Given that October is Nutrition and Body Composition Month on EC, I thought that I’d revisit the key areas to remember as we head into the holiday season.

If you read our article last Thursday then you will have seen Colting’s advice that a lean body is a result, not a goal, of an effective nutrition strategy.

You would also have noticed Dr. Bob’s advice that athletes are especially at risk for medical issues that stem from nutrition. You can start your educational process with this summary I wrote a few years ago.

For all of us, nutrition starts before we are born. Our current body is the product of decades of choices with a strong influence from the habits that were passed along by our parents. Given the inertia we face, lasting change must be incremental and simple.

Focus on one item, make it a habit, move to the next.

From from my own experience, if you’ve ever been overweight then you are looking at two hours per day, most days, of moderate exercise. You’ll do well to combine that with strength training twice per week. Find something you like and structure your life to support a habit of activity.

Adding it up, that is 13 hours per week of movement. That is a lot (and likely far too much) when you are starting out.

What worked for me was building a habit of daily activity — start from a position of doing-something-every-day. I wouldn’t worry about what you are doing — the most important aspect is to create a habit of daily activity.

For what it’s worth, I did a little research and 13 hours per week is about 25% of our collective media viewing. So the time is there, the challenge is breaking the inertia of sitting in front of a box. Some ideas on that…

• Walking conference calls: snap on a set of headphones and do an hour of client calls while walking around the neighborhood.
• Music: bright light and music are great for mood enhancement. See how a lunchtime walk-with-tunes impacts your productivity. Working from home, I only sit longer than two hours when writing a block of material. More typically my cut off is 90 minutes.

Build the habits that lead to the life you desire.

Fitness expands your world.