I started exercising when I was 19 years of age. My body started to transform after 3 months. I managed to stay in shape for many years by lifting weights. I would run a couple times a week.
I practiced the following habits to stay under 11% body fat...
Lifting weights is part of my routine, 5 times a week. Running is a behavior that I needed to remind myself about. I used to run in my routine because I want to keep my fat percentage below 12 percent. But running is not my strongest behavior as I mentioned.
Years later, in my life, two events took place. One of them was adopting Pelon, my Xoloitzcuintle dog and another event that made me depressed. I am honestly happy for both events. They changed my life.
I was trying to understand life and wanted to take my dog for a run or walk. When I was running, I noticed that it is very important what I tell myself the first 8 minutes of my warm up. Then during the run, I needed to stay focused on my internal talk and small goals I set up, so I could run 3 to 6 miles. My mind needed to stay busy talking positively about my run.
Running was not my strength, but I used to do it to stay in shape...
However, I started to hang out more with my friend, who was my neighbor and he took me for my first hike.
Once my friend took me from my first hike, I started to hike from 3 to 5 times a week. I think hiking is a little different. With hiking, I can push myself without thinking about it. Of course, if I want to do cardio, I need to do the same as what I was doing as when I ran. I have tried to hike as an exercise and I can hike faster. But what I really like about hiking is that my mind gets clear from all the stress of the week and day. If I focus on exercising when I hike, I can’t focus on my thoughts.
Also, let's not forget about Pelon. Pelon means a lot to me. Thanks to him I have learned to respect others’ animals' lives. I kind of respected their lives before, but now it is like I understand that many animals suffer in vain. Now I give part of my profit to charities that are subsiding animal suffering.
Back to the topic, Pelon is one of the reasons why I started to hike and go for walks. He motivates me to hike and take him for walks because he loves to do both. He hiked Sopris many times and other mountains here in the valley. So there are two real reasons why I started hiking, Pelon and to clear my mind from the pollution.
So now, I don’t have to think about running. I only go hiking, take my dogs for a hike and find myself up there. And I can stay in shape keeping my body fat under 11 percent. I started to lose weight by accident.
Why is the reason I am telling you my story? I know you are smart and already know. But let’s make sure we are on the same page. Find an exercise activity where you don’t have to force yourself to do it. Yes, it should be challenging and get you out of your comfort zone, but you should enjoy it and see the benefit of it.
For me hiking has become a part of my routine just like lifting weights...
Get out there and try different things and find out what it is that helps you stay in shape and also helps you in other areas of your life. For many people it is biking, others swimming, many jumping the rope, others horse riding and so on.
Lose weight by accident...
I can’t really say I found hiking as an accident, but it looks like my friend took me hiking at the right time of my life that I fell in love with it. Don’t let any opportunity down when you get invited to try new things. You may find your new weight loss habit as an accident.