Exercise - Benefits, Advice and Guidelines
Having a bad day at work? Woke up on the wrong side of the bed? Fighting
with your significant other? Physical activity is the perfect medicine to lift your
mood. When you are physically active, your body releases endorphins, your
body’s “feel-good” chemicals. And if enhancing your mood isn’t enough of a
reason to perform physical activity, the reasons to exercise only get better: like
helping you fight heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and many other
diseases, helping you lose weight, and speeding up your metabolic rate.
 You don’t have to wear yourself out and exercise like a maniac to
experience most of the benefits of exercise and increase the amount of
calories you burn all day long. In fact, you should be able to hold a
conversation while you exercise. That makes it a great activity to do with a
friend to prevent boredom.
 You probably have known for years that physical activity burns a lot of
calories and it fires up your metabolism. But even after you stop exercising
and are sitting on your couch or in your office chair, the metabolismrevving benefits of exercise are still at work.
o Your body continues to burn calories at an increased rate for some
time. Try exercising moderately and the after-exercise calorie burn
can be about 35 calories, accumulating to about 3 1/2 pounds of fat
loss per year. Strenuous exercise can cause you to burn as much as
180 extra calories after you stop, which can be quite significant over
the course of a year, up to 18 pounds of fat loss.
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 Even five minutes of cardiovascular exercise burns more calories than
nothing at all. Don’t use time as an excuse. When you arrive at your front
door after work, start by walking ten minutes in one direction and then turn
around and head back home.
 Swimming, biking, walking, running, aerobics, hiking, skiing, roller-blading,
dancing, playing active sports, and any other repetitive activity that can be
performed over a long period of time, all qualify as cardiovascular exercise.
How much “cardiovascular exercise” do you need to lose weight?
While we give you specific exercise goals just for you, as a rule of thumb
aim for a minimum of one-half hour every day; work your way up to one hour.
Note: Consult your doctor before starting any exercise program.
Split It Up!
 Exercise can seem much more exciting and much more doable if you don’t
spend all of your time doing the same exercise.
 For example, if you are aiming for 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise, try
10 minutes on the Stairmaster, 10 minutes on the treadmill and 10 minutes
on the cross-trainer. When you only exercise for 10 minutes on each
machine there is light at the end of the tunnel— and you benefit from
cross-training by working more muscle groups.
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Think The Little Things Don’t Matter? Think Again.
 Although you should engage in one-half hour to one hour of
“cardiovascular contentment” everyday, the little things that you do
throughout your day can also make an enormous difference. You’ve heard
it before: very small activities such as taking the stairs instead of the
elevator make a difference.
o Stand for ten minutes every day at a time when you would normally
sit – this metabolic jump-start will save you from packing on two
pounds this year.
o Get off the bus one stop earlier and walk four blocks to your office
every day– you’ll get a metabolic boost and burn 40 calories. Keep it
up for year and it equals three pounds. Do the same thing on the way
home – now you’re talking over six pounds per year!
Muscles Make Magic
What if we told you that there was something that would make your body
burn more calories while you were still, even when you sleep? What if we told
you that this very same thing could make your legs look leaner and tighter, your
rear end firm and shaped, and stop the back of your arms from jiggling? You
would probably say, “I thought there were no such miracle drugs.” And we would
tell you, “You’re right, muscles aren’t miracle drugs.”
© 2016 The Nutrition Twins. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part.
 Strength training increases your body’s lean muscle tissue and the rate at
which your body burns calories. Lean muscle requires many more calories
simply to exist.
 So the more lean muscle tissue that you have, the faster your metabolic
rate, and the more calories you will burn all day long.
 When you increase your lean muscle mass, you fire up your metabolism.
Do muscle strengthening exercises at least three times a week for each of the
large muscle groups: legs, back, chest, shoulders, arms and abs.
© 2016 The Nutrition Twins. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part.