I’ve been doing my “choose health” plan for for a bit over a year now. One of the things that hasn’t been part of my plan (yet) is exercise.

Initially my thinking was that, at 375, my number one priority was just to stop overeating. My theory has been that my overeating has been due to your garden-variety emotional eating responses and cravings due to diet choices (especially sugar and refined carbs).

So, I concentrated on those two. And given that I thought that exercising at 375 would lead to problem number one (emotional eating), I just didn’t.

After a few months, I decided that “exercise” was going to be anything I did that didn’t involve a computer screen or the TV. So for a number of months, I’ve been “exercising” by doing stuff around the house (laundry, the dishes, going to the store, etc).

After the holidays, I felt like I was ready to start formal exercising, and began doing a half-hour on the treadmill. Alas, my fibroids reacted by bleeding, so I put that on hold until my surgery on April 20th.

But I thought it’d be worthwhile posting the plan I think I’m going to follow. It’s the YOU: The Owner’s Manual Activity Plan:

Walking — 30 minutes every day (or other general physical activity like swimming, if you cannot walk)

Stamina training (e.g., biking or swimming) — 3 times a week, at a rate at which you are sweating for 20 minutes or are out of breath by the end

Resistance training — 3 times a week, 10 minutes a day

Stretching or yoga — Every day, after walking

Deep breathing — Take 10 deep abdominal breaths every morning and night

Sleep — Plan time for 7 to 8 hours daily

This is not a plan specifically for weight loss; this is a plan for health. And like my eating plan, it’s not a temporary fix, it’s a new lifestyle.

BTW, I really like YOU! as a great general health text. It’s very readable for the lay person.