Rhonda hates gyms. She loves open spaces, even if it’s raining, as long as she can see the sky above she feels relaxed and comfortable. To make matters worse, because of her excess weight Rhonda dreads the thought of exercising alongside those “young active nubile bodies in leotards” for her weight-loss. It may only be her perception, but at this crucial weight-loss period of her life it’s real to Rhonda, and perceptions can be powerful!

So what can she do for weight-loss?

Simple, you say – just go for a walk!
Well for you and I going for a walk might be second nature, but Rhonda hasn’t walked any further than car park to checkout for years, and that is one of the reasons her weight has escalated. In other words her activity level has been next to nothing.
So let’s look at her weight-loss exercise options, for this crucial beginning, so she will still feel comfortable.

First let me tell you an unlikely, but true, story – I know it’s true because it’s about me.
Just before I took up jogging in my mid forties, I decided to get into weight-loss, and resolved to eat less and begin jogging. I wasn’t “fat”, but I was out of condition. A long walk was fine, but, because I had played basketball until I was 35, my ego told me I had to jog. After five plus years without running, my “running muscles” were amazingly weak. I was incapable of jogging more than 100 metres at a time, so I decided to train secretly, so there were no witnesses!
Where?
Well. Umm, in the house.
What!
You see our house was constructed so a 12 metre passage ran from the front door to the kitchen, and it became my weight-loss running track for about three weeks. My patient wife couldn’t completely grasp the concept, but offered no serious resistance as I recall.
Bare feet on carpet, 5 minutes to begin with, backwards and forwards along the passageway. Then ten, and gradually I built up my strength until finally I was ready to hit the road.
My weight-loss exercise plan was off and running!
That’s exercise strategy Number One – Begin walking in private.
Using that same weight-loss strategy, Rhonda is now walking around her office floor, carrying a mysterious sheaf of papers of course, for ten minutes at a time, as she begins her weight-loss “come back”.

Once you feel confident to walk the streets, I recommend support, meaning fellow walkers who will walk with you through thick and thin for month after month, come rain or shine.
Whoa – where are you going to find one such person, let alone several?

True, this is a problem, but one you must overcome. What I did, and so have many others, is to join a weight-loss walking or jogging group. There should be one near you. Failing that, you have to canvas your friends, preferably one likely to walk at your pace.
(Stay clear of “boot camps” if possible, most of them will not understand your weight-loss problem and may push too hard. The last thing you want!)

The advantage of walking with others is you can support each, and you have more safety. Most important of all, over time you develop a commitment to each other, your exercise and your health. I am still walking with friends even after twenty years, or more – and I am sure that has been instrumental in keeping us all healthy.
It can work for you too. Why not start planning your healthy weight-loss right now?

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