Living the Plan, Day by Day, Little by Little

So my plan for losing those last 10 postpartum pounds includes Baby & Me Yoga and walking. Yesterday, I did both! Neither is a vigorous workout, but I always say that any exercise is better than no exercise and every little bit helps. Like pennies add up to dollars, burning a few calories here and there adds up to more calories burned.

I previously posted about the benefits of walking:

Walking is a wonderful exercise that doesn’t feel like work and is free. A half hour’s worth of walking conditions the entire body by exercising the muscles, heart, and respiratory and circulatory systems. It also provides perspective while you walk off tension, or can provide time to catch up with a friend or partner if she or he is walking with you.

Yoga, too, has a host of health benefits. According to Healthy Highway:

A new study has revealed that yoga increases the levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in your brain. GABA helps to regulate nerve activity and lower levels are linked to mood and anxiety disorders. Drugs that increase GABA activity are used to treat anxiety and improve mood … and it appears yoga may help to increase GABA activity, offering potential antidepressant benefits, naturally.

In fact, yoga was found to boost mood better than walking and other forms of exercise.

…

While many are initially drawn to yoga as a way to relieve stress or get in shape, it also offers a host of other benefits through its stretching, meditation and various postures.

Overall benefits to the mind and body that are often reported include pain reduction, increased flexibility, posture and strength, improvements in mood and well-being, better sleep, increased energy and more.

Yoga has even been found to benefit certain health conditions such as cancer, depression, pain, anxiety and insomnia because it may improve your sleep, fatigue and mood. It can also reduce heart rate and blood pressure, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Sounds like my not-so-strenuous exercise regime is a great way to start getting back in shape and feeling (& looking) good!

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