Manage your body weight - the green way - part four: the list!

Continued from part three.

Now let's look at a few more green, sensible and meaningful ways to get rid of those energy reserves. I'm offering a long list here, not because I think you should do them all, but to make sure that there are at least a few suggestions in there for everyone. It's by no means comprehensive, so feel free to add any ideas you have in the comments below.

- If you have one, walk your dog more often. He/she will love you for it. (Don't try this with cats. It simply doesn't work.)

- If you have kids, play active games with them: tag, ball games, limbo dancing, lifting them in the air and pretending they're aeroplanes, and whatever you can think of that requires muscle activity. If you don't have kids, borrow your sister's, brother's, neighbour's, ...

(c) T.M.O.F. - cc

- Instead of dumping it in the dryer, hang your laundry outside. Consider this valid exercise. As a bonus: you'll have to take it back in afterwards. Double exercise points!

- When unloading groceries: don't pile up shopping bags or boxes to carry them inside in one go. Instead: walk a few times back and forth. Much better for your back, and every extra step counts. (Although I have to admit: piling them up and balancing isn't bad either, as it counts as weight training)

- Try to combine walking or working out with grocery shopping. Instead of driving your car to the supermarket and then going for a walk, jog or workout afterwards, consider walking or jogging to the baker's or the neighbourhood store.

- Bring a packed lunch to work, take it to a nearby park or public garden, go for a walk, and have lunch al fresco.

- Wash your car by hand (with a spunge and a bucket of water and just a little bit of soap) instead of driving to the carwash. There's no need for lots of hose action if you apply "the force", i.e. muscle power. If you have kids or a playful spouse or friend, get them involved.



(c) Daniel McCullum - cc

- Two words: snowball fight. In the absence of snow, water balloons will do.

- Use the commercial breaks during your favourite television programmes to get up, stretch a bit, do a silly dance to one of your favourite songs, or get a couple of minutes of house work done.

- Wiggle your toes any chance you get. Don't forget to enjoy it.

- Make love as often as you can. Sex is a great way to get your heart pumping and your whole body moving. (If you're under the legal age in your country, or a sex addict: please ignore this advice. Silly dances are fun too)

- Instead of going out to eat, with a partner or with friends, prepare a picnic basket, go for a walk and have a fun or romantic picnic in a beautiful setting.

- When you take the bus or tram to work: get off a couple of stops before or after your regular one. That way you have a short walk that helps you to be fully awake for work, or that can refresh your buzzing mind afterwards. It's also a great way to see more of your surroundings, to meet people in a different environment or to get inspired for other activities: you might see posters for a concert, an art exhibition or a museum you haven't been to. Also: vary! On a bright sunny day, be brave and go for more stops; if it's cold, go for a brisker walk.


(c) Manjith Kainickara - cc

 - Grow a garden. Don't let it die. If you have a piece of land, however small it is: cultivate your own fruit, veggies & herbs, and take care of them. If you don't have the space, be creative: get pots for your balcony or window sill, look for allotments or communal garden projects in your area, or talk to an elderly neighbour with a plot of land. They might love to get some help or let you use it, in return for a small share of the harvest. Herbs especially are great, because they're easy to grow, and they really spice up your meals with their gorgeous scents and vibrant shades of green, yellow, red, purple, ....

- Have a housecleaning competition with your partner, roommate or children. Assign each competitor a room, or part of a room, and the first one to get their side spotless, wins the prize! This is by far my least favourite tip, regardless of the prize.

- Get to know the area or city where you live. Challenge yourself by hanging up a map, putting pins where you've already been, and give yourself a week, a month, ... to fill up the empty spaces.

- Volunteer in a soup kitchen, animal shelter, community building or after-school project. Most of the work includes physical activity and it's a great way to give back the energy you've been storing.

- Mind your posture. It's not just better for you physically (it takes more muscle effort so you'll burn more calories), it also helps to boost your confidence and makes you feel better about yourself.

(c) Jean-Pierre Dalbera - cc

- Dance. At parties, weddings, in clubs or on your own. Take dance classes. There are so many genres to choose from: bellydancing, African, hip-hop, flamenco, salsa, swing, jazz, Bollywood, Indian temple dancing, tap dance, ballroom, capoeira, disco, medieval, you name it. There's a style for everyone!

