Whatever weight loss program you choose to help you to lose weight, exercise must be a part of it.
We want to lose weight because we don’t want to be obese. Obesity leads to diseases that shorten our lives. We want to live longer.
However, I’m sure you don’t want to live longer if you are unhealthy and sick most of the time. So you will have to exercise, and it’s not the finger exercise on the computer keyboard!!
Regular exercise will extend your life and also improve the quality of your life. A 2007 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that fitter people lived longer even with the extra kilos around their middle. They also had the lowest risk factors for hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol.
Most of the negative changes to our bodies are due to normal aging and disease-related aging, i.e. changes accelerated by illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.
Exercise will help to reduce the severity of these changes.
As we age, we gradually lose muscle mass. We need to build muscle because more muscle mass means that we will be more mobile and we can function better. Exercise builds muscle mass. Stronger leg muscles and better balance means you will not fall so easily. Falls are a leading cause of death among the elderly, according to the American Geriatrics Society. It’s no fun living life from a wheelchair either.
More to come on exercise, so look out for the next post. Bye for now.
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