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If you’re a true newbie, you have to train your body to get used to moving before you start beating it up. You need to get yourself used to moving. If you take the time to adjust your lifestyle before you set out, you’ll have a much better time. 

If you want lasting wellness, you have to actually change the way you live your life.

And making sure your body is moving around more is the most fundamental change you can make. So I’ve put together a small (and totally non-inclusive) list of things you can do right this very second to make your life a little more active without it being something as drastic as taking an hour out of your day to go to the gym.

• When you go out, park as far away from your destination as you can.
  • Take either the first parking space you come to, or purposefully parking at the far edge of a parking lot.
  • (If you’re with people, you may get complaints, but when I do, I just laugh and tell them walking is good for them.)
• Always take stairs instead of elevators, escalators, or anything else that moves for you.
  • If they’re inconvenient, great! You have to walk extra to get to them. Score!
• Do not ask anyone to get you anything or to do anything for you
  • When a light needs turned out, get up and turn it out. Want something to drink? Don’t ask for someone to bring it to you. Get up and fill up a cup.
• If it takes 1 minute, just go ahead and do it. Don’t put it off.
  • The One-Minute Rule from Happier by Gretchen Rubin.
• Set an alarm for every hour. My friends and I use Fitbit or Jawbone alarms for every hour and take a lap around the campus green whenever one of us has been sitting too long.
• Do you have a meeting? Try a walking meeting. It stirs up creative juices and keeps you moving around instead of sitting for extended periods.
• Try something like a FitDesk.
  • Read my in-depth review of the FitDesk (TL;DR, I love it and it’s awesome.)
  • You can also try a treadmill desk, standing desk, under-desk elliptical. Whatever works for you so you don’t sit unmoving for hours and hours.