Quick: What % of people do you think take the stairs when an escalator is available?
If you guessed 20% . . . you’re way off. It’s 2% (unfortunately).
The problem is the 2% rule also applies to how we eat. Etimates suggest that only 2% of people who lose weight in a year keep it off. That’s a problem in a society where roughly 75% of us are overweight or obese.
We eat just to eat, with 80% of our eating fueled by reasons other than true hunger. For some people, that means mindless snacking, while others reach for food as a coping mechanism. In either case, it’s killing us. Diet directly causes many of the diseases most likely to kill modern humans, like heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers.
There are societal forces at work here as well. We used to work to get our food and it wasn't engineered for over-consumption. It also wasn’t processed and jammed-packed with sugars, salts, and saturated fats.
Exercise also wasn’t something people did just to burn calories, build muscle or improve fitness. There was in fact a time when burning extra energy could have put your life at risk since energy from food was at a premium. You were likely working a physically demanding job to survive, and burning calories for the sake of it was potentially dangerous.
We used to walk 20,000 steps a day; now the average person takes 4,000.
We used to do moderate exercise three hours a day (think hunter-gatherers); now the average person does 30 minutes three times a week.
I am going to venture to say, WE SIT WAY TOO MUCH and some of us are only active in the gym.
What if instead of focusing just on giving it all in specific moments of movement, we decided to be a little more active every day.
Here’s what helps:
✅ Move as often as you can in any way you can! Walk to the store instead of driving, or park far away.
✅ Little by little can add up to a lot. Wake up and go for a walk around the block, and each day add a little more distance or some jumping jacks at the end.
✅ Try the five minute rule- do anything for five minutes a day and then increase your time when you’re ready. I do five minutes of push ups most days and it works.
✅ Make a date to hike with a friend- accountability to others (and eventually to ourselves) helps us to show up. I truly think my clients are successful based mostly on this principle. We check in often and it works.
Sadly, Wall-E looks less like a fantasy future these days and uncomfortably close to reality I often find myself tripping over fo0d-delivery robots on my walk to the gym.
This week, let’s all try doing the slightly harder thing! It’s the best thing for our health.
Feel free to comment below if you are also concerned that the comfort crisis isn’t so great for our well being.
Xx Lauren
