Healthy Weight Decisions Blog

So you want to lose weight, and most important you want to keep it off.

Your body mass index (BMI) is over 25 or even over 30, but what if your lifestyle is a sedentary one.

One of the causes of obesity is a sedentary lifestyle; too much time spent sitting at home, work or leisure.

A sedentary lifestyle is also one reason why many people fail to achieve results from dieting.

The couch potato lifestyle is a heath risk factor for many diseases and premature death.

What if your 8 hour work-day involves sitting at a computer or desk, then you go home to spend another 2 or more hours watching TV.

What if your leisure time is a meal at your favorite restaurant or taking in a movie?  How do you fit physical inactivity into your routine.

At one research study in Atlanta USA, researchers found that spending six or more hours per day sitting was linked to higher risks for mortality  The risk was the same regardless of the person’s level of activity.  Even if you spend a lot of time at the gym, you are still at risk.

At another study in Australia, researchers monitored 8,800 adults for six years and found that watching TV for several hours per day was a health risk.

They found that every hour spent watching TV increased the risk of dying by 11%, and that it made no difference whether the person was overweight or not.

What are these sedentary lifestyle modifiers?

They  are things that one can do to reduce sitting time, thereby modifying a sedentary lifestyle.  They are called sedentary lifestyle modifiers. These are my favourite:

- Park and walk. Avoid parking close to your arrival point, pick a parking spot further away and walk.

-Walk short distances instead of driving, it is good for your carbon footprint too.

-Limit sitting time for leisure to 2 hours  per day.

-Take the stairs instead of the elevator whenever possible.

-When using public transportation, get off a stop or two before your arrival point and walk.

-Stand or walk at work. Instead of sitting at work, do some of your work while standing or walking, e.g. talking on the phone, sorting paper work and talking to colleagues.

-Use a standing desk instead of a regular desk, for working at home or office.

For computer users- Take a break from your computer every 1 ½-2 hours, stand, stretch and move your limbs, walk around the office for five minutes.

Use a fitness desk like this one, it is a new invention that will marry your computer to your workout routine.

In an 8 hour work day this can add up to 15-25 minutes of physical activity.

At Home- Things that you would normally do sitting, do them either standing or walking. For example:  talking on the phone, sending text messages, reading the newspaper or even watching TV.

The idea is to use sitting time to be active whenever the opportunity presents, as too much sitting is bad for the health.

Online health programs like this consumer health education  program are making it possible for messages like these to reach people every where.

 
Click Here for a new invention for computer users. It's a fitness desk that will allow the person to use the computer and schedule physical activity at the same time.  It will reduce the amount of sitting time spent during computer work.