Be an active Lounge Lizard

Ninety-Nine percent of American homes have a television.  I have to admit I have several.  I'm not a good sitter but I do have my favorites on TV.  (So You Think You Can Dance is on tonight) I don't think there is anything wrong with watching TV UNLESS you do it too much.  The average adult watches 4 hours of TV a day.  AC Nielsen Co says, "In a 65-year life span, a person will have spent 9 years of that life glued to the TV."  Yikes.  No wonder obesity is on the rise.  The American Journal of Public Health study showed that an adult who watches 3 hours of TV a day is far more likely to be obese than an adult who watches less than 1 hour.  There are so many ways we can tweak our watching hours by just incorporating a few little changes.

• Don't DVR past the commercials.  Use that time to get up and walk around or do some exercising like squats or upper body work.  I remember using this principle with my kids.  "You can watch your goofy show but every commercial you need to work on your flexibility."  
• Sit on a stability ball or wobble board while watching 
• Get up to change the channel.  "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!" might be your response but ignore the channel changer every once in a while.
• Avoid watching TV while you eat your dinner.  Use your eating time to be with family and work on the art of conversation.  TV also tends to distract us so we may not realize how much we are eating.
• Riding a bike (stationary of course) or walking/running on a treadmill while you watch is a wonderful idea.
• Use your TV for fitness. There are so many workout options available now.
• Pull out your kids XBOX or Wii and participate in your own Olympic events, bowl, play tennis or whatever your game tells you.  So much fun and you can get your whole family involved.

So if your couch has the exact outline of your body engraved into its cushions, that might be a sign that you sit and watch a little too much TV.    Get up and get moving.