walk after dinner. It will help you to digest your evening meal, which is extremely important for your overall well being, and it will help you to burn some calories as well
3. Skip the elevator, escalator and moving walkways
Instead of using the elevator for one or two flights of stairs, use your feet! In the airport, walk to the next gate instead of getting on the moving walkway.
4. Get a dog!
Why not? If you like animals, then the time you take to walk your dog will help you a lot.
How much walking is necessary? If you walk around 45 minutes every day then you will keep fit and lose weight. If you walk 60 minutes every day you will probably live to be 100.
Dada Vedaprajinananda is yoga teacher and writer. He is the author of