- Visit interesting places. Travel, explore and discover parts of your country, continent, planet, galaxy, that you haven't been to before. Few things are more inspiring than being in a new environment.

- Play an instrument. Any one will do, but the heavier the better. Percussion comes highly recommended.

- Organise birthday parties for your kids, family or friends. Look for fun and creative themes and make the decorations, toys and games yourself, on your own or with friends, family or other parents.

- Walk around when you're on the phone (works significantly better with mobile phones)

- Move your scanner, printer, ... further away from your desk so you have to get up every time you need to use it. Don't get annoyed about it. Consider it exercise and praise yourself.

- When you drive to work, park your car further away. Even if it's just on the other side of the carpark, or a couple of blocks away, every extra step counts.

- Take the stairs whenever you can. If you start off in a really bad shape, take the elevator to 1 or 2 floors below where you have to be, and walk the rest.

- Take massage classes with a friend or partner. Practice often on the people around you. Be sure to get their permission first.

- Stretch, swing and shake! Whatever you're doing, whether it's cooking, reading, typing or slouching. Stretch in all directions, swing your arms and legs, wiggle your shoulders and shake that bootie.


These are just ideas. I hope you've found a few you like, and most importantly: I hope they've inspired you to come up with your own, which - by the way - I would love to hear.

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Manage your body weight - the green way - part three. Exercise!

In the first article in this series, I had a look at a few underlying principles of managing your body weight, and tried to frame it in a more ecological and holistic context.

In the second, I explored the food side of weight management, with the underlying principles and a bunch of tips and tricks to consume fewer calories while still maintaining your quality of life.

And the same principle applies to exercise: any type of weight management that's going to work in the long run, shouldn't impose on your quality of life. It might itch a little here and there, but that'll be generously compensated in many other areas, feeling like an overall win.

Even though it makes more sense not to consume more than you need, the reality is that many of us don't want to resist or avoid high-calorie foods all the time. Or give up chocolate and stop going to cocktail parties. Does that mean we're doomed?

(c) Capt Kodak - cc



Not in the least. It's perfectly possible to manage your weight and still enjoy the good things in life. I know I do, and have done so for years now. You just need to be aware that it's a balancing act, and it requires making informed decisions. Fortunately, there's no such thing as failure. There's just learning, improving your strategies and moving forward.

First, let us get back to the 'green' basics.

When we consume too many calories, what we basically do is take in more energy than we need. That energy comes from somewhere. In life, there's no such thing as a free lunch, literally.

The energy comes from other life forms (the plants and animals that we've eaten, and indirectly from the sun), and we consume that life to continue our own.

When we take in more energy than we need for our normal activities, our well-functioning bodies store it as fat, unless (or until) we use it up. Until we do, it also means we are taking more from this world (in the form of food) than we are giving back (in the form of activity). That doesn't make us bad people, and we don't need to feel guilty about that. It's part of being human, but so is the ability to be aware.  


(c) sparktography - cc

Don't give in to guilt. It's generally not useful in a healthy weight management plan. Instead, we risk using it an excuse.  

Guilt makes us feel bad about ourselves, and often powerless, which then becomes another reason to remain sitting on the couch, wallowing in self-pity or self-reproach. 

Instead, what we really need is the courage to face the facts. Then we can start looking for useful ways to burn our excess energy. Giving back to where it came from. Look at your fat as potential, waiting for you to devote it to a worthy cause.

There's a huge difference between being overweight, and being someone who has been "storing energy up till now." That difference is made by what you decide to do, right now. You are not a victim. You have more control over your life than anyone else. It might not always feel that way, but it is true.

So let us look at ways to transform that stored energy back into meaningful activity. It has come from the world, it is now time to give it back. You have the insights, the energy reserves, and the motivation. You might not have the perfect knees, back or metabolism, but we can all work with what we've got. 


I want to make clear that I am not pleading against fitness or workouts. If you enjoy running on a treadmill and it makes you feel good about yourself, keeps you motivated, gives you energy and strength for other projects: great! Your health and well-being are what matters most.

(c) Ulf Liljankoski - cc



But if you're not getting much out of it, and you're just dragging yourself to the gym purely to lose weight, it might be time to find an activity that feels useful, that motivates you to go on, that makes you happy to be alive, that makes you feel part of the greater clockwork. 



