Commentary

When I start training a new client, it just isn’t possible for them to tell me everything that I need to know about how they think, and how their bodies will perform, due to injuries or lack of balance, flexibility, or strength. 

Most potential clients call me because they want to make an improvement to their lifestyle.  Well, that’s what their head wants to do at that moment.  Once they begin to train, the reality of actually fitting in the training, creating the habit of exercise, and/or eating better, starts the process of “push-back”.  This push-back is what an old boss of mine referred to as inertia.  The unhealthy habits that you want to change are comfortable and probably look something like this.  You overeat due to a family occasion such as a wedding, birthday party, weekly family dinner, or because someone brought doughnuts to the office.  The next day, you starve yourself to make up the difference.  With exercise, you go to the gym and workout so hard that you are practically infirm for the next three days, during which you just barely walk from house to car to work, and reverse at the end of the day.  Inertia takes over and pushes you back to your old habits, because they are comfortable.  The problem is that with each increase in calories, and decrease in movement or no resistance work, your body gets “fluffier” with body fat, stiffer from lack of flexibility, and loses stability from lack of balance work.

It has been stated over and over that to lose a pound, you must create a deficit of 3,500 calories.  Such easy math, even I can do it.  Divide that figure by seven and you get 500 calories; 500 calories per day that need to be eliminated, but not solely with food.  Burning a couple of hundred calories is not that difficult, and doesn’t have to be categorized as exercise.   Per hour you can burn:

• Cleaning – light                240 Calories
• Cleaning – heavy              432 Calories
• Gardening                        324 Calories
• Strolling                           206 Calories
• Brisk Walking                    297 Calories

So says the American Cancer Society.  That means that by eliminating a couple of lattes, cookies, or an extra serving of something dense in calories, you’ve got your 500 for the day.  Be consistent for a couple of weeks, and you’ll notice that some garment that was tight in the waist is now comfortable.

You have a choice as to which discipline you would prefer to highlight.  One thing is for sure though, you must do both for a balanced, healthy lifestyle change.  Call me.  We’ll figure it out.  847-962-2722, or write me at duchyll@duchylljoseph.com