Kat & Tshepi

Hi there, it is good to have you back on the blog. This week we are talking about a number one supporter of weight loss “Physical Activity”. Remember, Nutrition is a main player in the weight loss game, and physical activity is a supporter……so you do not need a supporter to win the game but you do need the player to do so. Just like in sport, a supporter has that effect which brings out the best in players , this is similar in weight loss, physical activity cement commitment to your journey and propels you to your desired results.

The first two steps on our weight loss guide are “creating your vision” and “cleaning up your nutrition”. In completing these two steps you would have set a direction and created a path to follow, and you would have started to improve your diet by slowly increasing healthy foods whilst reducing unhealthy foods. If you have been following our weight loss guide, by now you should be having a table similar to the one below.

CURRENT WEIGHT	DESIRED WEIGHT
e.g 80kg	e.g 70kg

Foods to reduce	Foods to include or increase
1. e.g Biscuits, cookies, cake	1. e.g Fruits (Apple, Banana)
2. Sugar in tea/coffee	2. Vegetables (spinach, broccoli)
3.Fried chicken	3.Nuts
4. Chips	4. Ox/chicken Liver
5. Burger	5.Oats

The third step of our weight loss guide is about improving your movement, our bodies are naturally designed to move but we have accustomed them to stagnation, we are way more sedentary that all the previous generations :). Have you realized how happy people look when they are doing physical activities like playing , dancing, bouncing on a trampoline, and even exercising (not forced exercise :)), it is in our nature to move.

Increasing our physical activity not only supports our weight loss efforts and improves our happiness, but it also improves our overall health and wellbeing. Physical activity supports our weight loss by increasing metabolism and therefore burning more calories. Physical activity improves our happiness by releasing happy hormones such as dopamine, serotonin and endorphins. Physical activity also improves our overall health and wellbeing by “preventing and managing noncommunicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and several cancers“. This shows that by increasing our physical activities we get more benefits than just losing weight.

To increase physical activity, we (Kat & Tshepi) recommend that you start with a daily walk of 20 minutes, a simple walk in your neighborhood will do wonders for you . And if you have a fitness watch or a pedometer app, we recommend that you aim for a step count of between 5000 and 10 000 steps. We expect that as the 20 minutes walk and up to 10 000 steps becomes a habit, you will naturally and slowly increase your physical activity towards  150–300 minutes , which is the recommended physical activity duration per week for a healthy life.

When we started our fitness journey, we trained for 30 min at home for 3 days per week. This was not consistent at first, but after a few months it organically became habitual, and we are now training 8 sessions per week (1 hour p/session). When you try to improve your physical activity, there will always be a certain level of friction and resistance in the beginning, this is the nature of change in every sphere of life, do not give in easily…..and before you know it, a great habit has been formed.

That’s it for this week, Improving your physical activity benefits your overall health and wellness , it is time to find the activities you enjoy and get moving, it is natural to us. Until next week, stay blessed.

Kat & Tshepi