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"Confession: I used to be semi-addicted to the gym. I faithfully went three-four times a week (to cycling classes or to run on the treadmill) and if I missed a day, I was sure that at least two new pounds would show up on the scale the next morning. While exercising vigorously three-four days a week is certainly a good thing, the fear of what would happen if I didn&amp;#039;t workout wasn&amp;#039;t. When my now three-year-old son was a baby I was able to keep this regimen up, but as he got older it got harder. And frankly, being able to wake up at 7 am instead of 6 am became more important than getting to the gym. But as my gym time went down, my overall activity level went up. Instead of sleeping until 10 am and lounging around on the weekends, I was up at 7 am with Cameron, playing cars, getting him dressed, walking back and forth to the kitchen to get him a glass of milk, making him breakfast, cleaning the dishes, pushing him in the stroller to the grocery store. All of which meant I spent practically no time sitting on the couch, or really, sitting still at all. When I thought about it, I realized that pre-Cameron, sometimes the only move my muscles would make on a Saturday were at the gym. As my gym visits dwindled to one spinning class a week, I consciously took every opportunity to move: When faced with either an elevator or stairs, I always (and still) took the stairs and even tried to jog up them if I could. I carried my grocery bags home instead of toting them in a cart (for those of you who can&amp;#039;t do that, park as far away from the grocery store entrance as you can and carry your bags out to the car). I also keep a set of free weights under my bed, and when Cameron&amp;#039;s watching Saturday morning cartoons, I do a 15-20 minute strength-training routine. Happily, those extra pounds I feared would show up haven&amp;#039;t. Another confession: We always give the advice that you don&amp;#039;t need to sweat it out (in a gym or anywhere) for hours to keep your weight steady, but I never truly believed it. Until now. -Amy Brightfield, Health Director "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/a43780/every-little-move-counts-4986/>