Author: Chaten
Getting up and moving can be really hard sometimes (believe me I know). There are times when I just lay down on my bed and don’t want to get up for days. It can be tough trying to stay active when schoolwork and jobs completely burn us out.
Exercise is really important for our bodies and it’s vital for us to do it on a regular basis, but there are other ways to keep ourselves active that don’t involve “hitting the gym for mad gainz.”
1. Eat Healthy
Eating healthy is by far the most important thing to consider when you’re trying to stay fit, even above exercise itself. The nutrients you get through food can affect a whole host of important things like your mood and your ability to lose weight. When I think about food and how important it is, I like to consider a little situation. Imagine you wanted to burn off some calories, in this situation you have two options: you either workout, like going for a run on a treadmill for 30min OR you can avoid eating an unhealthy chocolate bar that contains a lot of calories and make you feel tired and sluggish, and eat something healthier instead like celery or another vegetable which not only contains very few calories, but will also make you feel more energized.
2. Live a more active life style
Living a more active lifestyle is about the little things involving exercise and movement that we avoid each day. A good example of living a healthier lifestyle would be taking the stairs instead of taking the elevator, or walking to school instead of taking the bus. These small things add up over a long day and can really come together to make a big difference in your quest to stay fit.
3. Join a sports team/club
Though playing sports is still technically exercise, it’s not the same type of exercise as going for a run or hitting the gym. Sports are a great way to stay active while still having fun, plus there are usually other people playing with you so you’ll always have someone to talk to if you get bored. They are an awesome way to stay active while still having loads of fun.
4. Avoid sitting
A relatively unknown fact about standing up is that you burn 30 more calories standing than you do sitting every hour, so it’s beneficial to stand as much as possible. This isn’t a very hard thing to do either. For example, instead of sitting on your couch and playing video games, you could just stand right in front of your couch and still be getting a small workout. It’s a really neat little way to burn some extra calories.
5. Get enough sleep
The importance of getting enough sleep can never be understated. A solid 8-9 hours can help in regulating the hormones your body makes when it’s feeling hungry. Having those hormones at a regular level means you’ll feel hungry less often and you’ll be less attracted to sugary foods. Sleep is also a big part of our metabolisms and getting more sleep lets us burn off fat a lot quicker.
Staying fit has always involved exercise but some days we just don’t feel like doing any. Even when we don’t want to go out for a run or lift some weights, there are effective and important ways that we can stay active while not really feeling like we’re doing anything. Ultimately it’s impossible to completely replace the health benefits a good long “workout sesh” can give us, but there will always be other smaller things we can do each day to help try and stay active.
