Starting an Exercise Plan

Last week, according to Science, most people dropped their New Year's resolutions. How sad, yet reasonable. The human brain, after all, can accommodate only 10% change at any given time (source: Science). Too often, NY resolutions center on big life changes.

Because most resolutions center on weight loss/exercise increase, and because I have the winter blahs, I've decided to entertain myself and possibly help someone out (but probably not) put forth a completely expert-free exercise plan. Because I have to start somewhere, I am going to presume you're starting from scratch. If you're already exercising, you may find what I write helpful anyway.

To begin: start small, and start in your head. Exercising is 90% mental. So for now, start thinking about what physical activities you do. This could be walking to your car, walking around the grocery store, anything. Just think about what you're doing now, and how you feel.

Then, start thinking about why you want to exercise and/or lose weight. When you're thinking, end every thought with, "all exercise will do is solve my exercise problem."

So:

"I want to exercise because I need to lose weight: all exercise will do is solve my exercise problem."

I want to exercise because I want to look good at the beach: all exercise will do is solve my exercise problem."

I want to exercise because I feel really self-conscious walking around: all exercise will do is solve my exercise problem."

Sound crazy? It isn't. Though you can definitely point out it doesn't make sense, it is, nonetheless, true.

That's it.  Think about what I wrote above for at least a week. And write down any thoughts if you want—but only if you want to.