Personally, I am a great fan of weight training (workouts with free weights). Yes, the heavy ones. Yes, like the guys in the gym, and no, it won't make you look like a body builder. (Lots of great information about that on http://www.stumptuous.com/).

Why weight training, and why it doesn't feel meaningless to me? Plenty of reasons:

• It's great willpower training (everyone who's tried it knows how great it feels when you squeeze out that last rep)
• It's a very efficient way to become stronger, which is useful for many other daily activities, from carrying groceries (or children), gardening or house work, helping friends move house to defending yourself or getting out of an emergency situation
• It's something you can do at home, with basic and inexpensive equipment.
• It doesn't take hours a day to build it up or maintain it.
• You can start off slowly with a few simple exercises, two or three ten minute sessions per week, and build it up from there, together with your physical abilities and your confidence. .

But any other increase in physical activity will make a difference. It's important to take your starting situation into account, and build it up from there in a way that increases your overall health and joy in life. Step by step, changing and adapting along the way.

Don't forget: every time you wiggle your toes in joy or wave at a friend or neighbour, you are making your muscles work and you're spending energy. Every extra step you take, you're burning off calories. And if you've enjoyed that step and on top it has benefited friends, family, your community or the world at large, it pays off times ten!

Up next: a list of green and meaningful exercise tips & tricks.

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Manage your body weight - the green way

Health in all its aspects has always been a topic quite close to my heart, and lately I've been thinking a lot about the basics of weight gain (and loss) and how that ties in with our lives and our environment.

The first question I had to tackle was: when does a person (or animal) gain weight? And the answer, reduced to its foundations, isn't that complicated (even though the circumstances usually are): we gain weight when we eat more calories than we burn. Meaning: when we consume more energy than we physically need.

And this is an interesting point to take a closer look at.
First of all, we need to be aware that all food we eat, is energy that was part of another living being, be it an animal or a plant. That life form - and, in case of animals, whatever was needed to feed it - has died (or lost a few parts) to keep us alive a little longer. I'm not saying we need to live our lives feeling guilty about it - we are part of nature and that's how it works - but I believe it's vital to acknowledge our food's true origin in order to recover a more natural and healthy relationship with nutrition.

Now, looking at it in this way, we have several ways to manage our weight. Let's look at a few options for weight loss:

1. We consume more energy than we need (or the exact amount), but burn off the extras with exercise, and then some.
2. We do our normal daily activities, but we eat fewer calories than we need, thus burning off our reserves.
3. A mix of both.

From an ecological and sustainable point of view: which of these makes the most sense?

I would say the second: take in fewer calories, and as a result we'll burn some of the extra energy our bodies have stored as fat. It's the perfect way to restore the balance between the energy total we consume during our lifetime, and how much we actually need to stay alive and healthy.

Don't get me wrong: I'm NOT pleading against exercise. When we lead sedentary lives, our bodies need us to move around more, to get our hearts pumping and our muscles working.
But I am pleading for a more conscious approach to the food we take in, and to what we spend that energy on. Somehow it feels absurd in these times of impending resource and food crises, overfertilisation and animal cruelty, to overeat and then step on the treadmill to burn it off.

At the same time the reality of weight loss is a very complicated issue, tied in with lots of physical, cognitive and emotional factors. And often there's guilt, resistance, social disapproval and stigmatisation to tackle on top of everything else.

But to me, those are just more reasons why it we need to go back to the basics, and look at which of our behaviours and understandings aren't helping us to go where we want to go, wherever that might be.

Fat in itself isn't evil, it's not a safety blanket nor is it a cosmic (or genetic) conspiracy. It's just energy we're storing. Energy we can still use, whether we still believe that or not. Energy that we've acquired through cannibalizing other life forms, something we all do, every day. There's no point in feeling bad about it, but let us acknowledge the fact and use that awareness to fuel our resolve and - if necessary - to change our outlook on our personal energy balance.

Let us not take our food for granted, and use our stored energy well.

Therefore, apart from being conscious about our food intake, can we come up with forms of exercise that benefit other living beings? Our immediate environment, our pets, families, communities or - if we get really ambitious - society as a whole?

Continued in: Manage your body weight - the green way: part two: eating.

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