Don't sweat it, like a boss

Not a few times have people told me, "I would like to exercise, but I just don't like sweating." And sometimes I think to myself, What?! How can you not love the perspiration dripping down your face letting you know that you've successful kicked butt at a workout? Then I realize, sweating is kinda gross. But exercise is so important! Each and every one of us needs some sort of exercise for our health. So here is some advice for people who aren't going to exercise for sweaty reasons. Just keep moving.

I got this advice from *FWDGF. The author actually makes fun of gym rats and people who sweat, which I don't like. As I stated before, sweat lets me know I pushed my body and that feeling is awesome!!! But what this author suggests is to just move your butt. And I have to agree with her. If hard core workouts aren't your style, that's fine. But don't be content with just sitting on the couch. Get up and move, no matter what it is. 

My favorite thing to "keep moving" is walk! Not only is it my favorite thing to do, but Cage absolutely loves it. I put him in his little umbrella stroller and we just go go go. By the way, has anyone noticed how umbrella stroller handles are ALWAYS too low and you have to hunch over just slightly? Seriously, it's annoying. You'd think someone out there would have figured a way to fix that by now. Anyway, we try to go on a walk almost every day. Walking is actually a cardio workout, just on a very mild level. But you don't sweat when you're just strolling along. 

In the picture above, Cage and I had just gone to the grocery store. Our store is about 1/2 mile away, so a trip there and back is 1 mile that we walked. I need fresh produce a few times a week, so quite often that's where we walk to. I have a general rule that if anything is within a 1 mile radius, I walk there (2 miles roundtrip!) This goes for the store, the park, the CVS- you name it, I walk it. If the weather is great outside, I may walk further than 1 mile to get somewhere. Cage would let me walk for hours before he'd complained, so it's a great activity for us.

Even though walking is a cardio exercise, that doesn't mean you can just walk around the block and you're done. If you're going to walk for exercise, you need to do it for at least 30 minutes a day. But, if you can't do 30 minutes a day, it's ok. Just do 10 minutes at a time. Three 10-minute walks a day and you're set to go! By the way, the walks do need to be at least 10 minutes of straight walking. You can't just walk around your house for 5 minutes at six different times and call it good. Just think, the average person walks about half a mile in 10 minutes. So if you walk for 30 minutes, you just walked 1.5 miles. That's huge! 

With walking, I suggest that you do it with someone. That way you can talk, chitchat, gossip and hopefully time will fly! Take anyone- your grandkids, your friends, your significant other. Take your kids, take your wife, take your husband- oh wait, sorry I thought I was Antoine Dodson for a moment. The point is enjoy your walk :-) Now, generally walking isn't going to make you break out in sweat- unless it's summertime and you're suffering from a toasty 102 degrees during the day (can you tell I'm suffering this right now?) In that case, you have two options. One is walk early in the morning or walk at night. Night is probably better if you want to walk with your spouse or significant other anyway. The other option is go walk inside, like a mall. I used to do this all the time when I was pregnant, although it was more to induce labor than for exercise! But you get what I'm saying- don't let excuses drag you down. Beat 'em, get up and walk! I really admired Dave's grandma because every night she would go for a walk. Without fail. Every single night. That's a woman who is trying to do the right thing for her health! 

The other thing I have to say about "keep moving" is to implement this in your home. You still need to walk daily because that will be your main source of exercise. But in addition, you should also be moving plenty around your house.That mostly means turn off the freakin TV. I grew up in a house where the TV was rarely on. I was kicked outside most of the time to play in our cul-de-sac. So therefore, I don't watch a lot of TV today. I won't even let my husband get cable because I know I'll never use it. But if you are someone that has your TV on constantly, it's time to think about giving it a vacation. If you are going to keep moving, it requires you to get up and do things. Some things I do to keep momentum throughout the day are play with my kid (especially hide and seek where we have to move around a lot) and household chores. Oh my lands, all the sweeping and mopping and vacuuming and scrubbing and ironing and dishes are enough to give anyone a workout. But you don't sweat doing normal housework. See how clever this plan is? I know a lot of people who like yard work and gardening and that's a great way to move it! But guess what- you gotta walk away from that black box. I've noticed that the only time I get sucked into TV is when I actually start watching it. So before settling down for a few hours to see your new shows (which I know you all will do because the fall shows are coming back soon,. And I am excited about that!), remind yourself that there must be moderation in all things- television included. I'm not saying don't ever watch it again. I'm just saying severely limit how much it's on and how much time you spend on the couch per day. KEEP MOVING. 

Ok, I'm off my TV soap box now. Sorry, that one topic just kinda hits a nerve with me. So basically, you don't need to sweat, but you DO need to move. Just tell yourself, I like to move it, move it, I like to move it, move it. You will be surprised how much your health will improve just from a 30 minute walk every day. And when you're not walking, keep the movement going inside your house. All right people, go have fun and don't sweat it! 

* French Women Don't Get Fat book

Boring scientific note: In some basic chemistry or physical science class, I learned that molecules moving faster create heat more than molecules just standing still. This can be applied to us, since our entire body is made up of molecules! And, metabolism requires a ton of molecules moving around to create energy. It's pretty much a movement factory. So when your body's molecules are moving faster, through vacuuming or walking or playing catch, that means that your metabolism HAS to speed up as well. If it doesn't speed up, you won't get the energy you need and will crash. So really, metabolism has no choice but to keep up with your body's activity level. When your metabolism speeds up, everything in your body starts moving faster. And since everything is moving faster, heat is created. The heat moves things around even faster. So just vacuuming for you is a workout for your molecules! When the heat builds up too much, like in a workout, your body needs to release it in some way to keep your body at a normal temperature. One of those ways is through sweating.  But if you just increase how much you move, your metabolism kicks up, everything inside you starts moving, heat builds and wallah- you are literally burning calories! But not moving around, decreases your metabolism. So when you're just sitting still, so is your metabolism.