Your Weight Does Not Define How Fit You Are

by Britannia Findlay

One of the most important things to keep in mind if you feel that you weigh too much is that fitness is not directly related to your weight. Of course, your weight will have some effect on how fit you are, especially if you're exceptionally overweight. However, this is not nearly as significant as most people would guess.

The only things that will really affect whether or not you are fit are all related to how much exercise you can do. (Of course, if you begin to really improve your fitness and get in shape, you'll probably begin to slim down).

Diet, although it is important, is often not the most important path to losing weight. If your goal is to slim down and avoid putting on weight again, you should examine how much exercise you get. Obviously you should look at your diet also, but often the most effective treatment is to work off the food you are eating. Making time for exercise in your day and making sensible choices on food are not two different ways to lose weight - they should be done together.

If you diet without increasing your daily exercise then your body will begin to burn muscle tissue, you will lose weight but you will lose your strength and fitness also. If, however, you start out by exercising more, you will be building and toning your muscles. This in itself will make your body burn more fat, you will lose weight while getting fitter and working on your figure simultaneously.

If you get exercise on a regular basis the fact is you will be fitter than someone who gets no regular exercise, regardless of your weight. Taking this into account you should start exercising more when starting any new diet plan, this will get the most from your new diet.

Of course if you want to really increase your fitness then you will need to do more than a casual bit of exercise. You will need to be more methodical in your approach to exercise and do more than one type of exercise. You will need to be doing some cardiovascular exercise and some basic strength exercises.

For your cardiovascular exercise - which is basically any type of exercise that increases your heart rate by considerable amounts - you should work on being able to exercise for a longer period of time than you could before. This will enable you to build up some stamina.

The strength training exercises are important also, they will not really increase your actual fitness but they will tone your body. They will also increase your strength making you feel and look fitter, this will give you a much needed confidence boost.

This does not mean that you have to become a weightlifter, or that you need to work on building bulging muscles. In fact, just a little bit of strength training should be enough. You don't even have to invest in weights to lift - there are plenty of strength training exercises that you can do in your own home with no equipment.

In the end the most important factor in your fitness is whether or not you can do as much exercise as you'd like to be able to do. If you can then you are fit, if not then regardless of your weight the road to fitness need not be difficult, all it takes is a little determination.

*****************************************

Britannia Findlay is the Staff Writer of FOCAL Fitness You will find a lot of interesting articles and great resources at her site. For all the info you want, visit: http://www.focalfitness.com.

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health by William Davis MD

Tags: cardio equipment exercise fat food heart mind muscle strength training weights