Get active your way

• Find an activity you enjoy, that fits easily into you everyday routine.
• Be active with friends and family this will help increase your motivation and commitment.
• Try to move more instead of sitting around –  clean out cupboards, wash your car by hand – 30 minutes of hoovering and dusting burns 100 calories!
• Everyday activities such as ironing and cutting the grass all help burn calories.
• When you are at work instead of sending an email to a colleague get up and walk to their desk or at lunch time go for a walk!
• Aim to walk 10,000 steps every day, you could use a pedometer to help count the steps. The average person walks between 3,000 and 4,000 steps each day. 1,000 steps is the equivalent of around 10 minutes of brisk walking.

Download Physical activity guidelines and infographics from the government website.

Regular physical activity is important for good health but it is especially important when you are trying to lose weight and helps keep it off for good. Doing more physical activity increases the number of calories your body uses for energy, so more calories are burnt off. Burning off calories through increased physical activity combined with reducing the calories you eat ultimately results in weight loss.

Move more for successful weight loss

• If you are trying to lose weight you will probably need to do more than the recommended 150 minutes (or 2.5 hours) of moderate intensity activities every week and also make changes to your eating habits.  Find out more about how much and what types of activities count.
• One way to reach your recommended 150 minutes each week is to do 30 minutes on at least 5 days a week. If you don’t have much time, you could split up the 30 minutes into 3 blocks of 10 minute work-outs.
• Start gradually, once you’ve achieved 30 minutes of moderate activity on at least 5 days each week. Try to build up to 45 – 60 minutes daily to help speed up weight loss.

Set S.M.A.R.T Goals!

One of the best ways to get and stay more active is to set yourself S.M.A.R.T goals.  S.M.A.R.T goals are ones that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time limited.

Setting and recording your own personal goals is a great way to help keep you focused.  You are more likely to reach your goals if you write them down and display them somewhere as a reminder – next to your desk at work, on the fridge door or store them on your phone!

Examples of SMART activity goals:

• Walk for 30 minutes on every day of the week.
• Walk more than 5000 steps each day. Use a pedometer to monitor my progress.
• Walk to and from work 3 days out of 5.
• Will go the gym twice and walk to work once during the week.
• Wash my car, by hand once a week.

Things to remember:

• Recognize your achievements – Reward yourself once you’ve reached your goal. Treat yourself to a manicure or a massage or go to the cinema.
• Not set in stone! -These personal goals can and should be reviewed regularly and if necessary changed over time.
• Don’t worry if you’ve not reached your goal this time – around instead try to stay positive and look upon this as an opportunity to learn – what has worked for you and what hasn’t and how to handle challenges in the future.

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