By now, most ‘New Years Resolutions’ to lose weight, get fitter, daily exercise, achieve a healthier lifestyle and weight loss – have at worst become a distant, guilt-laden memory, or at best lost their momentum and the prospect of the approaching ‘beachwear’ season with obligatory exposure of ‘less-than-wonderfully-toned’ wobbly bits become a bit scary! Fret not – help is at hand to lose weight!
A ‘daily dose’ of exercise is the way to weight loss and a healthy body and mind but only 24% of women and 35% of men actually do the government’s recommended ‘30 minutes of at least moderate exercise 5 times a week or more’. Introducing regular exercise into your life is probably easier than you’d think, and subtle lifestyle changes can improve weight loss, health, posture, well-being and confidence! Activity can be introduced into your daily routine and can make a world of difference in losing weight.
Physical activity and exercise guidelines for Adults (19–64 yrs)
1. Adults should aim to be physically active and exercise daily. Over a week, physical activity and exercise should add up to at least 150 minutes (2 1/2 hours) of moderate intensity physical activity and exercise in bouts of 10 minutes or more – one way to approach this is to do 30 minutes on at least 5 days a week.
2. Alternatively, comparable benefits of physical activity and exercise can be achieved through 75 minutes of vigorous intensity physical activity and exercise spread across the week or combinations of moderate and vigorous intensity activity.
3. Adults should also undertake physical activity and exercise to improve muscle strength on at least two days a week.
4. All adults should minimise the amount of time spent being sedentary (sitting) for extended periods.
Individual physical activity and exercise and mental capabilities should be considered when interpreting the guidelines.