Building exercise into your daily life

[summer]

Do you do anything to build exercise into your daily life? I've been trying. My doctor suggested taking stairs, but I hate stairs. He also said that even little things help, like parking your car at the back of the parking lot at the supermarket to make the walk longer. I go to a SuperWalmart that is always jammed, so that part is easy for me.

What other things can you think of?

[airplane26]

You can get a dog and walk it every day. My brother-in-law says he was able to steadily lose weight by just walking the dog.

[chocolate]

Dogs are the pets that keep you healthy and happy. They used to think it was the psychological benefit of owning a pet, but it is really just the walking.

Another thing you could do is, like the supermarket thing, park as far away from work as possible, then walk.

[summer]

I like the idea of always parking as far away as possible. Unless it's raining really hard, of course. Or too cold. Or it snows.

[need2lose]

Take the stairs at work if you are only going up or down one floor. Always walk the cart all the way back to the supermarket.

[airplane26]

If you live close to work or the grocery store, you can just walk there. Actually, the grocery store might not work if you are getting a lot of groceries.

I have to bring my mail to a mailbox, which is about a 10 minute walk away. Often when I have mail to drop off, I walk there to get some fresh air and exercise.

[chocolate]

Unfortunately, most Americans don't live near enough to anything to actually walk. I did used to live close enough to work to walk, and that really helped.

[need2lose]

If you go out to lunch at work, you could choose places that are close enough to walk, but farther away than you usually go.

[summer]

Good ideas! Thanks! What I thought of was walking from store to store. You know how if you are running errands you keep driving between places that are close enough to walk because otherwise you will end up too far from your car. Well, that's what you want, because not only will you have made a few short walks, but you will have the long hike back to do.