Obaba Museum

Do you remember the 3 key areas for weight loss we mentioned in the previous article? Diet, physical activity level and exercise? I knew you would😊!

Today we will be learning about physical activity and exercise.

Physical activity involves the movements we make while carrying out our daily activities. For example, the movements we make while going to work/school/ the market, during recreation, while we are within our work place, like walking, swimming, strolling, dancing and so on.

Movements that involve large muscles in our bodies, like those in our legs, break down more calories (e.g walking, jogging). So for some individuals whose occupations involve sitting in a spot for long hours, (e.g bankers), have higher tendencies of being overweight. This is because of their low physical activity level.

These individuals consume a lot of high calorie foods or snacks but cannot burn most of the calories due to their sedentary lifestyle. This leads to weight-gain, and in some cases – Obesity.

There are recommended levels of physical activity (according to WHO) for different age groups. It is recommended that one looks up these recommendations and put them to practice.

On the other hand, one may wonder the difference between physical activity and exercise. Exercise is planned, it is intentional and specific. This means that the exercise plan is designed to achieve the specific aim that the client wants.

For instance, if the client wants to lose belly fat, the plan would be to engage the individual in abdominal exercises and aerobics. The aerobics would burn the underlying fat why the abdominals would help tone-up the muscle.

Clients who would like to build their muscles e.g biceps 💪 , chest muscles, the muscles in their legs or even their butt, would engage in more of resistance or weight-lifting exercises.

Hence, while most exercises target certain areas of the body, physical activities work on the general body most times.

In all, increase your physical activity level today ( if it is low) and you may consider registering at a gym to kick-start your exercises. Most important, your diet should be balanced with proteins and vegetables. Your calorie intake (especially the carbohydrates) should also be low.