Exercise and weight loss

This week it has been very apparent to me that the change in season to a darker, colder time period adversely impacts on caloric burn-off for many people. In the program, a number of patients tell me that "walking" is their exercise, but they do this outside. On a balmy morning in the summer, it is easy to set your alarm early, put on shorts and enjoy the birds singing as the sun rises while you are walking. Now, it is dark, cold and the birds are packing their bags for points south. Who wants to walk outside? A warm bed sounds much better.

The point here is that equipment for your house in the form of a treadmill, rower, exercise bike or elliptical machine can be very helpful to allow you to still get up early and get some exercise in. Place the equipment in front of a tv set and watch the morning news (oops..forget that...stress eating may result...put on AMC and watch a good old picture instead). Climate control, lights and a distraction in the form of a tv show allows you to still burn off calories during these darker/colder months. Getting up, getting dressed, bringing a change and going to a gym is lots more work. Please do not get me wrong...gym membership and utilization is great. However, I have had some patients recently who have told me that they have gym memberships but never use the gym.

Yes, equipment for the house costs precious $$$, but remember our new theme here: "INVEST IN YOURSELF". We all will need to work years longer now, and need to sustain our health. Investing in the stock market was a loser. Investing in yourself is a winner. An exercise program will go a long way in keeping us healthy.