Chapter 18: Weight-Proof Your Exercise Safe Zone

Strategies 38–52

The goal of creating your Exercise Safe Zone is to get you to burn
more calories by naturally incorporating more physical activity
into your daily life.

You may be thinking “physical activity” is really just a code word for
exercise and that I want to avoid the word “exercise” because people don’t
like to exercise. And you are right, sort of.

I think of exercise as a more intense form of physical activity, done just for
the sake of exercising. We’ll talk about exercise, but what I mean by physical
activity is calories burned from your normal everyday activities.

Going for a run is exercise. Running requires a special effort. Walking
more by parking farther away from the store entrance is an example of getting
more physical activity. Both exercise and physical activity play vital roles in
creating your Exercise Safe Zone.

Before you say that trying to burn more calories from these small increases
in physical activity is a waste of time, please take another a look at Threat 5,
The Power of Rest Threat. This threat shows that some people naturally burn
up to 350 calories a day through unconscious fidgeting. That’s a lot of calories
a day. In fact, that’s 35 pounds a year’s worth of calories that people with high
NEAT levels naturally and easily burn off. Yet other people are not natural
fidgeters and don’t burn any extra NEAT-related calories.

Increasing your physical activity levels by small amounts everywhere in
your life is like trying to create a higher NEAT level for yourself. With relatively
little extra effort, you can dramatically increase the number of calories you
burn each day by taking advantage of every opportunity to increase your
physical activity levels.

When considered alone, each weight loss move will have a small effect.
But if you keep making move after move, the results will change your life.
Small changes over time make for big results. This is especially true for all
the strategies that increase physical activity.
You may think I am saying you shouldn’t exercise. That’s not what I
mean. What I am saying is you don’t have to rely on exercise alone. Besides,
you already know you should exercise more. Study after study shows exercise
is good for you. Every New Year you probably resolve to exercise more. And
you may exercise more for a little while, but most of us will exercise less and
less until one day we just stop. This is a shame because the people who have
been found to keep their weight off the longest are those who can manage to
exercise consistently.

Here are a few reasons why exercise is good for you:
❖ Increased life span.
❖ Better sex life.
❖ Reduced chance of cardiovascular disease.
❖ Reduction in osteoporosis.
❖ Reduced insulin resistance.
❖ Reduced LDL.
❖ Increased HDL.
❖ Reduced triglycerides.
❖ Improved control of osteoarthritis.
❖ Improved blood pressure.
❖ Improved lung function.
❖ Reduced chance of retinopathy.
❖ Increased endorphins.
❖ Increased number of dopamine receptors.

Why is it so hard to exercise regularly when exercise is obviously so good
for us? From The Power of Rest Threat we learned that exercise is not a drive
for humans. In our past we had to exercise to survive so an instinct to exercise
wasn’t needed.

If we exercise, it’s because we consciously make it happen. It’s hard for
us to do anything consistently, especially when more interesting distractions
pile up and drive our attention elsewhere.

If you are one of the many people who find regular exercise difficult, then
you need to use your long-term thinking brain to figure out a way to make
more physical activity a natural part of your Exercise Safe Zone. When you
work physical activity into your Safe Zone then it will happen, even if you
don’t intend it to.

Not all the physical activity related strategies are in this chapter. Physical
activity is a broad topic so you’ll find related strategies throughout the rest
of the book too.

I know many of these physical activity strategies aren’t original. But I hope
you see the bigger picture here. What’s important is not the type of activity,
but the idea that every little extra bit of activity adds up. Find any way you
can to increase your activity levels.

If you love exercise, then great. Whatever works. But most people don’t
like exercising and they need to be clever about weaving more activity seamlessly
into their daily lives. And that’s exactly what we’ll be talking about in
the rest of this chapter.

The strategies in this chapter are:

Strategy 38. Leverage Your Metabolism–Your Muscles Help You Lose Weight 24 Hours a Day

Strategy 39. Move to a Place Where You Will Naturally Be More Active

Strategy 40. Take it Easy

Strategy 41. Walk the Walk–Add 2,000 Extra Steps a Day

Strategy 42. Ration TV

Strategy 43. Park Far Away from an Entrance

Strategy 44. Take the Stairs Instead of the Elevator

Strategy 45. Exercise in the Morning

Strategy 46. Work with a Personal Trainer

Strategy 47. Take Streaming Video Exercise Classes on Your Computer

Strategy 48. Increase Your NEAT