Congratulations, today is the first day of the rest of your life.
As of right now, 2/3rds of Americans are considered overweight and 1/3rd of the nation is considered obese. Sure it’s easy to blame genetics, society, 5 dollar foot-longs, World of Warcraft, global warming, the Man, Scientology, your mom, etc…but at the end of the day it’s up to us to make a change. I don’t care if you’re overweight and haven’t exercised in a day in your life. Everything that has happened up until now is irrelevant; it’s a brand new day, and you’re going to make a change.
Now, every one of you will have a different reason for getting into shape. You might be here because you want to get big muscles and beat the crap out of the kid who gave you a swirly yesterday. You might be here because you know the new girl down in H.R. is a health nut and you want to impress her. Hell, you might be here just because your doctor said you might be in trouble if you don’t start exercising. Luckily, whatever reason brought you to this site is a good enough reason for me to help you make a change. As long as the reason you’re here gets your ass out of that chair and moving, I’m all for it.
For the rest of this blog, I’m going to be optimistic and assume you want to get in shape. Let’s talk about some benefits of that decision: when you get in shape, not only will you be stronger, more attractive, and live a better life, you’ll also be far less likely to contract all kinds of fatal diseases. Seriously, just look at this list of stuff that you have a larger probability of getting if you’re overweight:
- Hypertension
- Dyslipidemia (for example, high LDL cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, or high levels of triglycerides)
- Type 2 diabetes
- Coronary heart disease
- Stroke
- Gallbladder disease
- Osteoarthritis
- Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
- Some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)
That’s a long list of some pretty terrible diseases. This is like going into a gun fight and without a vest. Sure it might not save you, but when you have an opportunity to increase your chance of survival even a little bit you have to take it. Getting into shape is your bullet-proof vest; if you could prevent any of those disease up above, you’d be a fool not to take action. Now, let’s talk about all the other benefits of getting into shape:
- More Energy – People that exercise are less tired than people who don’t exercise.
- Sleep Better – Regular exercise can help you fall asleep faster and deepen your sleep, which will give you more energy.
- Stronger Heart and Lungs – Try living without either one of these things = epic fail.
- Exercise improves your mood – Exercise stimulates various brain chemicals, which can make you feel happier than before you worked out…full of win.
- Look better naked – Pretty self explanatory: who doesn’t want to look better naked?! You don’t need to see studies to show that you will be more attractive to the opposite sex if you are in shape. It’s science.
- Feel better about yourself – Getting in shape will give you a higher self-esteem. Woot.
- Live longer – Studies have proven that those who exercise daily can add up to 4 years to their life. Not only that, but your quality of life can dramatically increase for those later years if you’ve been exercising regularly. You won’t be as useless!
Now, what kinds of changes are we talking here? Don’t be scared: when I say “make a change,” I’m not telling you to buy spandex, start running marathons, and eating spinach for every meal. We’re talking baby steps here. One day, one change at a time. Some of the changes you’ll make might seem small and insignificant, but they will have a profound effect on your life and overall happiness (I promise).
Join me and work towards getting healthy. To quote the greatest movie of all time, “I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy livin’, or get busy dyin’.” Tomorrow, we’ll take our first steps towards getting in shape. Until then, take the next two minutes and watch this video, featuring an epic montage of 40 kick-ass movie speeches. If this doesn’t get you fired up and make you wanna climb a mountain, you’re dead to me.
2 Minutes of Inspirational Speeches from Movies
Let’s get it done.
-Steve
Next step: Figuring Out Your Body Mass Index
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