And This Is How I Started My New Year

With my Morning Walk. As usual. As I have been doing since a year ago when I decided to walk every morning to heal my left knee. The knee is 100% again but I kept my Morning Walks as a routine ever since. A routine that goes beyond an acquired habit; it’s my beloved way to start my day. Some people do it with a cup of coffee, for me it’s my Morning Walks. They set my vibe for day. Plus, it’s that moment, my moment to be out there with green nature around and all the colors that live inside me. As I listen to my music set for the day, I listen to my thoughts and the absence of it. I breathe in, I breathe out, respiration, perspiration, perception, feelings, inspiration, expiration. It’s like a Moving Meditation, an inner talk between me, myself and I. And the Universe. It’s Zen, Real, Mine. And I really appreciate every minute of it. Enjoy it. Cherish it. Regardless the weather.

That is why, year in, year out, here I am, Morning Walking. Not because the calories burnt and the cardio workout (although they are both pluses), but because it’s something that makes me feel good inside by doing it. It lights my inner fire, my inner light. That is why I keep on doing it. And there is no better motivation to keep morning walking than this.

#HappyNewYear #EveryDayMotivation #KeepWalking

Why I Walk Every Morning No Matter What

Come rain, come shine, under a storm or not, every single morning I walk. For 40 minutes. At least. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. And I do it, not because I want to lose some weight (or keep it as it is), at least, this is no longer a reason for me, especially after reading this article. Anyways, I do walk every single day because it gives my morning boost. It is like my morning coffee. It wakes me up, put me on the right mind set, it helps me to think clearly and to have great ideas for my work while I am walking plus, afterwards, I do feel energized to start my day. In a good spirit.

I also walk every morning because I feel that it warms up my body, especially my knee, that I injured last year badly. And yes, I started this walking routine exactly because I wanted to heal my knee, by the way. I thought it was a good idea to help to put it back to its old good shape and I was right. In the beginning, when I started walking my knee was still a little painful here and there. However after a few weeks walking every day my knee felt great again. Almost brand new. I still have the scar (fading) but the knee itself is pain-free. And I am so grateful for it that is beyond words. 🙏

And that is why I walk every single morning.

How about you? Do you do any exercise or activity that makes you feel this way every single morning?

Why Exercising Is Not The Key To Lose Weight

Yesterday I came across this video/article from CNN that talks about why exercising is not key to lose weight but watching your diet and your calories are.

Basically what the article/video states is that we only burn from 10% to 30% (usually non-athletes like most of us only burn something between 5% to 15% in fact) of the calories we eat or drink through exercises and any other daily physical activities like taking a shower, typing, cooking, cleaning the house… The other calories we put in are burned by our bodies inner activities like digesting food (10%) and the basal metabolic rate (60% to 80%) aka the amount of energy it takes to keep our body running this wonderful machine that includes blood circulation, respiratory and brain functions to name a few. Considering that, it is pretty obvious that if we want to lose weight we should first and foremost pay attention in the calories intake. We can never eat or drink more than what we are spending/burning, otherwise, we will gain weight. This simple math is the key to lose weight. Regardless.

And speaking of the basal metabolic rate… as we get older this rate goes down, meaning that you burn even less calories from this internal process. That is one of the reasons it becomes more difficult to lose and/or keep our weight as we age.

Having said that, one way to keep this rate up is actually exercising, building up our muscle mass. Note taken.

Nevertheless, as you can see, exercising is still a very important element to our well-being. It improves our mood, our physical condition among other things… It is just not the key factor to lose weight as many people think. And I kind of could include myself here. Because I was not aware that we could only burn a little percentage of the calories we put in. I thought that since I exercise I could eat as much french toast as I wanted with no weight gain. Not the case anymore as I attested this Christmas, by the way.

Well, at least now I know better.