Exercise Your Way to Health...In Just 2 Hours??

The Health and Human Services Department has released its "new" set of exercise guidelines. To achieve "health", you need to exercise as little as 2 hours a week. Oppose to the old guideline of 30 minutes of exercise on most days of the week. In my calculation, out of 7 days (in a calendar week), 4 would qualify as "most". And 4 * 30 minutes of exercise is still 2 hours. So way to go guys, you've changed nothing.

What I'd like to know is how did they come up with this number? And HOW do they figure that 2 hours a week is enough for MOST adults to get healthy? Considering 60% (that's most isn't it?) of US adults are OBESE, I think they're going to need a lot more than 2 hours a week worth of exercise...and for how many weeks do they need to exercise before health is achieved? Do you see where I'm going with this? Unfortunately, I think they failed in their attempt to clear up any confusion, because I'm actually more confused.

I'll give them credit though, their intentions are good, and if you tell people they're going to need to exercise an hour for every day, they'll feel defeated before they even start. But people should be encouraged to talk to the doctors, chiropractors would be good candidates for this since we have extensive knowledge about how the body is suppose to move to stay healthy. You and your doctor can develop a healthy exercise plan together, something that you feel is manageable.

But some tips. To loose weight, no matter how you look at it, the number of calories going into your body (via food) MUST be less than those going out (usually in the form of typical activities of daily living and extra physical activity). A deficit of 500 calories a day will create a weight loss of a pound a week. Doesn't sound like much, but losing weight slowly, 1-2lbs per week, has been shown over and over again to be more effectively kept off. And a simple 10% reduction of your current body weight can have HUGE health benefits! So that should be your goal right from the start.

REMEMBER!! Before starting an exercise program, consult your doctor! You don't want to do too much at once and cause yourself some kind of harm.