How to Fit in Regular Exercise

Healthy eating is crucial for optimum weight loss, but it must be combined with regular exercise. Exercise lowers your risk of breast cancer, boosts your immunity, keeps your digestion functioning efficiently, helps balance your blood sugar and your hormones, and boosts your metabolism. Include both aerobic exercise and weight-training for the most effective weight loss.

Three or four times a week, try to:

• Do 40 minutes’ aerobic exercise (such as swimming, cycling, jogging, or running).
• Do 30 minutes of weight, resistance, or strength training. Push ups, pull downs, lunges, and squats are all good muscle-builders that burn fat.

Every day, try to:

• Walk 10,000 steps. Invest in a pedometer – you’ll be amazed at how quickly the steps build up if you simply get off the bus one stop early, or walk the children to school
• Do 30 minutes of something vigorous, such as gardening or power-cleaning the house.

If you’re new to exercise, start slowly and never push yourself too far. Aerobic exercise should make your heart beat faster, but not make you breathless (runners say that you should be able to hold a conversation while you run). Increase the time you spend exercising, rather than the speed. Gentle for longer is better than short, fast bursts.