This Is the Best Way to Use 1 Hour of Your Day
Losing weight, being balanced, and feeling amazing
I have to share with you a habit that I have had in my life for the past few months. I exercise 1 hour a day, almost every day. And it has changed my life.
By three things, one:
- Moving doesn’t have to be torture or something exhausting;
- It has decreased my obsession with calories, body image, and fear of gaining weight;
- You’ll be surprised how much this habit brings to your life.
I, too, used to see exercise as a chore. Don’t run away and let me explain.
I never thought I’d write this down that one day. As a child, I played sports twice a week, and I think I liked it. But when I grew up and moved on my own to a small flat in Paris, I tried to keep up this good habit but I couldn’t. I spent 6 years trying to move, but I couldn’t find out how: over there, sport is expensive, and everything free quickly comes back to running in the street, in the middle of cars and pollution.
Sport quickly became associated with a real chore, a cause for guilt, and something anything but pleasant.
But something was missing from my life: all the benefits of exercise. I often felt tense, irritable, unbalanced, and badly in my body, which I felt was becoming less and less toned.
There is a quote that I read one day that I couldn’t find. It said something like: change happens when you can no longer bear the current situation. That’s what happened to me. And it was one of the best changes in my life.
“Exercise is like an addiction. Once you’re in it, you feel like your body needs it.” — Elsa Pataky
I can’t remember the last day I didn’t move. I go from one sport to another:
- Riding my exercise bike
- Running with my girlfriend
- Working out
- Playing badminton, with my girlfriend too
- Sea wading with my parents
- Surfing
- Walking long distances
First of all, let me give you the benefits you can expect. Then, I will give you some advice on how to implement this new habit in your life.
The (many) benefits of moving every day
It transforms the way you feel and look
Yesterday I had lunch with my parents. My mother told me that I looked good, balanced, and happy. Same with my grandmother the other day. She found me radiant. It’s partly because I like the life I’ve built for myself, which is finally taking some shape. But I know that it’s also because I move every day.
I put that first because that’s really what motivated me in the beginning. I wanted to get fitter and feel better about myself, as I felt guilty about having a sedentary lifestyle.
When you move for an hour every day, you know, and you feel, that you are doing good for your body. Plus, it burns a lot of calories, which means that if you keep an overall balanced diet, you will lose weight.
One day becomes two days
Have you ever felt that powerful and pleasant feeling of well-being after a workout? When your body is relaxed, freed from negative energies which are replaced by positive energies? When your mind is at peace, still, able to concentrate, and think constructively and positively?
I couldn’t do without it anymore. I feel like I’m missing something if I haven’t exercised for a day. It’s like a reset button, both in your body and in your mind. You press it, and you have another whole day ahead of you.
It’s amazing how much positivity it brings to my life. The best feeling I’ve ever had is waking up early, doing my day’s work, and working out when I’m done. Then I go home knowing that I’ve done everything I had to do for the day, and I can fill the rest of it with whatever I want.
Exercising for an hour a day also helps to structure your day, as you often place your session at the same time every day. It gives you a rhythm, and that’s good because you don’t have to ask yourself questions. It’s time, so you put on your sportswear and get started. Dithering kills motivation.
It gives you the freedom to eat almost anything you want
I was very surprised yesterday. I got on the scale and saw that my weight had dropped to 139 lbs instead of 143, a weight I hadn’t reached for at least 3 years. The reason for my astonishment is that I can’t say that I’ve been eating properly for the last 10 days. My girlfriend was at home with me, so we had a lot of fun: we ate at the restaurant several times and had drinks with friends almost every night. So I was expecting to have put on a few pounds.
What saved me was sport. Depending on the sport you choose, one hour can burn 300 to 700 calories, which is a lot: that’s an average full meal. It can very well compensate for your excess.
It was my dream: to eat almost everything I want and not gain weight.
However, it has its limits. Moving around for 1 hour a day can’t compensate for too frequent or too much excess. Nor does it erase an unhealthy lifestyle. Don’t get me wrong!
But it did provide an answer to all my body image, weight, and calorie concerns, things that were constantly weighing on my shoulders.
It strengthens your relationships
Take advantage of this new habit to strengthen your ties with your friends and family. Why not plan to play tennis for one hour a week with your best friend and then run every other day with your loved one?
I run with my girlfriend. We also play badminton together. It strengthens our bond. We have become a team. We sweat together and enjoy the resulting feeling of well-being together.
The sea wading sessions are done with my parents. It’s our Sunday morning ritual: we meet at the beach at 10.30 am, and we walk in the sea for 1 hour, chatting and laughing. We tell each other about our week, and we end up having lunch together.
There are so many ways to use this moment to spend time with your loved ones. Make the most of it!
How to integrate this habit into your life
If you had told me a year ago that I would train one hour a day, I would have laughed. For two reasons: doing this every day would have seemed like a real chore, and I wouldn’t have been able to find time to do it.
Here’s some advice, since you’re probably in the same situation I was in.
Start small
Don’t try to start right away with one hour of exercise a day. You might do very well, but there is a big risk that you will become disgusted with it right away. As with everything in life, start small and grow. Get better.
I started by exercising for 20 minutes, 3 times a week, on a carpet in my small Parisian flat. Then I increased the frequency, little by little. During quarantine, I trained almost every day, for 30 minutes, then for 40 minutes. It was only a few months ago that I started training for an hour, and then again, it wasn’t every day. Make sure your growth is progressive.
If you have a sedentary lifestyle and start moving, even if it’s just walking, for 20 minutes a day or 40 minutes every other day, the change will be huge! Over time, as you get stronger and more fond of it, increase the duration or frequency.
Find something you like
You can’t do something you hate in the long run. If you don’t like running, don’t run. If you like to be in the water, find something related. If you don’t have good cardio (yet), do something calm, like walking or swimming slowly.
You must adapt to your level and your tastes. Doing something every day is a lot. You must enjoy it, otherwise, it will become a real chore. Make it fun. That way, you will enjoy the effort as much as you will enjoy the pleasant post-workout feeling.
Find a moment and stick to it
We all have a life to manage. It can be difficult to find time to do something daily. But it is possible. It’s just a matter of will and organization.
You have to find your moment. When it’s time, just do it. Are you a morning person? Maybe moving first thing in the morning is for you. Plus, you’ll feel a pleasant sense of well-being and you’ll have plenty of energy throughout the day. Your colleagues will notice it. Mine did.
Maybe you can implement it just before lunch. Or maybe after your working day, just to get rid of the negative energies and tensions accumulated throughout the day.
This week, try to exercise in the morning. Next week, just before dinner. And then see what you like best, and what fits best into your day.
I don’t understand how I could have gone so many years without exercise. It has become an addiction. When a day goes by without exercise, I feel like something’s missing.
Like everything in life, it’s just a question of will and organization. Certainly, you can free up one hour a day in your life for such a rewarding activity. Think of all the time you spend doing insignificant things, like watching TV or scrolling through Instagram. How about replacing it with a bit of sport?
I can guarantee that the changes in your life will be quick, lasting, and breathtaking.