Exercise Benefits Overnight

by Kris Pitcher

Last week I was in the locker room at the gym and a lady said, "Wouldn't it be great if exercise worked overnight?" As I literally dropped my smarty pants, I said, "Well, I always say we only have to do it as long as we want it to work."

I went on to tell her since we want it to work "forever", we don't have to be in a hurry. She was kind of speechless. "I never thought of it that way. Have a good work out." She said.

That's the problem, people don't think of it that way. We still want magic to happen to us without any work on our part, oh and could we get that overnighted?

I could have science geeked her by telling her some of what she was about to do actually would work over night...or at night. Meaning the benefit is physiologically happening when we are recovering. But it wouldn't be in the sense she meant. What she meant was she'd like the last twenty years of thoughtless eating, zero exercise and gained weight to disappear...overnight.

Take your time. We have our entire lives to live healthfully. There is no end point to exercise and eating healthy. We will continue to do it as long as we want to have the benefits. Making progress toward our goals happens over time, not over night.