Weight Management
Weight management is a typical reason individuals may wish to pursue a more physically active lifestyle and engage in regular exercise
In the beginning, when becoming more active, it can be both frustrating and discouraging when you are exercising but not seeing any improvements in relation to physical appearance.
This process doesn’t simply occur over night; it requires long-term fidelity to healthy lifestyle practices including both daily physical activity and sustainable eating patterns.
Although weight loss is generally seen as the key indicator of improvement for most people, overall health can be improved with relatively minor weight loss.
Health Benefits Associated with Regular Exercise
The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology suggests that daily physical activity is one of the best things that everyone can do for their health.
Exercise is often thought to be some type of “miracle drug” due to its promotion of a healthy longevity and abundance of health benefits.
Some of these benefits include:
- Stronger bones and muscles
- Improved cardiorespiratory funcitoning
- Maintenance of healthy body weight
- Decreased stress, depression, and anxiety
- Prevention against chronic diseases
- Management of chronic disease
- Improved sleep
- Boosts immunity
- Enhances overall quality of life
When Do I Start Seeing Results?
Although you may not see any physical appearance changes right away, it’s important to understand that there are many beneficial health improvements occurring inside of the body
During weeks 1 – 4 of beginning to exercise, changes you see are typically due to neural adaptations. Simply put, neural adaptations mean that the brain and nervous system are better at contracting muscles and performing exercises. During the first week, you may find new exercises difficult and have to take time to think about what you are doing. However, by the end of week 4, you are able to perform the movements automatically with little effort or conscious thought.
After about 4 – 6 weeks of exercising, neural adaptations come to a halt, and muscles start to grow in size and contribute to increased strength.
Although this is the general outline, every individual is unique and may respond to exercise in different ways. Some individuals may improve right away, whereas others may improve later on. Either way, daily physical activity is an effective and simple way to improve overall health.
The above information was taken from:
Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology Manual (2018). Physical Activity Training For Health. Ottawa: ON.