What Makes You Move?

My husband has several patients who weigh more than 300 lbs.  These particular people are not in good health.  They suffer from a lot of pain - joints and muscles.  They suffer from respiratory problems (congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are common), from high blood pressure, and from type 2 diabetes and all its awful co-morbidities like peripheral neuropathy, diabetic retinopathy, and impairments all over their bodies.  They cannot walk well or far.  They are not wealthy.

I always wonder how these poor souls remain so obese and so immobile.  And, since getting out of their homes and into their vehicles is so hard for them, I wonder who maintains their supply of food so they can maintain the weight?  In every case, there is another adult in the home who is clearly the 'enabler' - the person who enables the morbidly obese to remain that way by running to the grocery store, doing all the household chores, and watching a loved one slowly fade away, usually in some degree of pain.

I don't want to be that patient or that enabler.  However, even that person who is 100 or more pounds overweight, who has trouble walking, and who is in pain - even that person can improve his/her life by simply standing up and walking in place.

If this simple activity is done for only a few minutes a day, life will improve for these folks just like it does for the rest of us.  If that person starts with only one minute of activity per day for a week then ups it to 2 minutes the next week, the pain will not increase, nor will there be in increase in appetite or desire for food.  In fact, the appetite and the desire for food will likely diminish a bit due to the increase in physical activity.

How many times have you read here that this is not Rocket Science?  It's a phrase which comes to mind often when I think of how to motivate others to increase their level of physical activity.  Walking is the simplest, easiest, cheapest, most readily available way to get increase physical activity.
There is no way to change the equation.  1 plus 1 will always equal 2.

Increase in physical activity will always result in an increase in a sense of well being.  Maybe not the first day, but soon thereafter.  Nothing else will fix what ails one as quickly as this.  Try it!




*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.