It’s so frustrating when you do all the right things, and the scale refuses to budge!  But don’t get discouraged. Maybe it’s simply a matter of needing to do more of the same.  If you have been doing the step program, you will be gradually becoming more active. Click here to learn about an exercise plan you can actually do from now on.  The more you move, the longer you can keep moving. If your weight loss has slowed or stopped, maybe it’s time you picked up the exercise a bit.  One way to do this?  Add more steps.  You might try these tricks:

Walk while you are on the phone.  I added thousands of steps to my day when I developed this habit.

Add a daily walk to your schedule.  You can look at past posts to see how to make that walk into a time of spiritual growth, too.

Take a short walk after every meal.  Rule of thumb: About 25 steps will burn one calorie.  Figure out how many calories you spent on your meal and how many you burned off in a ten minute walk. That will be a real incentive not to take those few extra bites you really didn’t want anyway.

Get up and walk around during every commercial when you watch television. 

If you are physically able, take up a hobby that involves moving –– like bowling or square dancing or tennis.  Keep track by using the step equivalent chart.  Click here to find a step equivalent chart. 

You might also want to move your exercise program forward by adding weight training.  You can do this at the gym, if that is an option for you.  You can also build muscle at home with stretch bands and dumbbells.  Stronger muscles burn calories more efficiently. They also help keep you from injury — an important consideration as we get older.

I’m a member of a Facebook group whose members are mostly younger than I am.  They all post about doing killer routines which burn vast amounts of calories. They also lose lots of weight.  However, for those of us with more years behind us, that plan can be counterproductive.  An injured body won’t be moving much at all, and overdoing it as if we are spring chickens is a sure-fire way to harm ourselves.  You have to find a plan that is right for YOU.  If you are young and healthy and want to plunge into a plan that “guarantees” you fast results for 30 days of torture — go ahead!  Keep in mind, though, we are aiming for a plan we can do for the rest of our lives. I don’t think anyone wants to “shred” forever!  Figure out what works for you, what you enjoy doing, and do it.  And if the weight loss stalls out, maybe you just need to do it more.

Eating to live and living for Christ,
Susan Jordan Brown