I went for a walk the other morning. Not a brisk walk, not a 90-minute walk, not a hill interval walk, a 15 min walk around the block to enjoy the sunshine. It got me thinking about the women from our past. For some reason the 30's struck a chord with me. I will preface this by saying that I obviously did not live in the 30's nor did I do extensive research on women from the 30's but my intuition tells me that those women did not go kill themselves in the gym and run 5 miles a day .
Really think about it … what did these women do for movement? I am assuming it would be mostly housework and walking to and from places. My client mentioned some bike riding maybe. For the most part however these women were not revving up their heart rates and sweating through their knickers in order to maintain their ideal bodies.
So I ask you women this question; What makes you believe that you need to "effort" the weight off? Think about it … the men were the hunters, women were the gatherers. Is it such a surprise that the methods out there to lose weight are not serving the women population? And for you men that are not having success with these methods, is it possible that your testosterone levels might be slightly lower keeping you from identifying with this masculine approach to weight loss too?
I am going on a limb here and saying that we need to stick to our roots. It's not to say that you can not go to the gym or run if you love it. I am simply saying that if you are like me, you do not particularly love working your butt off to lose weight and you're not lazy but definitely enjoy a slow stroll down the street, can that be enough?
I want you to get clear about what you actually like. How do you want to live? If you just want to go for a stroll a few times a week and clean your house, that's perfectly fine. If you love pounding the pavement and sweat dripping down your temples, do it. Only do what you love, and never make excuses for why you need or have to do any type of movement.
When you feel like you just have to "effort" the weight off, picture yourself in your home churning butter and then ask yourself, can life really be that simple?