With all the talk about losing weight and getting fit in the New Year, we sometimes feel a little limited in our possibilities to make a real change. The resolutions we’ve made are fading a bit and the ideas we’ve tried to implement are running into the usual obstacles of limits on our time and energy. Many of us started by adding physical activities into the day, essentially not liking these very much, and we wonder if there isn’t a better way.
Think back to the time of our grandparents and to the low obesity levels in the USA back in the 60s. Personal trainers, gyms, image consultants, and health coaches were not the norm, yet neither was being overweight! Not only were portion sizes smaller, but I’d argue that everyday activities contributed to a general level of natural calorie burning throughout the day.
To celebrate National Hobby Month, this article is dedicated to those who would like to be burning calories doing the hobbies that they love! Birdwatching, boating, tinkering with your car, gardening, playing drums, fishing, coaching junior league, painting theater backdrops, socializing, dancing. There are 1,030 activities listed in this calories-per-hour calculator and I’d wager you’d find at least several that you’d be pleased to take on this month and all of 2013.
Time and time again, it has been proven that we not only like to do activities we love but we also do activities when we see a good reason to do them. Going to the gym or for a run in the morning is a habit that many people practice, but for those who find that structured activity is not possible or desirable, surely there is a hobby worth pursuing. These hobbies then give a general sense of life satisfaction and pleasure because they are more in harmony with what our inner self enjoys.
So if you are finding it hard to beef up your resolve to get back to the gym this week, take out a pen and pencil and think about all the things you liked to do as a kid, the things your grandparents did to keep themselves active, the ways you can contribute to your family, neighborhood, home and garden, kids and friends - all of which help to keep you active in a way that is meaningful to you!
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