Sitting is the New Smoking

Last week, we read about making over the home environment to be conducive to a healthy lifestyle, especially healthy food, limited screen types, good sleep hygiene, and a clutter-free environment. This week, we will talk about how to makeover your lifestyle to nurture more physical activity and less sedentary time. After all, “Sitting is the New Smoking” and humans do best when they are constantly lightly active. Ironically, the more active you are, the more energy you will have, the less physical pain, the less depression and anxiety, and the less cravings for ultra processed foods you will have. Many people start with barriers to being more active, such as fatigue, pain, depression, or lack of routines of being active. The great news is that simply moving more than you are now improves health and gets the ball rolling in the right direction. So, start low, go slow, and at a certain point, momentum will kick in! For many people, this can happen after about 10 to 15% weight loss, when their body feels lighter and moving is more fun. Fortunately, the protein sparing modified fast causes weight loss to this degree independent of exercise. So, if you are not ready yet, be patient, follow your plan, and remain positive! Physical activity is one of the four main pillars of weight management also as you have to increase the calories burned since weight loss causes a reduction in basal metabolic rate. Physical activity is different than the formal exercise you get when you go to the gym. Both are important, but a physically active lifestyle is just not sitting for long periods of time throughout the day. It can be measured with a wearable with the reminders to move and total steps. You can think, “For every 30, get your 3” to remember to get at least 3 minutes of activity every 30 minutes, or at least 250 steps every hour, minimum.

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