This is the second part part of my blog on weight, part one can be found here.

So now we know about body types and what they can mean for out own healthy weight. BMI may be a load of crap, but that doesn’t mean people can’t be over or under weight. To really know your healthy weight you need to talk to a doctor, but also listen to your body. When your body is in a healthy place you will feel more energetic, more positive and sleep better. Your doctor will be able to monitor the more precise and internal things such as blood pressure. Together the two of you can determine a healthy weight range you should be in.

Now it’s time to talk about how to maintain that healthy weight range, and it’s two words that most people probably hear on a daily basis. Diet and exercise. The exercise part is pretty straight forward. Stay active! It doesn’t always mean going to the gym or making sure your fit bit hits 10 000 steps every day. Don’t make your work outs feel like an expensive chore, find something you love and do that. Maybe you love playing sports. I play lacrosse at least twice a week and enjoy jogging on the treadmill to keep my cardio up between games and practices. Maybe you just like spending time with friends walking from store to store in the mall. Taking kids on day trips (or just going with a friend/loved one) is a great way to stay active all day while still having fun and learning! Exercise doesn’t always mean sweating your self to exhaustion in front of a bunch of strangers, it can and should be fun.

What exercise shouldn’t be is expensive, especially if you’re just trying to casually work out to stay healthy. Sure if you’re a body builder or high performance athlete or you really just care about sculpting your muscles a gym membership or even home gym set is a good idea. Weights and machines offer more rigorous and targeted work outs. However, if your goal is simply to lose some weight or maintain a healthy body you don’t need that stuff! Don’t get sucked into the advertising. We’ve talked about body types, we know that those ripped shirtless Adonises are mesomorphs and you may not be. Just because you don’t look like them does not mean you should feel bad. And yes some of the things I mentioned might cost money. A day at the zoo can be a little pricey, but at least you’re going to have some fun. You’re probably going to spend the day with people you like, you might learn a few things and it’s still a lot cheaper than a gym membership. But even something as simple as a jog around the block, doing a few push ups, sit ups, squats or playing tag with your kids in the park will help to keep your body active. Everyone enjoys different things and everyone will enjoy working out in a different way. Find the one you like best.

You don’t need an expensive little gadget to tell you if you’ve worked out enough, your body will tell you that. You’ll feel tired, but good about your self. Exercise releases chemicals in the brain which your body likes! It’s hard to describe the “good” tired vs. the “bad” tired, but you’ll know it. You will sleep well and want to do it again the next day! Worrying about making it to your step goals turns it into a chore and something you will not want to do. When you have fun exercising, you don’t even realize you’re exercising. Your own body (or the body of little tykes trying to climb you like a tree) and your daily activities are all the weights and equipment you need to stay healthy. I you really want that something extra go buy a cheap set of weights from Walmart, they’re much less than paying for that 4 year gym membership. Save your money and spend it on something you actually like!

The final part of this blog will be about diet!