After all, who wants to think of climbing onto those machines in the gym for 30 minutes to take off the pounds? Or even worse, doing sit-ups at home. Yuck!
5 Simple Activities to Get Healthy and Have Fun
If losing weight has become a drag, you need to rethink your strategy.
You’ll be glad to discover that you don’t need to go to the gym to lose weight and get the body you want! Here are five simple activities that will help you get healthy while having a blast.
- Play group sports
One great idea for losing weight the fun way is to play group sports. Next time, instead of dragging yourself to the gym and those dreaded machines, check out the recreation center in your area.
- Start playing soccer, softball, volleyball, or basketball. With these activities, you’ll be burning off the calories while enjoying yourself at the same time!
- Try a group exercise class, such as yoga, reaction cycling, or aerobics. I go to the 6am reaction cycling class almost every morning because I’m motivated by the instructor, and I love the energy it gives me.
- Go for a walk with your friends
Another great way to get active and improve your health is to start walking with friends. Meet during the week to take a brisk walk together, either in the morning before your day begins, during lunch, or in the evening after work.
- Schedule your walk into your day as social time. While you’re walking, take time to catch up and chat with each other. This way it feels more like a social experience instead of exercise.
Our brains evolved when humans used to walk 12 miles per day. That means in order to have maximum brain power, you need to get moving. One way I do this is by taking walks with my mom, or going on jogs with my girlfriend. It’s always quality time.
- Dance
Dancing is another great way to burn off mega calories while you have a great time. You’ll get your heart pumping, and you’ll enjoy an awesome total workout!
- Take a dance class.
- Go out to a nightclub where you can dance the night away. This is something I used to do every weekend with my friends. Participating in active activities, instead of something like the movies, is an incredible way to get those calories burned.
- Get some dance videos so you can dance at home… Tom Cruise style if you know what I mean.
- Beautify your yard or cultivate a garden
Gardening and yard work are both activities that burn calories so you can lose some weight. Planting flowers or vegetables, pulling weeds, raking, hauling dirt, and doing other gardening chores can really help you get in shape.
- When you’re squatting, bending, and yanking out those weeds, you’ll be working muscles you didn’t even know you had!
I personally don’t know how to garden all that well. What I did was volunteer at the Rutgers Garden, a place I’ve visited often over the years. Now people will teach me how to do garden, I’ll get to sit in on lecture from gardening experts, and I’ll get my gardening exercise in as well.
- Play with your family
Even something as simple as playtime outdoors with the family can help you lose some pounds and stay healthy. Whether it’s running, Frisbee, or playing tag together, just having fun with the family can give you some much needed activity.
- Visit a park and go hiking on the trails.
- Climb a tree in your backyard.
- Go swimming or skiing.
I recently introduced my mom to a personal trainer. She started out slow, but now she’s up to 3 days a week with the trainer, 1 hour exercise each morning, and a 30 minute walk each night. She lost 12 pounds so far, and feeling awesome. This is definitely having a positive overall affect on the family.
The possibilities are endless! You’ll have fun spending quality time with your family, and teaching your children a healthy lifestyle as well.
Although these activities are fun, regular activity and eating a healthy diet go hand in hand when you want to lose weight. You can’t count one weekend of gardening as your exercise for the week. Vary your activities for more fun, and do something to get moving every day.
Consistency is the key to reaching your weight loss goal.
As you can see, exercising and getting in shape don’t have to be boring or unpleasant. There are plenty of easy activities you can do to lose weight, improve your health, and have fun!
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Written on 5/15/2009 by Alex Shalman. Alex does for personal development what Chuck Norris does for the world, and he’s got a very bad (to the bone) Podcast on self-improvement. | Photo Credit: mikebaird |
